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Human Rights League: Ethiopia- Gross Human Rights Violations: Human rights situations that require the UN Human Rights Council's attention May 31, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, #OromoProtests: What You Need to Know About Ethiopia's Crisis That No One Is Talking About, 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Crimes against Humanity in Oromia/Ethiopia, Ethiopia- Gross Human Rights Violations: Human rights situations that require the UN Human Rights Council's attention, Genocide, Genocide Against Oromo People, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, Oromia, Oromo, The tyrannic Ethiopia, UN, UN Human Rights Council: General Debate under Item 4
Ethiopia- Gross Human Rights Violations
Submission to: Human Rights Council – 32nd Session UN,
13 June – 1 July 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Item 4 – Human rights situations that require the Council's attention
(HRLHA) – Ever since November of 2015 and still going on are serious human rights violations in Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia. Peaceful protestors against the so-called " Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan" came to the streets in Oromia in November to express their grievances about the "Addis Ababa Integrated Master plan" and were met with brutal crackdowns. An estimated 500 plus Oromos have been killed by the Ethiopian Government force. The Ethiopian Government deployed its military and applied excessive force against the unarmed civilians to quell the dissent. The Oromo nation protested against the "Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan" because:
It is a plan which did not consult the stakeholders and aimed to annex 36 small towns in Oromia to the capital city to expand it by 20 fold, thereby evicting over two million farmers
In the past 15 years, over 150,000 Oromo farmers from suburban towns of Addis Ababa have been forcefully evicted from their livelihoods and their land has been sold to investors for a low price, and given to the government authorities for free. Land owners have become beggars on the street.
Many farmers in Oromia Regional Zones have been forcefully removed from their ancestral lands and their lands sold cheaply to investors for flower plantations.
The recent deadly violence against Oromo peaceful demonstrators staged against the so called "Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan"- violence that has already claimed over 500 lives, including children and senior citizens along with more than 20,000 – 30,000 imprisoned and more disappeared- has also attracted the attention of many donor countries such as the USA whose Department of State has condemned the excessive military force against the peaceful demonstrators, (see in table 1)
Various organizations, including government agencies ( EU parliament, UN Experts), international, regional and domestic human rights organizations (HW, AI, HRLHA) and international mass media such as BBC, CNN, France 24 have reported on the recent violations in Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia, (see in Table 2)
Table 1 – Government Agency's Report
Reporter Report Description Report Date
The White House Office of the Press Secretary Statement by National Security Council Spokesperson Ned Price on the Arrest of Journalists in Ethiopia December 30, 2015
US Department of State The United States Concerned By Clashes in Oromia, Ethiopia December 15, 2015
EU Parliament European Parliament resolution on the situation in Ethiopia January 21, 2016
UN Experts UN Experts Urge Ethiopia to halt violent crackdown — January 21, 2016
Table 2- Human Rights Organizations' Report
Reporter Organization Report Description Reported Date
HRW Using Courts to Crush Dissent in Ethiopia May 9, 2016
HRW Deafening Silence from Ethiopia April 12, 2016
HRW Ethiopia's Invisible Crisis January 22, 2016
Government Backs Down, But Will Protests End in Ethiopia? January 15, 2016
HRW Ethiopia: Lethal Force Against Protesters, Military Deployment, Terrorism Rhetoric Risk Escalating Violence December 18, 2015
HRW Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia December 5, 2015
AI Ethiopia: Anti-terror rhetoric will escalate brutal crackdown against Oromo protesters December 16, 2015
AI Ethiopia: Ethnic Oromos arrested, tortured and killed by the state in relentless repression of dissent October 16, 2014
HRLHA Ethiopia: Oromia Regional State Under Siege Dececember 15, 2015
HRLHA Ethiopia: Extreme Cruelties Against Oromo Children and Youths Dececember 8, 2015
HRLHA Oromia/Ethiopia: Region-Wide, Heavy-Handed Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters December 5, 2015
BBC Ethiopia says Oromia protests crackdown claims are 'lies' February 22, 2016
BBC (BBC vidio) Ethiopian Government Criticized Over Oromo Protests November 2015
BBC BBC World News reports on Oromo Protest against Addis Ababa Master Plan May 2, 2014
CNN Ethiopia crackdown on student protests taints higher education success May 22, 2014
France 24 Video: Anger among Ethiopia's Oromo ethnic group boils over March 30, 2016
Recalling that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to life, liberty and security of person, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful demonstration and assembly,
Recalling further that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest and detention,
The HRLHA urges the United Nations Human Rights Council to raise concerns about the serious human rights abuses presently taking place in Oromia.
The HRLHA also calls upon the UN Human Rights Council:
To create an international commission of inquiry to investigate the recent serious violations of international customary law and international human rights law by the Ethiopian Government
To use its mandate to put pressure on the Ethiopian Government:
To immediately bring to justice those military members who cold-bloodedly attacked the peaceful demonstrators
To unconditionally free all Oromo prisoners of conscience and others arbitrarily detained, including those held before for no reason and during the peaceful protests of April-March 2014 and November – December 2015 against the " Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan "
To refrain from reprisals against aromos who have taken part in peaceful demonstrations
N.E. Africa:Peoples' Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) Categorically Condemns the Past and Ongoing Massacre of Unarmed Civilians by TPLF/EPRDF's Ethiopian Government May 31, 2016
Tags: Africa, Against Tyranny, Benishangul, Current Horn of Africa news, Endigenous people News, Gambella, National Self Determination, Ogaden, Oromia, PAFD, Peoples' Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) Categorically Condemns the Past and Ongoing Massacre of Unarmed Civilians by TPLF/EPRDF's Ethiopian Government, Sidama, The Founding of Peoples' Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)
Press Release on the occasion of 14th Commemorative anniversary of Sidama Loqqee Massacre and the Massacre of the other civilians.
May 30, 2016, London
The repeated massacres and genocides of past 25 years that the TPLF's barbaric regime has committed on unarmed civilians of all regions-and the ongoing indiscriminate massacres it is committing now are likely to continue unabated for a long time if the peoples in Ethiopia remain fragmented, divided and refuse to take the responsibility of confronting and stopping this criminal regime. Failure to do so has already unquestionably contributed to the longevity of the regime.
We, the PAFD member organizations envisage a dynamic and flexible approach with potential of accommodating the interests of all stakeholders without any differences and without actually dictating our own agendas for all the peoples in Ethiopia. This will allow all to move forward in unison in their strides towards justice, democracy and genuine self-determination, which is practically denied by the current regime. Moreover, we strongly believe that this is the only way forward to stop the ongoing genocide, to restore the rule of law, human dignity and pride and democratic order in Ethiopia.
To be able to do so, all the peoples in Ethiopia and their respective organizations must put their differences aside and unite strategically in order to end the suffering of all perpetrated by the TPLF led EPRDF's brutal regime.
Today's Sidama Loqqee massacre 14th commemorative anniversary isn't unique to Sidama nation and isn't a past history. It has been committed on tens of thousands of civilians in Ethiopia from Amhara, Afar, Benshagul, Hadya, Kambata, Ogaden Somali, Omo, Oromia, Sidama, Shakicho and the rest of regions of Ethiopia. And it is ongoing in Oromia, Ogadenia, Gambella, Konso, Omo Valley and the rest of regional, Zone and district levels.
Unconditionally condemning the past and ongoing genocides and massacres, the PAFD calls upon all organizations and peoples in Ethiopia to be united, move forward and stop the regime brutalizing them all.
PAFD also urges the international and regional communities to stand on the side of the people in order to stop the ongoing blatant human rights violations and hold the perpetrators into account both locally and in the international arena
PAFD salutes the indefatigable and resilient spirits of the Sidama Loqqee martyrs and all the other civilians who have been the victims of past and ongoing massacre by current callous regime in Ethiopia.
Finally, PAFD promises that all those wronged souls may rest in peace and that their valuable lives will be not be lost in vain. It will continue fighting for justice and democracy and righting the wrongs committed against them and the other living multitudes. PAFD will never forget your courageous and honorable sacrifices for generations to come.
PAFD Executives, May 30, 2016, London
Sidama:The Sidama People Globally Mark the 14th Commemorative Anniversary of Sidama Loqqee Massacre May 31, 2016
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia's colonizing structure and development problems in Sidama, Loqqee Massacre, National Self Determination, Ogaden, Sidama, Sidama and Omo Valley, Sidama Kemetic African people, Sidama Nation, Sidama people, The Sidama Nation Globally Marks the 14th Commemorative Anniversary of Sidama Loqqee Massacre
The Sidama Nation Globally Marks the 14th Commemorative Anniversary of Sidama Loqqee Massacre
May 30, 2016, London Conference
Press Release by Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF)
About six dozen confirmed and several dozen unconfirmed Sidama civilians have been indiscriminately gunned down in broad day lights by Ethiopian armed forces on May 24, 2002 in Sidama land whilst peacefully protesting government's continued denial of constitutionally guaranteed rights to regional self-administration. The Sidama of all walk of lives have staged on a peaceful demonstration in Hawassa's outskirts village known as Loqqee, on early hours of the aforementioned date after fully satisfying the constitutional requirements rightly stipulated in incumbent's constitution whilst undertaking such publically guaranteed democratic privileges. Over 300 have been seriously injured and the other several hundreds have sustained minor injuries.
Disallowed to be collected by their love ones', the dead bodies of the Sidama victims have been left for days to be devoured by by hyenas during the period of 24-48 hours' strict curfew imposed in entire Sidama land following the Loqqee massacre. Over 15,000 Sidama civilians from all over the Sidama districts and villages have been also rounded up to be indiscriminately mass arrested and tortured; as the military personnel were allowed to roam on the streets and villages -literally terrorizing the entire nation.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF/EPRDF's) government under the leadership of late PM Meles Zenawi has meticulously planned and centrally coordinated the Sdiama Loqqee massacre. The current TPLF/EPRDF's PM, Hailemariam Desalegn -the then Southern Ethiopian regional State president has been given the responsibilities of stage-managing of the Sidama Loqqee massacre and has been also ordered to chair a pre-massacre extraordinary urgent meetings of May 23, 2002. Assigned by late PM, federal government officials, regional and Sidama Zone politicians numbering 21 participants have taken part in the said stage-managing meeting of the massacre in the eve of May 24, 2002 Loqqee massacre in Hawassa (the Sidama capital). They all but two Sidama participants have agreed to shoot and kill all Sidama civilians if they go on with demonstration in the following morning. The aforementioned massacre has taken place under such deliberately and clearly targeted killing of the Sidama civilians who have done no wrong but attempted to exercise their constitutional guaranteed rights.
The Sidama nation is globally marking the said 14th commemorative anniversary of the Sidama Loqqee massacre whilst the nation is still languishing under TPLF's brutally oppressive regime seeking the way out of it with the rest of Ethiopians. The nation commemorates the 14th anniversary of its sons and daughter's massacre in the midst of further government orchestrated impoverishment, displacements of millions of Sidama peasants, deliberately imposed subjugation, economical and politico-social marginalization. More importantly, the nation is commemorating the 14th anniversary with the rest of subjugated and massacred Ethiopians with renewed sense of hope and determination to bring those who have massacred the Sidama civilians and the other Ethiopian civilians to justice.
The London conference of May 30th 2016 Sidama Loqqee 14th commemorative anniversary and other Ethiopians massacre commemorating event asserts the fact that the future directions of peoples of Ethiopia depends on us all. The massacre is ongoing in Oromia, Ogadenia, Amhara, Gambella, Benshangul, south Omo and the rest of Ethiopia. Therefore, we call upon all Ethiopians to join us in fighting of the repressive regime to bring about lasting and genuine solution beneficial to all Ethiopians.
To date no person from federal to regional and Sidama Zone level has been held accountable for the Sidama Loqqee massacre. Instead, those who have been fully involved in planning, stage-managing and massacring of the Sidama civilians have been uplifted and rewarded with more powers, financial packages and privileges. The SNLF categorically condemns the brutal action of the TPLF's barbaric regime and calls upon all democracy loving Ethiopia related politicians and the entire peoples of Ethiopia to be united to fight the regime enslaving us all with rigor and determination.
We never forget the Sidama Loqqe massacre victims and the cause for which they have sacrificed their precious lives. We also never forget the Oromo, Ogadenia, Amhara, Gambella, Benshangul and the rest of Ethiopians who have been massacred by TPLF/EPRDF's brutal regime during its 25 years of reign of terror.
We salute the Sidama Loqqee Massacre Victims and the rest of Ethiopian people's victims. May your souls rest in peace whilst we fight for justice to prevail on your behalf.
SNLF, May 30, 2016
Oromia: #OromoProtests: Gabaasa Fincila Xumura Garbummaa (FXG) Oromiyaa 2016 (May) May 31, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in #OromoProtests, Africa, Oromia, Oromia News, Oromo.
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, Human rights, Human Rights violations against Oromo People, Oromia, Oromia: #OromoProtests: Gabaasa FDG Oromiyaa, Oromo
Gincii, Amboo, Jalduu, Gudar, Giddaa Ayyaanaa, Mandii, Najjoo, Laaloo Assaabii, Jaarsoo, Gullisoo, Bojjii, Gujii, Dambi Doolloo, Gimbii, Naqamtee, Buraayyuu, sabbataa, Dirree Incinnii, Adaamaa, Harammayyaa, Mattuu, Baale (Robee), Madda Walabu, Walliisoo, Tulluu Boolloo, Sulultaa (Caancoo), Horroo Guduruu, Buuraayyuu, Dirree Dhawaa, Calanqoo, Ada'aa Bargaa, Baddannoo, Holootaa, Shaashee, Awaday (E. Harargee), Hara Qallo (Goro Dola, Gujii), Gaasaraa (Baalee), Bulee Hora, Jimmaa, Arjo, Heebantuu, Giddaa Ayyaanaa ,Kiiramuu, Ciroo, Dodolaa, Anfilloo (Mugii), Walqixxee, Diillaa, Bishooftuu, Finfinnee, Yuniversiitii Finfinnee, Geedoo, Asallaa, Shaambuu, Agaarfaa, Sibuu Siree, Kotobee, Wacaalee, Saalaalee, Machaaraa, Ammayyaa, Tokkee Kuttaayee, Innaangoo, Baabbichaa, Laaloo Qilee, Hiddii Lolaa, .Mugii, Arsi Nagallee, Baabbichaa, Shukutee, Baakkoo, Shukutee, Baakkoo, Jalduu, Gindoo, Buun'dho Beddellee, Grawwaa,Gaara Mul'ataa, Qarsaa, Qobboo (Dardar, Eastern Oromia), Sinaanaa (Baalee), Jimmaa Arjoo, Bojjii, Kombolcha, Aggaaroo,Tajji (Iluu), Qilxuu Kaarraa, Baabboo Gambel, Daawoo,Tulu Milki (Warra Jarso), Hirnaa, Xuulloo, Masalaa, Galamso, Bordode, Mi'esso, Waheel, Diggaa, Arjoo Guddattuu, Guraawa, waamaa Adaree, Shabee Somboo, Limmuu Saqaa, Amuruu (Agamsa), Daroo Labuu (Gaadulloo), Yaabelloo, Aliboo (Jaartee Jardagoo), Saasigga, Magaalaa Dafinoo, Dhumugaa, Daroo Labuu (Buraysaa) Begii (Kobor), Mardida Halo Guba (Daroo Labuu), Qassoo, Bonayyaa Boshee, Baalee (Dalloo Mannaa), Jimmaa Raaree (Magaalaa Gobaan), Nophaa (Iluu), Bordoddee, Togowacaalee ……………
Gabaasa FDG Oromiyaa Sadaasa (November) 12, 13, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, Muddee (December) 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17/18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,28, 29,30, 31…. 2015
Amajii (January) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17,18,19, 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,30, 31……2016
Guraandhala (February) 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10,11,12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17,18,19, 20, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,29………… 2016
Bitootessa (March) 1, 2, 3,4, 5,6,7,8,9, 10, 11,12, 13,14,15, 16,17, 18, 19,20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 2,28, 29, 30, 31 …………2016
Ebla (April) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,18, 19,20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30……… 2016
Caamsaa (May) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,20, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, 26,27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2016
#OromoProtests: International Community Alarmed as Ethiopia Crisis Worsens
Click here for #OromoProtests updates, 1st – 30 April 2016
Click here for #OromoProtests updates, 1st – 31st March, 2016
Click here for #OromoProtests updates, November 2015- February 29, 2016
AI: Heading the Wrong Way: The Ever Closing Political Space in Ethiopia
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/ai-heading-the-wrong-way-the-ever-closing-political-space-in-ethiopia/
Pulse: Oromo protests
The Oromo people in Ethiopia have long complained of being marginalized. Addis Ababa expansion plans which sparked fresh protests have been scrapped but the conflict continues to simmer.
http://www.dw.com/en/pulse-oromo-protests/av-19247699
Oromo Activists Force Government to Suspened University Entrance Exam
Researcher says Canadian government should be more vocal in its criticism of the Ethiopian crackdown
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2688887492/
New Report from State Department Details Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/new-report-state-department-details-widespread-human-rights-abuses-ethiopia
Dispatches: Using Courts to Crush Dissent in Ethiopia
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/09/dispatches-using-courts-crush-dissent-ethiopia
The Human Rights League: Ethiopia: Endless Injustices against Oromo Nation in the Name of Law Enforcement. #OromoProtests
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/the-human-rights-league-ethiopia-endless-injustices-against-oromo-nation-in-the-name-of-law-enforcement-oromoprotests/
Ethiopia must release opposition politician held for Facebook posts
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/ethiopia-must-release-opposition-politician-held-for-facebook-posts#.Vy2uOlVO18Y.twitter
Oromia (#OromoProtests) :Shirri Xaxamuu fi Ololli Geggeeffamu Falmii Bilisummaa Fi Mirga Abbaa Biyyummaa Finiinaa Jiru Hin Dhaabu!
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/oromia-oromoprotests-shirri-xaxamuu-fi-ololli-geggeeffamu-falmii-bilisummaa-fi-mirga-abbaa-biyyummaa-finiinaa-jiru-hin-dhaabu/
Press Statement: The United States is deeply concerned by the Government of Ethiopia
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/30/press-statement-the-united-states-is-deeply-concerned-by-the-government-of-ethiopia/
Freedom for Bekele Gerba and all political prisoners in Ethiopian prisons
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/oromo-federalist-congress-international-support-freedom-for-bekele-gerba-and-all-political-prisoners-in-ethiopian-prisons/
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken condemned the lethal violence used by the government of Ethiopia against hundreds of Oromo protesters. #OromoProtests
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/u-s-senators-amy-klobuchar-and-al-franken-today-condemned-the-lethal-violence-used-by-the-government-of-ethiopia-against-hundreds-of-oromo-protesters-oromoprotests/
Ilhan Omar denounces crimes against humanity being committed in Ethiopia
http://www.ilhanomar.com/news/2016/4/25/ilhan-omar-denounces-crimes-against-humanity-being-committed-in-ethiopia
U.S. Senators Condemn Ethiopia's Crackdown on Civil Society
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/12-u-s-senators-condemn-ethiopias-crackdown-on-civil-society/
Human Rights league: The TPLF Hidden Agenda of Reducing the Oromo Population Must be Stopped
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/human-rights-league-the-tplf-hidden-agenda-of-reducing-the-oromo-population-must-be-stopped/
HRW: Foreign Policy In Focus: Deafening Silence from Ethiopia:The Ethiopian government is cracking down on journalists and NGOs. Where's the outrage from the international community?
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/foreign-policy-in-focus-deafening-silence-from-ethiopiathe-ethiopian-government-is-cracking-down-on-journalists-and-ngos-wheres-the-outrage-from-the-international-community/
Human Rights in Ethiopia – An Update
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 – 11:00am
Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building
Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a briefing on the current human rights situation in Ethiopia.
https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/events/hearings/human-rights-ethiopia-update-0
Oromo protesters: 'We are still on the streets because we want self-rule'
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/oromo-protesters-we-are-still-streets-because-we-want-self-rule-1548661
No, we don't have self-rule in Oromia state
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ethiopia-protesters-no-we-dont-have-self-rule-oromia-state-1551225
IPS: Ethiopia's (Fascist TPLF) Smoldering Oromo. #OromoProtests
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/ips-ethiopias-fascist-tplf-smoldering-oromo-oromoprotests/
Das Berliner Missionswerk: Frieren Sie die Militärhilfe für Äthiopien ein, bis Äthiopien die Menschenrechte achtet!
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/das-berliner-missionswerk-frieren-sie-die-militarhilfe-fur-athiopien-ein-bis-athiopien-die-menschenrechte-achtet-oromoprotests/
Why Have Oromo People Been Clashing With The Ethiopian Government For So Long? http://www.afrizap.com/en/why-have-oromo-people-been-clashing-with-the-ethiopian-government-for-so-long
France 24: Focus: Anger among Ethiopia's Oromo boils over.
France 24: Focus: Anger among Ethiopia's Oromo boils over. #OromoProtests
https://youtu.be/75_q7dbpTjs
Ethiopia – #OromoProtests and Ethiopian Repression: Overview
https://oromianeconomist.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/ethiopia-oromoprotests-and-ethiopian-repression-overview/
The-future-of-Oromia-continues-to-protest-domination-injustice-and-dispossession-with-determination
#OromoProtests in Langey, East Hararge, May 31, 2016
https://soundcloud.com/jawar-mohammed/1464734538198992a
Caamsaa 31, 2016 Godina Lixaa Shaggar Aanaa Ada'aa Bargaatti Warraaqsii biyyoolessaa Oromiyaa FXG marsaa 5ffaan Gootota barattoota Oromoo M/B Sadarkaa 2ffaa fui Qophaa'inaa Incinniitiin guyyaa kaleessa irraa eegaluun finiinee itti fufe!!
Sochii warraaqsaa FXG marsaa 5ffaan kun daran jabaachuun goototni barattootni Oromoo Aanaa Adaa'aa Bargaa Magaalaa Incinnii fi M/B Incinnii keessatti qabsiisan Nuti Barattootni utuu torbee tokkoillee nagaan hin Baratiin baatii 6 guutuu mirga uummata keenya sarbameef gaaffii mirga abbaa biyyummaa fi kabajamuu mirgoota namummaa fi dimookiraasii dhiyyeeffachuun hanga har'aa deebiin tokko illee nuuf kennamuu dhabuu fi torbee tokko illee nagaan sirni baruu fi barsiisuu utuu nuuf hin kennamiin qormaata kutaa 12ffaa fi 10ffaa Oromiyaa keessatti barattoota Oromoof kennuun dabaa fi Shira ittin uummata Oromoo miidhuuf dalagamaa jiru waan ta'eef ni balaaleffanna jechuun hanga gaaffiin mirga abbaa biyyummaa deebii argatuu fi bilisummaan uummata keenyaa mirkanaa'utti warraaqsaa keenya isa xummuraaf gaggeessa jirruu irraa duubatti hin deebinu jechuun bifa haaraan warraaqsa dhoosuun diina wawwachisaa jiraachuun ibsatan.
Mootummaan abbaa irree Wayyaanee humna waraana isaa barattoota irratti bobbaasuun Barattootni Oromoo hedduun isaanii humna waraanaan qabamuun Magaalaa Incinnii irratti hidhamanii jiran keessa barattootni Oromoo 4 immoo humna waraanaan butamanii eessa buuteen isaanii kan hin beekamne ta'uun ibsame jira. Sochiin warraaqsaa FXG uummata Oromoo humna Waraanaan dhaabbachuu hin danda'u guyyaa ha'as Godinaalee Oromiyaa garaagaraa keessattis itti fufee jiraachuu Qeerroon gabaase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_CN3ApwKt-w
#OromoProtests 31 May 2016: Breaking News: Ethiopian national exam will be rescheduled from July 4-7, July 5 will be a national holiday, Eid al Fitr.
Breaking News: Ethiopian national exam will be rescheduled from July 4-7, July 5 will be a national holiday, Eid al Fitr
#OromoProtests 31 May 2016: Wallaggaa magaalaa Moxee keessatti FXG haala ho'aa ta'een Qeerroon sagalee dhageessisaa Jira. Sochii warraaqsaa eegalame hanga fiixaan baasnutti duuba hin deebinu kan jedhu sagaleen gurmuu barattootaa gidduudhaa dhaga'amaa ture. Haala sochii warraaqsaa itti fuufsiisuuf duubatti akka hin deebine walii galan. Akkuma qorumsarraa dhorkamanii bahaniin sirba qabsoo gobiin lafa dhiitaa jiran.
Godina Hargee baraa aanaa malkaa baloo mana barumsaa sadarkaa 2ffaa fi qophina keesatti FXG itti fufee jira.
Akkasuma godina Booranaa Magaalaa Yaabelloo Keessatti FXG Gootota Oromoo Qeerroon bakka hundaati Itti Fufee Jira.
Ethiopian 12th grade/ University entrance exam has been leaked and national exam has been cancelled. #OromoProtests 30 May 2016.
Qormaatni Biyyooleessaa Seensa Yuunibarsiitiif Barattoota Kutaa 12ffaa Kennamuu Egaale Labsii Mootummaan Addan Citee Jira
Oromia: Athletic Nation Report: Oromo athletes Dino Sefir and Koren Jelela win at Ottawa Marathon, IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday May 2016 May 30, 2016
Tags: Africa, Athletic Nation, IAAF, Oromia, Oromo, Oromo athletes, Oromo athletes Dino Sefir and Koren Jelela win at Ottawa Marathon, Ottawa Marathon
Oromo athletes Dino Sefir and Koren Jelela Yal beat the heat and they beat the fields to win Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon titles, Sunday, May 29, 2016. They drifted to the men's and women's titles and their respective first-place bonuses of US $30,000.
Under warm and humid conditions Dino Sefir ran away from what had been considered a very tightly competitive group to win in 2:08:14. The 2012 Olympian outlasted pacers who reached only 25km before dropping out, as well as his countryman, a 19-year-old Tola Shura Kitata, to earn himself the victor's laurels. Kitata, who burst onto the scene a year ago after running 2:08:53 in his marathon debut in Shanghai, was second in 2:10:04 with Kenya's Dominic Ondoro third in 2:11:39.
Following Jelela to the end of the official 42.195-kilometre course were 2015 champion Aberu Makeria (2:29:51) and two other Oromo athletes, Sechale Delasa (2:32:46) and Makida Abdela Hordofa (2:34:29).
More at:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/05/29/ottawa-marathon-winners-ethiopias-dino-sefir-and-koren-jelela
Ethiopia: British government 'deeply concerned' by treatment of Oromo May 29, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Oromia, Oromo, The tyrannic Ethiopia
This is the answer to a Parliamentary Question about the Ethiopian government's response to the Oromo protests and the credibility of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into the way in which these were handled.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL29):
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission is a credible body to investigate human rights violations committed by the Ethiopian security forces in their response to the Oromo protests. (HL29)
Tabled on: 18 May 2016
Baroness Anelay of St Johns:
The British Government remains deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and has repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in Oromia. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian Government, including on the use of force.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia. We will not pre-judge the outcome of their investigation and we await the publication of their report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action. We will take a view on what further lobbying, if any might be appropriate following the publication of the EHRC report.
Date and time of answer: 26 May 2016 at 15:27.
Martin Plaut
The British Government remains deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and has repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in Oromia. We will continue to monitor…
Counter Punch: Hungry and Frightened: Famine in Ethiopia 2016 May 25, 2016
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia, Famine, Tyranny and Famine, Why Famine is a Permanent Phenomenon in Ethiopia?
The ruling regime, that appears to be more concerned with its international image than the suffering of those in need, has presented an ambiguous, contradictory picture of the famine.
Hungry and Frightened: Famine in Ethiopia 2016
By GRAHAM PEEBLES, 29 April 2016
Millions of the poorest, most vulnerable people in Ethiopia are once again at risk of starvation. Elderly men and women, weak and desperate, wait for food and water; malnourished children lie dying; livestock, bones protruding, perish.
According to a statement issued by the World Food Programme (WFP) on 6th February, over 10 million of the most vulnerable require urgent humanitarian assistance. This figure was published in the Joint Government and Humanitarian Partners' Document (HRD) in December last year, and does not take into account the seven and a half million people who annually receive support from Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme – PSNP, (established in 2005 to enable, "the rural poor facing chronic food insecurity to resist shocks, create assets and become food self- sufficient), taking the total in need to almost 18 million. The worst affected areas, according to USAID, are the pastoral areas of Afar and Ogaden Region – where people rely totally on their livestock – and the agricultural lowlands of East and West Haraghe – close to the capital Addis Ababa.
The WFP explain that the level of humanitarian need in Ethiopia has "tripled since early 2015…caused by successive harvest failures and widespread livestock deaths. Acute malnutrition has risen sharply, and one quarter of Ethiopia's districts are now officially classified as facing a nutrition crisis." With a shortage of food, families are forced to make children drop out of school to take up menial jobs to survive; such children, lacking a decent education, are unable to find well-paid jobs in adulthood, and so the spiral of exclusion, poverty and deprivation continues.
Poverty and Chronic Food Insecurity
Ethiopia is a large country (385,925 sq. miles), with a population of just over 101 million (13th largest in the world), which is growing at a yearly rate of around 2.5% (over double the world-wide average). Conflicts resulting in migration from the neighbouring states of Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea has brought an influx of refugees and asylum seekers, which according to USAID amount to more than 733,000.
More than half the population live on less than $1 a day; over 80% of the population live in rural areas (where birth-rates are highest), and work in agriculture, the majority being smallholder farmers who rely on the crops they grow to feed themselves and their families.
The people of Ethiopia have suffered chronic food insecurity for generations: the major reason, as is the case throughout the world, is poverty. Other causes are complex; some due to climate change, others result from the ruling regime's policies. Action Aid (AA) reports that unequal trading systems are a factor. The Ethiopian government purchases crops from farmers at low, fixed prices. International organisations encourage Ethiopia to produce cash crops to export, which reduces the land available for growing domestic crops – yes, Ethiopia – where millions rely on food aid every year – exports food. The country's top exports are Gold (21%) Coffee (19%), vegetables and oily seeds, followed closely by live animals and khat – a highly addictive narcotic.
The agricultural system itself is another major cause. Individuals do not own land; it is assigned, AA states, "according to the size of a family, and redistributed every few years." This means that every time land is redistributed "it is divided between more people", so each farmer gets less. The lack of investment, combined with the need for large yields from a small area, leads to soil degradation, resulting in poor harvests.
The Oakland Institute (OI) in their report on the country's land sales makes clear that drought (15 droughts since 1965), state-fuelled armed conflict, as well as "inappropriate government policies (land tenure, access to markets, etc.), rapid population growth and lack of infrastructure," add to the list of causes.
Land grabbing and hunger
Since 2008 the EPRDF government has been leasing huge amounts of fertile agricultural land to so-called "foreign investors'': international corporations, domestic agents, fund managers, and nations anxious to secure their own future food security.
Detailed research by the OI in 2011 estimated that "3,619,509ha of land have been transferred to investors, although the actual number may be higher." Incentives to investors include exemption from import taxes, income taxes and custom duties as well as 'easy access to credit'; the Ethiopian Development Bank will contribute up to 70% towards land costs – which are extremely cheap to begin with.
Land is sold with the understanding that it is totally cleared of everything – including people, by government forces. Indigenous communities, who have lived on the same land for generations are displaced and herded into camps – the universally condemned 'Villagization' programme. OI state that over a million people have been affected, and that, "the loss of farmland, the degradation and destruction of natural resources, and the reduction of water supplies are expected to result in the loss of livelihoods of affected communities." Despite this, the ruling regime maintains that the land sold – all land is state owned (with formal and informal land rights) – is unused, and is being leased off 'without affecting farmers'.
Industrial size farms have been built and foodstuffs (not eaten by the native population) grown for export, – back to their homeland – India for example. Very little, if any, of the food grown is going into the Ethiopian food market, and there are attractive government incentives in place to 'ensure that food production is exported, providing foreign exchange for the country at the expense of local food supplies'. Oakland found that these commercial agricultural investments, by national and multi-national companies "increase rates of food insecurity" in Ethiopia, and that, despite "endemic poverty and food insecurity, there are no mechanisms in place to ensure that these investments contribute to improved food security."
OI makes clear that in addition to these land sales, 'state-fuelled armed conflict' is an underlying cause of food insecurity. One of the worst affected areas in the current famine is the Ogaden (or Somali) region in the Southeast corner of the country. The majority ethnic Somali population has been under military control since 1992. People fleeing the area report large-scale arrests of civilians, torture, rape and murder, as well as the destruction of land, cattle and property, and confiscation of humanitarian aid by government military and Para-military forces. With international media and most humanitarian aid groups denied access to the region since 2007, independent information on the conflict and the impact and extent of the current famine is in short supply.
Official duplicity
In a recent interview Arkebe OQubay, the 'special adviser to the Prime-Minister' told Bloomberg that the countries greatest achievement since 1984, was that "we are being able to feed ourselves. In 1984 we were struggling to feed our 40 million-population, but now we have 95 million population and we have food security." This is pure fantasy: Ethiopia (according to most recent, 2012 figures) remains the largest recipient of food aid in the world, and millions are today at risk of starvation.
Shortly after this claim from his 'special adviser', the Prime Minister himself, Hailemariam Desalegn appealed for help in supplying humanitarian aid to the millions in need, saying, ESAT News report; "it is the responsibility of the international community to intervene before things get out of hand."
The EPRDF government owns most of the media inside the country, exerts tight controls on any marginally 'independent' publications and seeks to restrict and condition reporting by international media. Interviewed by foreign news agencies, officials smugly reject claims of widespread human rights violations and paint themselves as a democratic government bringing economic prosperity, opportunity and stability to the country: A fabricated image, far from the truth.
With the government more or less controlling the flow of news about the situation in the drought-hit areas, detailed, open and honest information is hard to come by. The sole independent Ethiopian broadcaster ESAT News, which has reliable contacts in the country, carries the account of an aid worker who recently spent time in the worst affected regions – Afar in the North East and Ogaden in the South East. He reports that, "the famine was already taking its toll on humans and livestock………[and] that the situation in places near Jijiga and Shinile in Somali [or Ogaden] region was very serious." He saw, children whose skins were fused with their bones at feeding centers in the regions," and at a health center in Afdem (in central east part of the Ogaden), met "hunger stricken bony children."
The government proudly boasts that the Ethiopian economy has been growing, by between 7% and 8% (UK GOV figures) for almost a decade, that malnutrition and famine are no longer possible and that within a decade Ethiopia will be a middle ranking power. Nevertheless Ethiopia finds itself ranked 174th out of 188 countries in the UN Human Development Index (inequality adjusted). This suggests that whatever 'growth' the country has achieved, it has not changed the lives of the majority of Ethiopians, and, as is evidenced by the millions suffering from hunger and malnutrition, has clearly not eradicated food insecurity – which should be the first priority of the government.
Donor response
The scale of the current crisis has led the UNOHCA to call for $1.4 billion of funding to supply emergency food and water, to 'in excess of 15 million' people. So far donors have been slow to come forward, prompting Save the Children's Ethiopia Director to describe the reaction as "the worst international response to a drought that he has seen."
Around 45% of the total has been donated, including $200 million from the ruling regime. However the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it has less than a third of the money it needs to keep the aid coming.
America has offered some small-scale additional support, sending, CNN reports, "20 disaster experts to provide technical assistance, conduct humanitarian assessments and coordinate relief efforts with partners on the ground," as well as "$4 million in maize and wheat seed for more than 226,000 households." This level of assistance, whilst welcome, is nowhere near enough, and it seems the motive is far from pure. "Climate-related threats pose an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows and potential conflicts over basic resources like food and water," said USAID spokesman Ben Edwards. It seems the US is concerned about 'stability' in Ethiopia and the wider region, not human welfare; fearing that a lack of food and work may drive young people into the hands of extremist groups, and encourage migration, adding to the huge refugee flows.
The UNOCHA estimates the total current cost of worldwide humanitarian demand to be $21 billion. With Syria on fire, a huge refugee crisis in Europe, urgent demand in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq, in addition to ongoing international development commitments (including Ethiopia), donor nation resources (and attention) is turned elsewhere.
The need for sharing
It is the poor who die of hunger related causes throughout the world; it is the poorest people in rural Ethiopia – who constitute some of the poorest people on Earth – who are currently at risk. Every day 35,000 children in the world die of starvation and its attendant causes, but we live in a world of plenty; there is no need for a single man, woman, or child, – in Ethiopia or anywhere else, to die because they do not have enough food or water to survive. Oxfam report that, the world now "produces 17% more food per person today than 30 years ago. But close to a billion people go to sleep hungry every night." And they all live, more or less, in seven countries: India, China, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
Food, like water, shelter, access to education and health-care is a human right, and is enshrined as such in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Like all natural resources it should be shared equitably amongst the people of the world, so that nobody, anywhere – specifically the famine-affected regions of Ethiopia, where so many are once again in dire need – experiences food-insecurity and dies of hunger.
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Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at: graham@thecreatetrust.org
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Urgent call to all Oromo people and international community Health care is the fundamental human rights and not a tool of war May 25, 2016
Tags: Africa, Health care is the fundamental human rights and not a tool of war, Oromia, Oromo, The tyrannic Ethiopia, WHO
Urgent call to all Oromo people and international community Health care is the fundamental human rights and not a tool of war
By Baaroo Keno Deressa, Dr.
Concerning this issue my letter to United nations and European commission will be published soon.
After twenty-seven years in power, the TPLF-elite dare to tell us that Rome was not built in a day. Are they ignorant or arrogant??? Twenty-seven years is quite a long time to bring changes in the lives of all people. When the TPLF moved to Dadabit telling the world that Mengistu did not bring any change. But Mengistu remain in power 17 years and TPLF is now 27 years in power, number of days in one year then and now are still 365 and I don't understand why twenty-seven years of their palace life should not be considered a long time? Yes they bring many changes in Tigray region (in military technology, medical science, economic empowerment….etc). But the mother of all cash flow and life-oxygen my beloved Oromia and generous people of Oromo are:
Bleeding day and night in the hands of TPLF special commandos and security forces,
Suffering from torture and ill-treatment of TPLF government
killing future generations of our nations (university students).
Detaining millions of innocent Oromo peoples and Oromo intellectuals
Limiting free movement of our people in their home town
Promoting brain drain of mother land Oromia.
Harassment and hunting down capable Oromo individuals to inhibit the development of mother land Oromia.
Countless atrocities are committed against Oromo people
Mostly government statements are based on "kitchen cabinet" (TPLF junta) and Oromo people no matter what the truth is, they must accept it. The TPLF commandos are always right because they have the gun and the system supporting them. The stronger can always tell the wrong and force the weaker to accept it as the right. Trying to prove that the "stronger" is wrong is tantamount.
Whatever their power we Oromo people have to stand firmly with full commitment and confront it this barbaric act.
Let me put some facts with evidence based manner:-
urgent-call-to-all-oromo
Oromia:Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa, haati goticha Oromoo, Hayiluu Raggaasaa, du'an addunyaa kana irraa boqotan May 24, 2016
Tags: Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa, Fooli Gorbaa, Haadha Goota Oromoo, Hayiluu Raggaasaa
Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa (1915-2016)
Hayiluu Raggaasaa
Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa kan dhalatan bara 1915 yoo ta'u, dhalatanii waggaa 101tti Caamsaa 23 bara 2016tti boqotan. Haati gooticha Oromoo Kolonel Hayiluu Raggaasaa kan dhalatan Oromiyaa, Godina Shawaa Dhihaa, Aanaa Meetaa Roobii, Ganda Gileetti . Kan boqotani Caamsaa 23, 2016 Finfinneetti.
Maatii isaaniif Aayyoo Foolii daa'ima tokkittii turan. Dhalatanii waggaa 13tti kan heeruman yoo ta'an umurii isaanii keessatti ijoollee 16 dahan.
Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa haadha gootaa, sabboontuu qabsooftuu fi nama seenaa saba Oromoo caqasuu fi yaadachuun dandeetti aaddaa qaban aayyoo seenati. Ilmi isaani, Kolonel Hayiluu Raggaassaa, Taddassaa Biruufaa waliin ta'uu warra qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo calqabaa qindeessanii utuu finiinsaa jiranii kan wareegamanidha. Aayyoo Fooli qabsoo kana irratti akkaataatti qooda itti fudhachaa turanii fi waan ilmaan saaniis keessa turan ifatti ibsaa turani. Kunisi vidyoota armaa gadii irraa kan caqasamudha.
Aayyoo Foolii Gorbaa seenaa saba Oromoo keessatti bara baraan yaadatamu.
Biyyoon isaanitti haa salphatu.
AI: Heading the Wrong Way: The Ever Closing Political Space in Ethiopia May 24, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Amnesty International, BEKELE GERBA SPEAKS!, Ethiopia, The tyrannic Ethiopia
Heading the Wrong Way: The Ever Closing Political Space in Ethiopia
BY ADOTEI AKWEI, Amnesty International USA, 22 May 2016
By Adotei Akwei,Managing Director for Government Relations and Kayla Chen, Government Relations and Individuals at Risk Intern at Amnesty International USA
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a growing trend of evaporating political space. Non-governmental organizations are being heavily and often violently restricted, and newspapers, bloggers and other voices of dissent or criticism are being silenced or intimidated into exile.
In some countries such as Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, heads of state are rewriting their constitutions to eliminate term limits, in the process using security forces to squash protests from both political opposition and civil society. In other countries such as in Angola, the governments make use of their control over their judiciariesto intimidate or bury critics and youth activists in legal processes that cripple them financially or trap in never ending trials. Elsewhere, governments invoke the specter of terrorism and threats to national security as justification for passing sweeping laws whose interpretation empowers them to impose draconian penalties on oppositional parties and civil society, with little regard for international standards of due process or international and regional rights standards on freedom of expression, association and assembly.
In several countries government authorities have cracked down on nonviolent protests with violence. On Monday May 17, the Kenyan security forces brutally beat nonviolent demonstrations organized by the opposition Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to demand the dismissal of the members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
On the 6th of May the Ugandan police beat demonstrators who had gathered after it was announced that opposition presidential candidate Kizza Besigye would face the death penaltyfor charges of treason.
Ethiopia has been at the forefront of this wave of violent intolerance. Members of the Oromo ethnic group are facing a brutal crackdown following initially peaceful protests that started in the fall of 2015. Some estimates place the number of persons killed at the beginning of 2016 at over 400. Thousands have been detained and hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed. The violent crackdown is consistent with the violent security force crackdowns in Oromia in 2014 and in Konso in March 2016 as well as against other protests.
Closing of Political Space in Ethiopia
This is the reality facing Ethiopians whom the government designates opponents of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The government heavily restricts freedom of expression and association, and severely constrains political space, especially for civil society organizations.
In the 2015 elections, the EPRDF and its allies claimed all of 547 seats in Parliament amid concern over the lack of conditions for free and fair elections. It has become virtually impossible to question, challenge or protest against any action of the government. According to the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, Ethiopia ranks 91 out of 102 countries with severe constraints on government powers and fundamental rights. Freedom House also rated the country "not free". Ethiopia scores 6 out of 7, on a scale of 1-7 from free to not free, on both civil liberties and political rights. Civil society organizations have been forced to close, thousands of political prisoners are languishing in prisons, and human rights defenders who dare to speak out are forcibly imprisoned and beaten.
The use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation Act continues to be used to silence journalists and other critics who dare to speak out. People like noted journalist Eskinder Nega, Oromo leader Bekele Gerba, and Anuak Land rights activist Okello Akway Ochalla are all behind bars and charged with terrorism for opposing the government policies. They are just three individual stories of many who are suffering under the Ethiopian government's crackdown on human rights.
Eskinder Nega was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2012 for fulfilling his role as a journalist and questioning the use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to arrest those that criticized the government. This was not the first time Eskinder had faced unjust retaliation due to his refusal to be silenced. Eskinder's son Nafkot was born in prison in 2005 when both Eskinder and hjs wife Serkalem were imprisoned for criticizing the government's killing of nearly 200 people in post-election protests in 2005. Four years later after he was unjustly convicted and imprisoned once again, Eskinder Nega still languishes behind bars and more convictions have been handed down using the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
Bekele Gerba, a prominent leader of the Oromo Federalist Party, visited the United States last August after his release prior to President Obama's visit to Ethiopia. He told NPR that Obama's visit to Ethiopia last summer was a trip that sent the wrong message of solidarity to a repressive government with very little support from its own people. He also expresseduncertainty in regards to his freedom when he returned back to Ethiopia. A few months after his return Bekele was arrested on December 23, 2015 and held in a 4m X 5m cell with 21 others. Bekele and his counterparts were charged on April 22, 2016 with various provisions set forth in the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. This charge is clearly meant to silence him and others who dare to criticize and oppose the current regime.
Okello Akway Ochalla, a Norwegian citizen, was abducted from Juba, South Sudan, two years ago and ended up in an Addis Ababa court where he was sentenced to nine years in prison on April 27, 2016. Okello was the governor of the Gambella region, a key location of land grabbing and forced relocation by the Ethiopian Government, before escaping the country following a massacre of his people, the Anuaks, in 2003. Abducted from South Sudan in 2014 and brought back to Ethiopia, Okello was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for speaking to the international media about the massacre of his people and the ongoing struggle of the people of Gambella. Rights groups are alarmed that the primary evidence used to convict Okello was a confession obtained while Okello was in solitary confinement. There have been reports that Okello was beaten and tortured. His trial highlights serious failures of due process and the rule of law in the Ethiopian courts.
More laws are being drafted by the Ethiopian government that confirm it will continue to suppress opposition and dissent. Current government policies of making access to education, government jobs and services contingent on party membership, forcing citizens to undergo "policy trainings" of indoctrination, and widespread monitoring of all public spaces has created an environment of fear with no room for public debate.
Despite all this, the ruling ERPD still enjoys support from the international community. The United States recently renewed a new defense and security cooperation agreement with Ethiopia, which is being trumpeted as U.S. support of the Ethiopian government's policies, including the military's excessive use of force. Ethiopia also continues to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States, the European Union and other countries in development and humanitarian aid.
It is crucial that governments that commit human rights violations be held to the spotlight and pressed to be accountable. Countries that provide assistance to those governments need to prioritize respect for, and protection of human rights for several reasons.
First, grave human rights violations can further stymy development and it potentially drives voices of dissent to abandon non-violence.
Second, supporting an oppressive regime for the sake of regional security will only further destabilize a region already ravaged by conflict, unclear borders, poverty and lack of respect for the rule of law, all in the pursuit of short term stability.
The Ethiopian people deserve better than that.
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/africa/heading-the-wrong-way-the-ever-closing-political-space-in-ethiopia/
Oromia: Athletic Nation Report: Oromo athletes Almaz Ayana and Senbere Teferi win at the Diamond League meeting in Morocco, 5000m May 23, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Athletic nation.
Tags: Africa, Almaz Ayaanaa, Athletic Nation, IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE, Oromia, Oromo, Senbere Teferi
A round-up of the action at the Diamond League meeting in Morocco
Almaz Ayana ensured that the Meeting International Mohammed VI ended on a high on Sunday (May 22) as she clocked the fifth-quickest ever 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in Rabat.
The world champion won by more than 13 seconds, running 14:16.31 for a time that has only ever been bettered by herself once, world record-holder Tirunesh Dibaba and their fellow Ethiopians Genzebe Dibaba and Meseret Defar.
Ayana is now just the third runner after Genzebe Dibaba and Defar to have run sub-14:20 for the distance more than once. Her Rabat performance comes after she won the 3000m at the Doha Diamond League meeting in a world-leading 8:23.11.
Behind Ayana, who ran her PB of 14:14.32 that puts her third on the world all-time list in May last year, Kenya's world fourth-placer Viola Kibiwot ran a 14:29.50 PB, while Ethiopia's world silver medallist Senbere Teferi clocked a 14:35.09 PB.
"I feel disappointed because I wanted to break the world record," said Ayana, who added that the wind had been too strong. "I am sure that I can break the record in one of my next races this year. In the Olympics, I am aiming to compete in both the 5000m and 10,000m."
Over in the women's 800m and the top six all broke 2:00, led by South Africa's 2009 world champion Caster Semenya with a world-leading and meeting record time of 1:56.64 ahead of world indoor champion Francine Niyonsaba's 1:57.74. Also among those sub-2:00 performers was Britain's European and Commonwealth medallist Lynsey Sharp, who clocked 1:59.51 for a Rio qualifying time and fifth place in her first 800m of the season.
Kenya's world silver medallist Conseslus Kipruto ran an African all-comers record with his world-leading time of 8:02.77 in the 3000m steeplechase, despite waving to the crowd on his way to the line. Behind him, Commonwealth silver medallist Jairus Birech ran 8:03.90.
Jamaica's world 200m silver medallist Elaine Thompson won the 100m in 11.02 to break the six-year-old meeting record and beat Nigeria's double Commonwealth sprint champion Blessing Okagbare with 11.11 as USA's Carmelita Jeter placed fifth with 11.32. Further meeting records were run in the 110m hurdles, as David Oliver clocked 13.12 to Orlando Ortega's 13.13, and in the 200m, where Alonso Edward clocked 20.07 to beat Wilfried Koffi with 20.35.
France's world fifth-placer Pierre-Ambroise Bosse won the 800m in 1:44.51 from Olympic 1500m champion Taoufik Makhloufi with 1:44.91, as world bronze medalist Amel Tuka was third and Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos finished sixth. In the 400m, USA's LaShawn Merritt secured victory in 44.66 ahead of Kevin Borlee with 45.26.
There was also a meeting record in the women's javelin as Madara Palameika threw 64.76m in the third round to beat Liina Laasma of Estonia with a national record-breaking throw of 63.65 from the fifth round. In the pole vault, Ekaterini Stefanidi got the win with a meeting record clearance of 4.75m ahead of Nicole Büchler with 4.70m and Yarisley Silva with 4.50m.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams was just a single centimetre off her own shot put meeting record from 2014 as she threw 19.68m in the fifth round for victory. World champion Caterine Ibarguen continued her dominance of the women's triple jump to win with 14.51m.
Jamaica's Commonwealth bronze medallist Janieve Russell won the first Diamond League race of the evening, the 400m hurdles, in 54.16, while South Africa's Rushwal Samaai equalled the long jump meeting record with 8.38m to beat Fabrice Lapierre by 2cm. Britain's Dan Bramble was fourth with 8.00m. Poland's world champion Piotr Malachowski was another meeting record-breaker, throwing 67.45m to win the discus.
The men's high jump was won by Ukraine's 2013 world champion Bohdan Bondarenko thanks to his clearance of 2.31m, while Britain's Olympic medallist Robbie Grabarz cleared 2.25m and finished fifth.
Read also at:-
http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/idl-rabat-ayana-5000m1
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Oromia: Athletic Nation: Great Manchester Run: Oromo athletes Kenenisa Bekele & Tirunesh Dibaba win May 22, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Athleteics, Athletic nation, Uncategorized.
Tags: Africa, Athletic Nation, Athletics, Great Manchester Run, Kenenisa Bekele, Oromia, Oromo, Oromo athletes, Tirunesh Dibaba
Three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele won the men's race at the Great Manchester Run, finishing the 10km course in a time of 28 minutes and eight seconds.
Tirunesh Dibaba made a winning return to competition after a two year hiatus and she also created a small piece of history by becoming the first woman to claim three victories in the Great Manchester Run, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday 22 May 2015.
Keen to blow away the cobwebs in her first race back, Dibaba unusually took up the lead just before the two kilometre mark – a position which she barely yielded for the remainder of her comeback race.
Edna Kiplagat and early leader Diane Nukuri followed in Dibaba's slipstream through 5km in 15:45 but Nukuri – the multiple national record-holder for Burundi on the track and road – began to lose ground after Dibaba inserted a 3:04 split for the sixth kilometre.
The order remained the same through the eight kilometre mark in 25:03 and for a short while, an upset appeared to be on the cards. Kiplagat moved into the lead for the first time while Dibaba was looking laboured.
But Dibaba stayed in contact before striking the front with about 600 metres remaining. It might not have been a vintage showing but the world 5000m record-holder proved she is likely to be a force this summer on the basis of her victory this morning in 31:16 to move to third on the 2016 world lists.
"I felt a bit nervous [before the race] but I'm happy with my result," said Dibaba, who clocked 15:31 for the second half. "I did not expect this time; I just wanted to win. I didn't know what was going to happen and I had no clue about the time."
Dibaba will turn her focus back to the track with the foremost goal of sealing the qualifying time over 10,000m for the Olympic Games.
"I don't know exactly where or when I will be running but I expect to run it within a month," said Dibaba, who hasn't decided if she will run any shorter races to sharpen up.
While there was a considerable degree of uncertainty in regards to the selection criteria for the Ethiopian marathon team, Dibaba more or less knows what she has to do to gain a place on her fourth Olympic team this summer.
"The federation is going to select the team according to time. The best three times will be selected," she said.
Kiplagat, 36, finished just outside her long-standing lifetime best of 31:19 in second with 31:25 while Nukuri – who is targeting a top-15 finish in the Olympic marathon this summer – shaved three seconds off her lifetime best in third in 31:49.
On her comeback from a chest infection and virus, Gemma Steel was the top British finisher in eighth in 32:43.
Bekele defeats Kipsang for his second win in Manchester
The men's race played out in an almost identical manner to the 2014 edition with Kenenisa Bekele cutting loose from Wilson Kipsang in the last kilometre to claim his second victory on Deansgate.
Running less than a month after contrasting fortunes in the London Marathon, Bekele and Kipsang didn't appear to have the residual effects of that race in their legs as they eased through the halfway mark in 14:17 alongside Australia's David McNeill and New Zealand's Zane Robertson.
After a relatively sedate first half, the pace began to increase with Kipsang taking the initiative and by the 8km mark which was reached in 22:40, the pre-race favourites had forged nearly eighty metres on Robertson.
Given Bekele's awesome pedigree at this distance, the outcome was more or less a foregone conclusion with two kilometres remaining and so it played out with Bekele easing away in the last kilometre.
Bekele said before the race he wasn't expecting a fast time so soon after finishing third in the London Marathon but the two-time Olympic 10,000m champion, who took a short break after finishing third in the London contest, still broke the tape in 28:08 –after a 13:52 second half– which was faster than his winning time two years ago.
But his chance of winning a fourth Olympic title later this summer appears to be in the balance with the news that he was only named as a reserve on the Ethiopian marathon team.
Kipsang finished second for the third time in four years in 28:15 while McNeill overhauled Robertson for third, 28:39 to 28:54.
Kipsang also missed out on selection for the Olympic Games, although his chances were thwarted after he took a heavy fall at a drinks station around the 10km mark. He said his leg – which became painful after the 25km checkpoint in London – feels fine now, although he still feels some pain in his shoulder.
And had he not fallen, Kipsang is confident he would have kept pace with Eliud Kipchoge and Stanley Biwott in London, who ran 2:03:05 and 2:03:51 respectively.
"Yes, yes, definitely," he said without hesitation. "I was prepared."
More at:-
http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/dibaba-wins-third-manchester-10k
THE INDIGENOUS WORLD – 2016: The indigenous peoples of Ethiopia May 22, 2016
Tags: 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Ethiopia's colonizing structure and development problems in Oromia and Omo Valley, Indigenous People, Oromia, Oromo, The Indigenous World 2016, The tyrannic Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government's lack of a specific policy or programme to address indigenous peoples' special needs and status has further aggravated their situation. Ethiopia, is a key political actor in Africa, and the second most populous country on the continent. It is a glaring omission that such a significant political actor has not attempted—in consultation with the country's indigenous peoples and their representative institutions—to develop policies and programmes that are in accordance with guidelines from the UN and other relevant bodies and which would bridge the social and economic gaps that are currently causing such distress. The Ethiopian government is thus failing to address widely reported concerns regarding the human rights of indigenous people in Gambela, the lower Omo Valley, Benishangul Gumuz, Afar, Somali and Oromia regions—all areas that have been part of the government's land lease policy and villagization programme. The Oromia region has been the site of significant protests since late 2015 when protests began over plans to expand the capital, Addis Ababa. In what was seen as an attempted "land grab", Oromo farmers argued that expanding Addis Ababa would lead to their displacement and the loss of arable land. Although plans were subsequently dropped, protests continued, leading to what activists reported as the deaths of around 200 people so far, and heightened tensions in the area.
http://www.iwgia.org/publications/search-pubs?publication_id=740
PP. 394- 408
The indigenous peoples of Ethiopia make up a significant proportion of the country's estimated 95 million population. Around 15 percent are pastoralists who live across Ethiopia, particularly in the Ethiopian lowlands, which constitute around 61 percent of the country's total landmass. There are also a number of hunter-gathering communities, including the forestdwelling Majang (Majengir) who live in the Gambela region. Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa, a significant amount of which is concentrated in pastoralist communities living on land that in recent years has become the subject of high demand from foreign investors. The political and economic situation of indigenous peoples in Ethiopia is a tenuous one. The Ethiopian government's policy of villagization has seen many pastoralist communities moved off of their traditional grazing lands, and indigenous peoples' access to healthcare provision and to primary and secondary education remains highly inadequate. There is no national legislation that protects them, and Ethiopia has neither ratified ILO Convention No. 169, nor was present during the voting on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Anti-terror law: a threat to indigenous peoples' rights The situation for indigenous peoples in Ethiopia suffered a significant deterioration in 2015. There was no improvement in national legislation that could offer protection to indigenous peoples, and Ethiopia continues to fail in its obligations under the international human rights mechanisms it has ratified, e.g., the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which calls for special attention to be paid to indigenous peoples, a situation regarding which a number of human rights organizations—including the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Minority Rights Group International (MRGI)—have expressed concern. Moreover, this lack of compliance must also be seen within the context of wider concerns regarding the Ethiopian government's alleged use of anti-terror laws to curtail freedom of speech. Concerns about the latter intensified in April 2014 with the arrest of six members of the Zone 9 blogging group and three other journalists, while the situation with regard to indigenous peoples' rights became even more acute in March 2015 with the arrest in Addis Ababa of seven activists heading to a workshop on food security in Nairobi. Although four of them were eventually released, on 7 September 2015, after six months in detention, the remaining three activists, Pastor Omot Agwa, Ashinie Astin, and Jamal Oumar Hojele, were charged under Ethiopia's counter-terrorism laws, and now face the possibility of extended prison terms if found guilty (Omot faces a sentence of 20 years to life). This has caused widespread concern amongst human rights defenders inside and outside the country, as well as a number of leading human rights organizations.
Land grabbing and policy of villagization A key element in the deteriorating situation of indigenous peoples in Ethiopia is the ongoing policy of "land grabbing" where companies lease large tracts of land from the Ethiopian government in return for significant levels of foreign investment. Since 2008, when widespread concern about the possibility of a potentially global food crisis increased demand for agricultural land, the Ethiopian government has leased millions of hectares of land throughout the country to agricultural investors, both foreign and domestic. The Ethiopian government says that such investments are important for guaranteeing food security. The policy is also seen as an important element in Ethiopia's development strategy because it means that land that is categorized as "under-utilized" can be used productively. However, much of this land is in reality not under-utilized but is used by pastoralists, whose customary rights to the land are being consistently violated. Moreover, the way in which the land is used under the new leasing arrangements arguably does little for food security as there is little food produced. Instead, land is chiefly being used for an array of non-food products such as flowers, or for growing food products destined for the export market. Interestingly, at the very end of 2015, the Ethiopian Agriculture Ministry's land investment agency notified Karuturi Global Inc., one of the first and largest external investors, that its lease was being cancelled because of a lack of "development". Karaturi had used only 1,200 ha of land out of the 100,000 originally allocated to it, and so the Agriculture Ministry has stated that the rest will return to a "land bank" for future investment. The Ethiopian government continues to highlight the employment opportunities of such investment for those living in lowland areas, but much of the employment in these areas has gone to "highlanders" from the central and northern areas of Ethiopia who have moved there to find work. The latter has also increased the possibilities of ethnic tensions, something that has been seen in the Gambela region and in the lower Omo Valley in particular. In the latter case, the building of the Gibe III Dam, which significantly impacts upon water security in the Omo Valley region, has meant a heightened threat to food security and in turn increased conflict over existing resources. For example, there have been reports that cattle herders have moved their animals into Mago National Park to find grass, and have been met with violence from government soldiers who are protecting the park and its wildlife. Reports from external sources have said that the lives of those indigenous peoples living in the region have been "fundamentally and irreversibly" changed by the building of the dam. It will make it very difficult for the half a million indigenous people whose lives and livelihoods depend upon the Omo River to continue living in the area and sustaining their traditional livelihoods. According to the Dam's Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan, only 93 members of four indigenous communities were consulted and this happened only after construction of the dam had already begun. In addition, part of the Ethiopian government's policy on land management includes the pursuit of a policy of villagization, which aims to resettle those who live in rural areas—often indigenous peoples—into communities with improved access to basic amenities, such as clean water, medical services and schools. In reality, however, such amenities have not been provided, and many of the communities have too little food for the population that now exists there. Many people find that when they try and return to the land that they have left in order to resume their previous way of life the land has been leased and they no longer have access to it.
Indigenous communities thus find themselves displaced and deprived of their traditional livelihoods and of access to their natural environment, including access to water, grazing and fishing grounds, arable lands and forest resources. The Ethiopian government's lack of a specific policy or programme to address indigenous peoples' special needs and status has further aggravated their situation. Ethiopia, is a key political actor in Africa, and the second most populous country on the continent. It is a glaring omission that such a significant political actor has not attempted—in consultation with the country's indigenous peoples and their representative institutions—to develop policies and programmes that are in accordance with guidelines from the UN and other relevant bodies and which would bridge the social and economic gaps that are currently causing such distress. The Ethiopian government is thus failing to address widely reported concerns regarding the human rights of indigenous people in Gambela, the lower Omo Valley, Benishangul Gumuz, Afar, Somali and Oromia regions—all areas that have been part of the government's land lease policy and villagization programme. The Oromia region has been the site of significant protests since late 2015 when protests began over plans to expand the capital, Addis Ababa. In what was seen as an attempted "land grab", Oromo farmers argued that expanding Addis Ababa would lead to their displacement and the loss of arable land. Although plans were subsequently dropped, protests continued, leading to what activists reported as the deaths of around 200 people so far, and heightened tensions in the area.
Considering the future for indigenous peoples' rights in Ethiopia, it therefore remains important that there be a country-wide, inclusive and participatory movement in the country that would be able to ensure that the concerns of pastoralists and agro-pastoral peoples are taken into account as part of key government policies and programmes. The country's lack of formal mechanisms in which to consider such issues, as well as legal restrictions on freedom of association and speech, appear to preclude this. This is despite the fact that the Ethiopian constitution—though lacking in clear provisions directly related to indigenous peoples —does include a provision for dealing with the development needs of pastoralist communities. However, the overall outlook for a nationwide indigenous peoples' movement is promising. Consensus is underway amongst various groups that— with the support of international organizations and a more positive government view—could enable the country's marginalized communities to face a more positive future.
The 33 cities with the worst quality of life in the world: Addis Ababa is at 24th out of the bottom 33 in the world May 22, 2016
Tags: Addis Ababa is at 24th out of the bottom 33 in the world, Africa, Ethiopia, The 33 cities with the worst quality of life in the world
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia —The capital city is going through a building boom but many of its citizens are suffering from extreme poverty. On top of that, social friction between the government and its citizens is high, especially after protests over building plans killed students and farmers.
Singapore (Business Insider) — Every year Mercer, one of the world's largest HR consultancy firms, releases itsQuality of Living Index, which looks at the cities that provide the best quality of life.
Business Insider has already looked at the27 cities with the best quality of life and also the 17 European cities that are deemed the most unsafe.
Now we take a look at what cities are ranked as providing the worst quality of life.
The ranking is one of the most comprehensive of its kind and is carried out annually to help multinational companies and other employers to compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments, according to Mercer.
Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life — which therefore shows what it feels are the best and worst:
Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services)
Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools)
Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion)
Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)
Mercer made a list of 230 countries and Business Insider took a look at the bottom 33 in the world.
33. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania — The largest city in the country is rife with crime. Britain's government says on its foreign travel website: "British tourists have been kidnapped, robbed and forced with the threat of violence to withdraw cash from ATMs and arrange cash transfers up to £5,000 through Western Union after being befriended by strangers or using unlicensed taxis. Walk as far away from the road as possible."
32 (joint). Lahore, Pakistan — The city has a general low standard of living due to the high number of slums. It has also been under attack from terrorism. During Easter this year, a Taliban militant faction claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in a public park which killed dozens of people.
32 (joint). Luanda, Angola — Mercer said Luanda is the most expensive city to live in the world due to extraordinarily high living expenses and poverty-level wages for locals.
30. Yangon, Myanmar — The city formerly known as Rangoon is continually stricken by inter-religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims, leading to a high murder rate.
29. Karachi, Pakistan — It's the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the world but is also one of the most violent. Kidnapping, violent crime, and muggings are commonplace.
28. Tehran, Iran — Sanctions have only just been lifted on the country but Tehran has high poverty levels, social instability, and murder. Kidnapping, theft, fraud, money laundering, and drug trafficking are just some of the regular crimes committed in the country's capital.
27. Lome, Togo — The city is the largest in Togo and holds high unemployment rates. Its infrastructure is also deteriorating and the African nation faces problems with living conditions and rubbish collection.
26. Tashkent, Uzbekistan — The capital in the central Asia country has become a hotbed for terrorism over the last year. In 2015, the US embassy in Tashkent was attacked for the first time in 11 years and the government is trying to counteract growth in Islamic extremism.
25. Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire — It's the economic capital of the Ivory Coast but the British embassy has issued warnings against anyone travelling there unless essential. It said "violent crime can occur at any time" and that the city, and the country, has a "high threat of terrorism."
24. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia —The capital city is going through a building boom but many of its citizens are suffering from extreme poverty. On top of that, social friction between the government and its citizens is high, especially after protests over building plans killed students and farmers.
23. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan — The city is largely controlled by the government, mainly through a large percentage of employment coming from state-owned enterprises. Unfortunately, the city suffers from chronic water shortages due to state mismanagement, which is crippling for citizens where temperatures soared as high as 47.2 degrees Celsius (116.96 F) in 2015.
22. Harare, Zimbabwe — The capital, as well as the rest of the country, suffers from an oppressive government led by Robert Mugabe. The city is also poverty stricken and millions of citizens are starving due to 75% of maize crops failing, prompting Mugabe to appeal for £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) to help pay for grain and other food.
21. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan — Poverty is high in the economic centre of the country. Meanwhile, the government is battling continual attacks from members of Islamic State — also known as ISIS and Daesh.
20. Lagos, Nigeria — The country's largest city battles environmental threats, such as riptides, annually. Citizens are also under continual threats to their personal safety, including the kidnapping of students and murder.
19 (joint). Abuja, Nigeria — The city, like Lagos, suffers from high crime rates from inter-communal violence. The British Foreign Office tells travellers: "You could get kidnapped or find yourself caught up in a terrorist or other violent incident."
19 (joint). Dushanbe, Tajikistan — Poverty and energy shortages are a huge issue for the city and country as a whole. The World Bank also warns that doing business there is difficult due to the inadequate infrastructure.
17. Dhaka, Bangladesh — Dhaka is one of the world's most populated cities and its garment exports bolsters its economy. But working conditions and human rights, as well as local poverty for a bulk of its citizens, are criticised and under scrutiny by world governments and charities.
16. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — The city is under continual threat of terrorist attacks and earlier this year, an Al-Qaeda bombing on a popular hotel killed 29 people.
15. Tripoli, Libya — The city was carved up by two rival warlords last year and even the main airport was destroyed in the summer of 2015 and all the main embassies have been closed down. Migrants and refugees are also flooding into the country due to its proximity with Europe.
14. Niamey, Niger — Protests, governmental corruption, and local poverty place this city onto the list.
13. Antananarivo, Madagascar — The city, and the rest of the country, depends on agriculture for its economic growth. However political instability hinders any chance of continuous development.
12. Bamako, Mali — The city was rocked by terrorist attacks last year when Islamist militants took 170 hostages and killed 20 of them in a mass shooting at the Radisson Blu hotel.
11. Nouakchott, Mauritania —The city was originally a small village of little importance until 1958 until growing rapidly into one of the biggest cities in the Sahara. However, overcrowding, droughts, and poverty have helped fill the city with slums.
10. Conakry, Guinea Republic — The port city is riddled with personal safety issues. Violent crime, protests, and strikes wreak havoc in Conakry.
9. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Ethnic nationalist conflict is rife in the city and NGOs have tried to step in to provide aid and food relief to the city and the rest of the country.
8. Brazzaville, Congo — Government corruption has triggered huge protests in the city which led to a number of people being killed by the police.
7. Damascus, Syria — Mercer says the city has "witnessed continual violence and terrorist attacks that weigh upon the daily life of locals and expatriates."
6. N'Djamena, Chad —The city in one of the world's poorest countries has suffered at the hands of militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The group carries out frequent suicide bombings in the city.
5. Khartoum, Sudan —It's the second largest city in Sudan and is a key recruiting ground for ISIS.
4. Port Au Prince, Haiti —The city is rife with violent crime and is dangerous for travellers. Rapes and robberies are common and there is a worrying growth in vigilante violence.
3. Sana'a, Yemen — The largest city in Yemen has been devastated by airstrikes from Saudi Arabia as the country has become a battleground in the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
2. Bangui, Central African Republic — The capital city is incredibly poor and many citizens rely on aid for survival. On top of that, violent sectarian clashes erupt regularly in the area.
1. Baghdad, Iraq — The capital city has suffered severe infrastructural damage from several wars and continual on the ground violence. It continues to face threats from ISIS.
http://www.businessinsider.sg/mercers-quality-of-living-index-worst-cities-rankings-2016-5/#.V0HFxVQrJdi
Oromia: Ethiopia: The People Want Their Country Back May 21, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia: TPLF's corruption empire, TPLF/EPRDF Ethiopian Regime is a Contra to a Developmental State
The People Want Their Country Back
OPINION By Seid Hassan, All Africa
Ethiopia is in the grip of a terrible crisis. The recent widespread popular protests must be understood in the context of an atrociously repressive regime and near total capture of the state by ethnic elites, who are now the sole beneficiaries of national resources. The people are bitter. If this mass frustration is channeled into properly organized popular resistance, Ethiopia could see a revolution.
In addition to the senseless killings of protesters by the ruling party targeting the Oromos, the latest video clips and news reports also indicate that the same protests in Oromia region have led to the burning/destruction of properties, foundations, etc. There is an ongoing and raging debate among Ethiopians, residing both in and outside of the country, about this debacle. Some members of the diaspora link (and rightly so in this regard) the burnings/destructions to the innumerable atrocities and endemic corruption committed by the ruling party. Their condoning seems to emanate from the fact that a good portion of the destroyed properties are owned by corrupt elites and foreign companies/individuals with close links to the ruling clique. The owners of these properties and structures are reaping what they have sown, they argue. Folks who echo these sentiments seem to consider riots as antidotes to unending pillaging and a necessary evil to avenge evil doers.
There are others, particularly those who consider themselves as soldiers of the peaceful struggle, which includes those who participated in organizing of the protests, who argue against the burning and destruction of properties. The destructions and burnings, they say, were perpetrated by saboteurs of peaceful struggle and repercussions of the ruling party's uncalled for brutalities on peaceful protestors. Folks in this camp at times point out mechanisms of regaining ill-gotten assets. The burnings and destructions also seem to have put a large portion of Ethiopians in a quandary and deep dilemma. They really seem to be between a rock and hard place (that is, unable to either condemn or condone the destructions).
As a soldier of non-violent resistance, I also do not condone the burnings/destructions. But contrary to our wishes, I acknowledge and fret the fact that burnings and destructions of greater magnitude may be inevitable. In fact, I saw this debacle coming, long ago. And I have raised this possibility, on several occasions, with friends, such as renowned professors of Ethiopian origin, namely, Minga Negash, Messay Kebede and Berhanu Mengistu, every time we discussed the cunning nature of Ethiopian corruption. As we discussed, it seemed as though our heads have become dizzy and our voices trebled, for the destructions could reach epic proportions. Why do Ethiopians consider the government supported investment structures and properties as not belonging to them but instead as "foreign" assets and even vehicles of large scale displacements, exploitation and oppression?
Now, if you want to understand why the protesters failed to understand that foreign direct investment (FDI) creates wealth (which it does), but instead consider even the "domestically" (political-party and elite-owned) "investments" as alien/foreign owned, why foreign direct investment is considered as a "fancy word for stealing" and as highly exploitative and accessory to evil, etc., and why they even venture for their destructions, I urge you to read on. If you want to understand the nature of Ethiopian corruption, its ramifications – how it has been and continues to irreparably damage the social and institutional fabrics of the country – and most importantly, if you really want to begin thinking of designing strategies for combating corrutpion and forestall potentially devastating destructions, please allow me to elaborate.
This commentary is designed, therefore, to implore you (the reader) to understand the intractable nature of Ethiopian corruption and then think about potential "solutions." This is because designing strategies and finding "solutions" require a good grasp of the type of corruption found in a specific country, in this case Ethiopia.
STATE CAPTURE: A FORM OF GRAND CORRUPTION AS THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM
As I have shown on several occasions before, what we have been witnessing in Ethiopia is the most [url=file:///G:/Documents/my articles/v]pernicious and intractable[/url] form of corruption known as State Capture. This form of corruption needs to be distinguished from what is known in the corruption literature as Administrative (Bureaucratic) Corruption. The latter is the type of corruption defined and observed in the traditional manner, in almost all countries, save for post-communist (transition) countries. In particular, administrative (bureaucratic) corruption deals with the extent to which the bribe payer uses the existing laws, rules, and regulations to tip the balance in his favor. In general, administrative (bureaucratic) corruption is known to take place at the implementation level of the bureaucracy while the political (grand) corruption takes place at the highest level of political authority. Examples of variants of administrative corruption may include: impeding the implementation of justice; getting involved in the forgery and/or destruction of documents; delaying and/or procrastinating on executing high level official (assigned) duties; using official hours for personal gains; misrepresenting one's authority; getting involved in partisan favors (nepotism); misusing public property; engaging in absenteeism; getting involved in kickbacks from developmental programs; pay-offs for legislative support, diversion of public resources for private use; overlooking illegal activities; common theft/embezzlement; overpricing, establishing non-existing projects and tax collection and tax assessment frauds, etc.
Even though it may be difficult to completely eradicate it, fortunately, nations could minimize the damage done by administrative (bureaucratic) corruption by ensuring transparency, accountability and openness in governmental activities. This is done, for example, by (a) Establishing independent power centers outside the bureaucracy; (b) Establishing independent electoral boards and developing and allowing competitive party politics; (c) Using the independent media, which in turn enables interest groups, members of civic society, NGOs, etc.; (d) Using the investigative powers of parliament; (e) Setting up of independent anti-corruption boards and commissions; and (f) Using the independent judiciary.
However, what we have been witnessing in Ethiopia is a different kind of corruption known as State Capture, which is known to have manifested itself in transition (formerly socialist) countries. It is a phenomenon in which powerful groups exert their corrupt and undue influence in order to shape the institutions and policies, laws and regulations of the state for their own benefit rather than for the public good.
State capture could arise and be practiced in several ways: it could result from powerful individuals, groups or firms using both non-transparent provisions as well as legitimate and transparent channels to deny competing groups access to state officials and resources. It could also arise from the exploitation of the "unclear boundaries between the political and business interests of state officials" by specific groups and state officials for their mutual benefits at the expense of the society in question (Hellman: 1998:3).
According to Broadman and Recanatini (2001), state capture is harmful corruption that subverts the entire political process designed to ensure that policies and regulations favorable to specific groups and business interests are implemented.
State capture may differ from country to country. In some countries, state capture could clearly be seen as a variant of a corruptive practice known as crony capitalism in which powerful groups, individuals and oligarchs shape and manipulate the formation of new policies – that is, the "rules of the game"- to their own advantage. The phenomenon could be observed whenever state officials pass decrees and/or legislative votes favoring organized business groups, oligarchs or powerful individuals. It could also be observed in huge "concentration of economic and political power" and economic inequality arising from self-interested actors gaining and controlling the state and its resources. The state capture phenomenon could also be observed in the collusive activities of powerful leaders (regional or national), ministers, and legislative and judiciary executives, corporate executives of state institutions/agencies and party-owned companies. In some cases, state capture is a result of weakened legal and political institutions. In other instances, captors purposely weaken the country's legal and political institutions so that they would be susceptible to capture and exploitation.
It is also manifested in the failure of economic reforms and the stripping of public assets by some powerful individuals or organized groups using the "privatization" process. In some instances, state capture could be observed when organized groups clandestinely create a state within a state ("parallel state") in order to influence the state structures, including the judiciary, the security apparatus, the military, and even the media. In some countries where state capture has occurred, the line between what is private and what is public, what is official and non-official, what is state and what is market are totally blurred.
As you can observe from the above descriptions, under state capture, a country's laws, regulations, legalities and ultimately its institutions are part of corrupt transactions. Such corruption features are quite different from the administrative/bureaucratic corruption described above.
In some countries such as Ethiopia (Hassan, 2013) (and to a limited extent, countries such as Uganda and Rwanda), the entire political, economic, legal and military structures are under the control of powerful cliques or ethnically organized groups. Corruption of this type is pernicious because these same organized groups, in collaboration with owners of powerful firms and/or oligarchs, happen to dominate the vital sectors of all institutions (economic, social, legal and military). In some cases, as manifested in countries such as Russia in the 1990s and in some countries in Africa, Ethiopia included, the practice of capture is highly organized and predatory. The captors are known to use, among other things, violence and intimidation. They are known to have created their own monopolies (oligarchies) and cartels in order to monopolize the vital sectors of the economic system while at the same time disabling the ongoing market reforms. In short, this kind of corruption resembles a modern version of organized crime.
COUNTRY SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CAPTORS
The corruptive activities of the captors are largely similar but they may differ by country or origin and type of captors. In post-communist countries, Hellman et al (2000:3) make distinctions between private "captor firms (i.e. firms that make private payments to public officials to affect the rules of the game) and influential firms (i.e. firms that have influence on those rules without recourse to private payments to public officials)." The captors in general are the nomenklatura – a group of former managers and bureaucrats of state-owned enterprises under the old Soviet system and other Eastern Bloc nations (estimated to be about 1.5 percent of the population) who were "engaged in ceaseless political maneuvering among themselves while maintaining total power, as a privileged class, over all the others."
They could also be public officials who "may use their positions to capture enterprises," or a group of actors such as the members of parliament, the executive, ministers and judiciary acting in unison (the ruling party leaders acting prosecutor, judge, and jury).
While largely similar, state capture in developing countries such as Ethiopia differs from that in post-communist countries in some important ways: For one, unlike their Russian and East European counterparts, the Ethiopian captors do not exclusively belong to the nomenklatura (former higher officials of the communist parties), since a large portion of them were rag tag guerrilla fighters who had marched all the way out from the bushes to seize power and enrich themselves. Secondly, in countries such as Ethiopia, the state capture phenomenon is highly parochial (quasi-feudal and ethnic-based) in nature.
Unfortunately, patronage infested Ethiopian corruption has a strong tendency for both envy and tolerance. It involves envy because corruption assisted riches of elites in one ethnic group irritate other ethnic groups. On the other hand, it is quite possible for tolerance for the vice to emanate from those who have ethnic affiliation with the ruling clique. This tendency is known to have permeated the Kenyan society (Michela Wrong, 2009: "It is Our Turn to Eat.") The end result is a vicious cycle of corruption, each (largely powerful) ethnic group's elites taking their turns to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.
One also observes a very strong patron-clientelistic and neo-patrimonialistic nature of corruption in these countries (Ethiopia, in particular).
Thirdly, unlike in some post-communist countries such as Eastern Europe, in which some oligarchs were forced out of political power, the Ethiopian captors continue to hold both political and economic power. The Russian oligarchs made their fortunes through wheeling and dealing and by committing all kinds of economic crimes including buying Russian assets at throw away prices (so did their Ethiopian counter-parts). But, Mr. Putin, who did not like the political meddling of some of them, used his scorched earth tactics to put some of them behind bars and sent others into exile while at the same time stripping off their assets (leaving alone those who did not venture to politically challenge him). Putin's scorched earth tactics might have averted a rise of a potentially more devastating plutocracy than we observe in Russia today. The captors in Eastern and Central Europe gradually lost their political clout partly due to the desires and efforts of those countries to join the European Union and fulfill the EU's conditions and the latter's assistance in fighting and eradicating state capture.
Fourth, state capture in countries such as Ethiopia is unparalleled in that it is a stronger form than one finds elsewhere in that it encompasses the seizure of the political apparatus and the commanding heights of the national economy – the seizure extending to the military, security, foreign policy and judicial system and even the complete control of the media. In Ethiopia, the predatory oligarchs' appetite for controlling the commanding heights of the country's economy, misappropriating its resources and accumulating wealth using a network of political power continues unabated, thereby exacerbating the gaps between the haves and the have-nots. Elite predation has led to a virtual criminalization of the state to the extent that mafia-type criminal activities pop up occasionally.
Another peculiar characteristic of state capture in Ethiopia is its high level ethnic nature. Moreover, the lines between what is official and what is private are totally blurred, and the party and the state have become almost indistinguishable. It is for this reason that many are tempted to label the Ethiopian corruptive system as highly kleptocratic. As a result, the captured economy is trapped in a vicious cycle in which any policy reforms designed to improve governance are doomed to fail. There is constant collusion between the powerful groups operating from outside and within the government.
WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED IN ETHIOPIA?
What is being witnessed in Ethiopia is the establishment of shell companies in contravention of the country's commercial codes, such as establishing sare companies with only 2-5 "shareholders", most of these "shareholders" being party leaders. As Gennet Mersha explains, the parallel existence of political party-owned businesses has led to (a) "leakage of resources in the form of capital flight, (b) the granting and manipulation of licenses, (c) use of inside information pertaining to privatization, competition for state contracts and bids and awards of project contracts such as road and building and other construction works, (d) lack of competition, and (e) systematic discrimination of businesses and professionals."
What we have observed is "favouritism and clique building [which] flourished around the privatization boards ([url=file:///C:/Users/shassan/Documents/tdrive as of june 23 2015/corruption/Aid, Development and corruption/follow up and Commentary of Professor Ejigu Demissie of the University of Maryland]Minga Negash[/url]). What the Ethiopian people witnessed were improper handling of the restructuring and privatization process (Mersha: 2010), Young (1998), Vestal (2009), and Negash (2010). What Ethiopians have witnessed is large-scale systemic state capture through the rise of suffocating political-party owned companies ("endowments"), such as EFFORT and the numerous companies subsumed under it.
What we know is the refusal of the members of the ruling clique (TPLF) to return the country's assets that they looted when they were guerrilla fighters while at the same time occupying the highest branches of government.
What we know is party hacks presiding "over top-level corporate boards of party-owned businesses and major government enterprises including banks" and their funneling of easy bank loans to regional party-owned companies.
What has transpired is the disfranchisement of "other" Ethiopians and the stifling of competition through the awarding of contracts to those connected with the ruling party, such high level nepotism being very high particularly in the construction sector (see, World Bank's Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia, Chapter 6, for example.)
What we have witnessed on a daily basis, twenty five years and counting, is the currying of favour of these same conglomerates and cadre-owned and favored companies resulting in the distortions of competition and lack of competitive marketplace.
What we have witnessed, much like in countries which were under the influence of the Soviet Union, is the seizure and control of the financial sector by a specific group.
What we are witnessing is suffocation through the use of the so-called new press and anti-terrorism laws.
What we observe in Ethiopia is the passage and adoption of new repressive laws such as the one prohibiting opposition parties from receiving funds from abroad, while at the same time the ruling party benefits immensely from that.
What has developed is a zero-sum mentality and practice, a powerful leadership with deaf ears that is "too rigid, arrogant and disconnected" with high level of patronage.
What Ethiopians have witnessed is the constant attack and dismantling of opposition political parties, the weakening of the country's institutions – be they independent civil society organizations, unions, or professional organizations – the watering down of the quality of education, constant violation of the rule of law, etc.
What is being observed is the creation of a toothless anti-corruption commission (itself implicated in mushrooming of corruption) to hoodwink donors and the hijacking of anti-corruption efforts – to the extent of using it to attack and imprison political opponents.
Just like in communist Russia and elsewhere, the ruling party of Ethiopia has captured the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and practically all regulatory agencies – all distinguishing caricatures of state capture, the highest form of corruption that is directed toward extracting rents.
THE REPERCUSSIONS
State Capture and (mafia type) criminal oligarchy, accompanied by an unbelievable arrogance and repression has resulted in deep disillusionment, cynicism and polarization in the country. It has resulted in once upon a time rag-tag guerrilla fighters and poor taxi drivers, not known for their ingenuity or something else that is good, becoming extremely wealthy, almost overnight. It has led to the setting ablaze of property, in which local businesses happen to bear the brunt of the destructions. Riots do not take place in a vacuum. The causes are the nauseating greed on the part of the ruling party, the eviction of tens of thousands of people from their ancestral lands and the transfer of these same lands, with little or no compensations, to the ruling party-owned companies, elites and foreigners. The causes of the riots are, no doubt, outright nepotism and organized crime committed by the ruling elites. Corruption riddled land transfers have resulted in the transfer of resources from the people into the hands of a very few. Those whose lands have forcefully been taken away and displaced and those who have been oppressed seem not to be taking the abuse any more.
As an economist, I see the ruling clique's overreach (of forced displacements, arrogance, insatiable greed and suffocating corruption) having lasting damage. Thanks to the overreaches of the government and criminal activities of party elites, foreign direct investment is now considered a fancy word for deceit and exploitation. Indeed, people-centered and properly compensated urban development projects would have been a win-win for all those involved. Thanks to the rampant land-related corruption, the ruling clique's dirty tricks have undermined future legitimate development projects. No doubt these overreaches will be big time setbacks to future development.
RESISTANCE TO PREDATORY LAND GRABS
Allow me to elaborate the fraud infested and predatory land grabs which sparked several unrests, a little more. Just like North Korea and China, land belongs to the Ethiopian government, which in turn created a space for a frenzy of uncompensated land grabbing, rent-seeking and nepotism. Using several endless land proclamations as their tools, Ethiopian officials and land grabbers might have copied Chinese practices of forcefully expropriating land. It appears that land grabbers in Ethiopia have failed to understand the problems associated with such a practice. For one, forced evictions have resulted not only in human rights abuses and the violations of the international covenants that China has ratified, but the scheme has contributed to growing income inequality. Ethiopian authoritarian rulers should have known that growing inequalities have consequences.
Secondly, a large portion of the evictions in China was largely done by local officials and against the wishes of the central government. In Ethiopia, both the re-zoning and demolition plans and executions are exclusively done under the directives of central government authorities, contributing to the rising resentments.
Thirdly, both the central and local governments of China were able to create factory jobs which absorbed a significant portion of the evicted peasants, resulting in indirect compensations to the lost properties for those who were displaced. In Ethiopia, local communities hardly get any benefits from the "investments" despite promises of creating jobs and other goodies such as access to electricity and clean water.
Fourthly, contrary to what is largely observed in Ethiopia, it appears that Chinese local authorities and developers compensated evictees even though the compensations were nowhere equal to the market value of the properties.
Fifth, in the Ethiopian case, those who benefit from land-related corruption (which includes forced evictions and demolitions) happen to be at the top echelons of the ruling party.
Sixth, unlike the Chinese, the Ethiopian population is highly divided along ethnic lines, such divisions exacerbated by the policies of the regime itself. And last but not least, unlike the Ethiopian land grabbers, the Chinese authorities never used live ammunitions against protesters whose lands ha been seized. That must be why other ethnic groups, the Oromos, in particular, consider the so-called federal police (repeatedly observed brutally beating students and protesters) and the military as only belonging to and used as a killing paramilitary squad of the TPLF. The Ethiopian people have repeatedly witnessed that the ruling party have never been accountable for the atrocities it committed. Witness the tortures, disappearances, mass arrests and massacres the regime committed in 1995, 2005/6, 2014, and now 2015/16, the genocide committed against the Anuak people in 2003, the killing of university students in 2001, just to name a few.
The Ethiopian people have been traumatized by the endless atrocities. It is these and numerous other atrocities that have forced the people to think that this is not their government. It is the looting of public resources by a few and the extreme corrupt activities which have led the Ethiopian people to think the properties and investment do not belong to them but to a parasitic group. Consequently, it is not hard to imagine corruption that is committed by "others" (conserved by many as if they are invaders) – and in a lot of cases, orchestrated by those who claim to be representing one ethnic group – to be viewed with great envy and anger thereby escalating the polarization. No wonder it results in extreme discontent and riots.
State capture, together with oppression, arrogance and brutality, is leading the country to experience an accelerating socio-politico-economic breakdown and to potentially ethnic/sectarian conflicts – all contributing to the unravelling and possible disintegration of the rotting system. Unfortunately, the collapsing system will have collateral and innocent victims.
"SOLUTIONS": WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As I indicated above, state capture is anathema to reform. In the Ethiopia today, there is no independent judiciary that can uphold the rule of law since the rule of law gets subverted by top-level officials on a constant basis. There are no checks and balances. All we have is a rubber-stamp "parliament. All we have is a toothless anti-corruption agency, which is saddled with the lack of resources and incompetence. Nearly all independent and privately owned newspapers have been forcefully shuttered and many of journalists sent to jail or exile. These brutal measures have deprived the country of the means to fight rampant corruption.
Civil society organizations have been either decimated or captured. What we have is an executive body which fires auditors when the auditors expose corruption and the disappearance of billions of birr. In today's Ethiopia, every regulatory agency is captured, to the extent of Mr. Sibant Nega, the founder, architect and now revered figurehead of the TPLF, boldly and unashamedly admitting the obvious: that corruption in Ethiopia is so bad that it has permeated even the religious institutions.
The Ethiopian oligarchy lacks a Vladimir Putin (that is, Meles Zenawi) who could have served as an anti-corruption czar and used his unparalleled power and Machiavellian tactics to trap and quell his distractors and possibly extend the political life of the oligarchy. The paranoid and heavy-handed measures taken against the Oromos by the ruling clique clearly indicate that not only the ruling party has become headless but it also indicates a lack of command and control.
What we are left with is three relatively powerful groups, who could potentially allay the pains inflicted upon the Ethiopian people by rampant corruption – their measures having the potential to extend the political life of the kleptocratic regime. Even though these groups may be able to extend the political life of the regime, they would not, however, save it from eventual collapse since corruption of this magnitude cannot be saved from within. What I am thinking about are (a) Multinational institutions, such as the IMF, World Bank and others; (b) donor nations, particularly the United State and the EU; and (c) pressure from stakeholders who are a part of and have closer ties with the regime, that is, 'custodians of the status quo' (Berhanu Mnegistu, 2016-"Mediating Political Space… ").
The first two are holders of strong arms – capable of putting immense pressure on the clique. For one, these institutions and donors know how aid dependent the regime is – so aid dependent just "[like] a patient addicted to pain killers." The United States and members of the EU, the U.K. in particular, along with the aid institutions, know the "aid" they provide was and still is the source of corruption, be it via illicit financial outflows, used to recruit and pay millions of cadres, used to fund forced villagization or other means. As I have shown elsewhere, donor nations know that part of the seeds of capital for party-owned conglomerates are the "aid" they provided. Should they wish to do so, donor nations can bring the TPLF leaders to their knees by suing them for their misuse of foreign aid and money laundering.
As for the third group, according to Professor Berhanu Mengistu (2016), the effectiveness of the 'custodians of the status quo' depends not only on their ability to "convince the narrow stakeholders" that change is in their best interests but also on their ability to direct those changes. One may legitimately ask: Would the custodians of the status quo be able to control their own greed and selfishness when in fact the entire ruling party, top-to-bottom, is so repugnantly corrupt? Well, if they failed to do so, then they will lose all that they have amassed!
So, why did Oromo protesters burn down properties and investment structures located within their own neighborhoods? Well, it is because of the resentment which running deep against overbearing party elites who scoop up lands that don't belong to them – the grabbed lands making very wealthy almost overnight. All that the people see is wealth following senseless corruption, party affiliation, bloodlines, but not hard work or original access to one's ancestral land. The protesters are not only pushed out of their ancestral lands but they also do not have jobs, money or even prospects. As the rioters' selective attack targets indicate, the burnings/destructions and boycotting seem to be directed at those owned by the TPLF and its supporters. Unfortunately, resentment of this kind is also harbored by other ethnic groups. Such practices may indeed be repeated in other regions, even though Ethiopia does not really have lots of resources to burn and destroy.
Unfortunately, the Ethiopian people continue to be traumatized by TPLF's economic gangsterism and government-led violence. Trauma leads to hopelessness, extreme anger and frustration, to the extent of being self-destructive. The burning of properties, therefore, is a by-product of the traumas that the Oromos have suffered for too long. I have my deep fears that someday such destructiveness may repeat itself in the other regions of the country and possibly in a large scale. Let's pray and hope that appropriate measures, capable of forestalling the looming dangers will be taken.
Seid Hassan teaches at Murray State University.
THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
http://allafrica.com/stories/201602231258.html
Oromia: Irreecha Oromo Spring Celebrations: Ayyaani Irreecha Arfaasaa Oromoo haala ho'aa fi gammachiisaan Dilabata Caamsaa 15 bara 2016 Tulluu Beegiitti (Jimmaatti) kabajamee oole. May 17, 2016
Tags: Africa, Irreecha Arfaasaa (SPring Celebration) in Oromia, Irreecha Oromo Spring Celebrations 2016 at Tulluu Deeddee, Oromia, Oromo, Spring equinox in Oromo Culture
Oromians revel in the return of spring by visiting the ancient sites including mount Beegii in Jimma, Western Oromia.
Ayyaanni Irreecha (irreessa) Arfaasaa bara kanaa, bara 6410 A.L.O., magaalaa jimmaa tulluu Beegii tti haala adda ta'een ummata Oromoo magaalaa jimmaa fi naannawa isheetti argamu waliin haala gaariin kabajamee ooleera.
Kabaja Ayyaana Irreecha Arfaasaa Godina Jimmaa (Caamsaa 15, 2016)
https://www.oromiamedia.org/2016/05/16/kabaja-ayyaana-irreecha-arfaasaa-godina-jimmaa-caamsaa152015/
Camsaa 14/2016 Jalbultiin Kabaja Ayyaanaa Irreechaa Arfaasaa Godina Jimmaa Tullee Beegii Kabajame.
Camsaa 14/2016 Jalbultiin Kabaja Ayyaanaa Irreechaa Arfaasaa Godina Jimmaa Tulluu Beegiitti Guyyaa Boruu Caamsaa 15/2016 Kabajamuu
Jalbultiin isaa guyyaa har'aa waaree booda bifa ho'aa ta'een Qeerroo gootota barattoota Oromoo fi sabboontoota uummataa Oromoof kabajamu
egale!! Jalbultiin Ayyaanaa Irreecha Arfaasaa Godina Jimmaa Tulluu Beegiitti bifa ho'aa fi hawwannaa guddaa fi gootummaa argisiisuun guyyaa har'aa goototni Qeerroo dargaggoota barattoota Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa fi Sabboontoota barsiisotni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa fi
Sabboontoota uummaata Oromoo godinichaan bifa adda ta'een kabajamuu eegalee jira.
Ayyaannii Irreechaa Godina Jimmaatti Eejjennoo fi kutannoo sabboontootni barsiisotni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa, ejjennoo qeerroo gootota barattoota Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa fi Sabboontoota ilmaan Oromoo hojjettootaa fi hordoftootni Amantaa Waaqeffaannaa Jimmaa ga'ee guddaa taphatanii fi uummata naannoo waliin ta'uun tokkummaa fi jaalaala Oromummaa argisiisaniin sadarkaa guddaa irra ga'uun eenyummaa, jaalaalaa, tokkummaa fi bifa Oromummaa fi sabboonummaa Oromoo tikseen yeroo dhiyoo keessatti sadarkaa guddaa irra ga'uun ayyaanaa Irreechaa Godina Jimmaa kan Arfaasaa Tulluutti kabajamuu fi Ayyaanaa Irreechaa kan Birraa Malkaatti kabajamuu jedhamuun Godina Kibba lixa Oromiyaa keessatti bakka guddaa qabachuun Simannaa uummata Oromoo kumootaan lakkaa'amanii argatee jira, haaluma kana fakkaatuun guyyaa boruu Caamsaa 15/2016 Ayyaannii Irreechaa Arfaasaa kabajamuuf jiru guyyaa har'aa Jalbultiin isaa bifa ho'aa ta'een kabajamuu eegalee jira!! Goototni Qeerroon Barattootni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii jimmaa Waraana agaaziin marfamanii utuu jiranii wallee warraaqsaa eenyummaa fi gootummaa Oromoo faarsuun kabajachaa jiru!!
The worst drought in half a century has stricken large parts of Africa. More than 50 million people are threatened by hunger and few countries have been hit as hard as Ethiopia. May 14, 2016
Tags: 'Death Awaits': Africa Faces Worst Drought in Half a Century, Africa, Ethiopia, Famine and Ethiopia rising meme, Why Famine is a Permanent Phenomenon in Ethiopia?, Women and elders) are dying of genocidal mass killings and politically caused famine
Ethiopia:
For a long time, the government insisted that the country could handle the situation on its own. Indeed, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn first requested assistance from the international community in March. But international aid organizations were also ordered not to speak publicly about the true scale of the disaster, the liberal magazine Addis Standard recently reported — a newspaper that is viewed with some skepticism by the government.
The authoritarian regime doesn't tolerate criticism: Members of the opposition are persecuted and unruly journalists imprisoned. Nor are oppositional voices to be heard in parliament, where the governing Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) holds 100 percent of the seats. The party liberated Ethiopia in 1991 from the socialist terror rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam, but itself likewise acts with a heavy hand.
What Ethiopia needs is an agricultural revolution, but the government is doing too little to mechanize agriculture and increase productivity. In fact, it has done the opposite by clinging to its strategy of industrialization — one that includes the leasing of giant farmlands to foreign agricultural companies which then export foodstuffs in grand fashion from the country at a time when it must import hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat in order to compensate for the crop losses caused by the drought.
'Death Awaits': Africa Faces Worst Drought in Half a Century
By Bartholomäus Grill
Jens Grossmann / Welthungerhilfe
The worst drought in half a century has stricken large parts of Africa — a consequence of El Niño and high population growth. More than 50 million people are threatened by hunger and few countries have been hit as hard as Ethiopia.
Herdsman Ighale Utban used to be a relatively prosperous man. Three years ago, he owned around a hundred goats. Now, though, all but five of them have died of thirst at a dried-up watering hole, victims of the worst drought seen in Ethiopia and large parts of Africa in a half-century.
Utban, a wiry man of 36 years, belongs to a nomadic people known as the Afar, who spend their lives wandering through the eponymously named state in northeastern Ethiopia. "This is the worst time I've experienced in my life," he says. On some days, he doesn't know how to provide for himself and his seven-member family."We can no longer wander," Utban says, "because death awaits out there." For now, he'll have to remain in Lii, a scattered little settlement in which several families have erected their makeshift huts. Lii means "scorching hot earth."
'First the Livestock Die, Then the People'
Since time immemorial, shepherds have wandered with their animals through the endless expanses of the Danakil desert. They live primarily off of meat and milk, and it was always a meagre existence. But with the current drought, which has lasted for over a year, their very existence is threatened. "First the livestock die, then the people," Utban says.
The American relief organization USAID estimates that in Afar alone, over a half million cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys and camels have perished. Reservoirs are empty, pastures dried up, feed reserves nearly exhausted. With no rain, grass no longer grows. Many nomads are selling their emaciated livestock, but oversupply has led to a 50 percent decline in prices.
Currently, millions of African farmers and herders are suffering similar fates to Utban's. The United Nations estimates that more than 50 million people in Africa are acutely threatened by famine. After years of hope for increased growth and prosperity, the people are once again suffering from poverty and malnutrition.
The governments of Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland have already declared states of emergency, and massive crop losses have caused food prices to explode in South Africa. Particularly hard stricken are the countries in the southern part of the continent as well as around the Horn of Africa, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and especially Ethiopia.
Meteorologists believe the natural disaster is linked to a climate phenomenon that returns once every two to seven years known as El Niño, or the Christ child, a disruption of the normal sea and air currents that wreaks havoc on global weather patterns. The El Niño experienced in 2015-2016 has been particularly strong.
Mohamed Nasir is the clan elder in the Lii nomad settlement. He says he's never heard of El Niño before. "The lack of water is our main problem — that's why we're fighting for our lives." Nasir doesn't have any explanation for why the weather has gone crazy. For why drops of rain no longer fall from the ice-gray skies here in the mountains, while only a three days' walk away, the plains are flooded. For why his home region has been plagued by periodic droughts for more than eight years now. "Perhaps it's God's will," he says.
Nasir has just finished praying for rain, bending over in the dust according to Muslim ritual, with grains of sand still stuck to his forehead. He's 61 years old, but the worry lines in his face make him look a lot older. He sits in the shadows of a camel thorn tree, looking east. A hot wind blows from the Red Sea out over the karstic, grayish-brown countryside. Over the horizon, the empty promise of a few cirrostratus clouds can be seen. He's been waiting for rain for a year now.
An Image at Odds with Emerging Ethiopia
This year's crisis is worse than the one that befell the area in 1985, Nasir says. Back then, the most catastrophic year in Ethiopian history, around a million people died of famine.
Nasir says there have already been deaths this year in his clan's region. He points to the mountainside behind and says, "Nine children are buried there." Other herders also speak of the first starvation victims in Afar, but it isn't possible to confirm the reports.
The government in Addis Ababa denies the deaths. It wants to overcome Ethiopia's image as a country eternally beset by famine and instead present itself as an emerging nation. The Ethiopian economy, after all, is among the fastest growing in the world, with annual growth rates as high as 10 percent in recent years.
Ethiopia, one of the world's poorest countries, has transformed itself into a successful development dictatorship based on the Chinese model. It wants to achieve middle-income country status by 2025 and establish itself firmly as an emerging nation. Pictures of starving children with large, sorrowful eyes do not fit with that image.
The country's boom is visible in the capital city of Addis Ababa, which is currently undergoing an incredibly fast process of modernization. High rises and giant new districts are sprouting up everywhere, new motorways criss-cross the capital and a light-rail system has even been built — the first anywhere south of the Sahara. Numerous new industrial enterprises are located at the city's outskirts, where they produce textiles and leather goods for the global market.
Covering Up the Scale of the Disaster
The country's Western allies ignore the continuing human rights violations because Ethiopia, a bastion of Christianity, is an important military partner in the battle against Islamist terror on the Horn of Africa.
In praising itself, the government often points to the lessons learned from the 1984-85 famine. In response, Ethiopia set up a disaster early warning system and created emergency grain reserves. The country built dams, irrigation systems and roads. Around 7 million small farmers now receive crisis aid through a state safety net.
Esubalew Meberate is proud of these achievements. As the head of an administrative district with 257,000 residents, he's responsible for 37 municipalities, 22 of which have been affected by the drought. He receives visitors in his office in the city of Gohala, high in the mountains in the state of Amhara. Meberate wears a stylish black leather jacket and a white casual shirt. He's a typical representative of the ruling class: young, power conscious and a tad arrogant. He admits that ensuring water supply is the greatest challenge. The problem is that a dearth of transport routes makes it impossible for tanker trucks to reach all the villages. Still, he says, the government is working to address it. "Our economy is growing despite the drought and our agricultural potential is nowhere near exhausted."
'We No Longer Have Enough to Eat'
Yet even as the elite in the capital city enthuse about economic growth, in the mountains of Amhara, the Ethiopian heartland, people like farmer Destay Zegeye are suffering. "We no longer have enough to eat," she complains. Last year, she says, the belg, or short rainy season, failed to materialize. Neither did kiremt, the long rainy season. Zegeye says she was only able to harvest a hundred kilograms of teff, the country's most important food grain. She was able to keep two sacks for her seven-member household — far too little for survival.
Zegeye, 36, wears a tattered, patchwork dress with a cross dangling from her neck. She walks across the field in front of her hut, a half-hectare (1.2 acre), dry and dusty square littered with stones.
She is struggling to get her family through this period of struggle. Sometimes her husband earns a few birr as a day laborer for a government employment creation program focusing on the construction of schools, roads and storm water tanks. He also recently sold two of their four oxen. The family also gets rations from the government — 15 kilograms of grains per month and household. Somehow they manage to get by, but for how much longer?
All around the mountainous country, you find the same bleak image: cracked soil hard as cement, rocky fields and dried-up creek beds — no green patches for as far as the eye can see. In between are impoverished mountain villages that are constantly growing: Places like Qualisa, for example. Just 15 years ago, only 1,500 people lived here, but today a local employee of the German relief organization German Agro Aid (Welthungerhilfe) estimates that figure to be closer to 12,000. Such growth is the result of enormous settlement pressure. The once forested mountainsides have been clear-cut because of the growing population's need for firewood and construction material.
Ethiopia Needs an Agricultural Revolution
At the same time, agricultural production has failed to keep up with the pace of population growth. Since the massive famine that struck Ethiopia in 1984-85, the country's population has swollen from 41 million to 102 million. One-third of the population is already considered to be malnourished today: There simply isn't enough to go around in many parts of the country.
African droughts
Much of that situation is attributable to the country's antiquated system of subsistence farming. Millions of small farmers are incapable of yielding larger harvests because of their inability to access investment capital, equipment, fertilizers and high-quality seeds. In addition, their property belongs to the state, meaning they can cultivate it, but are unable to use it as collateral on any potential loans. They thus slave away just as in biblical times, using hoes, oxen and wooden plows to till low-yield soil.
Will Famine Become Chronic?
There also appears to be little concern in political power circles about annual population growth of 2.5 percent. The attitude seems to be: the more people it has, the stronger Ethiopia will be. What this overlooks is that the rapid recent population increase has been eroding successes in development policy. Agriculture experts warn that if the Ethiopian population swells to 150 million people by 2035 as some are predicting, famine could become a chronic problem.
Nor is this problem limited to Ethiopia. It could also be a harbinger of further food crises in Africa. "We are simply too many people," says Ayenew Ferede, 37, the head of a kebele, the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia. Seven-thousand people live in his ward, and 2,000 receive government emergency aid. "People are starving because we have run out of everything — water, grain reserves, livestock feed."Ferede has traveled for four hours by foot here to the small town of Hamusit in the hunt for aid. He carries a heavy burden of responsibility. He, too, reports of famine deaths. "If it doesn't rain soon, we are all going to leave." But where will they go? "To the next kebele, to the city, across the sea to you in Europe. Someplace where there's water and food."
Though it has rained in recent days in some parts of the country, Ferede has little hope. "It's too little, too late and the worst is yet to come."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/drought-threatens-50-million-people-in-africa-a-1091684.html
Oromia: Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo Irraa Kenname May 12, 2016
Tags: Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo Irraa Kenname Caamsaa 2016, Oromia, Oromo, Qeerroo Bilisummaa
Caamsaa 11,2016 Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo Irraa Kenname.
'Basaastuu fi Basaastummaa' Da'annoo Godhachuun Olola Qabsoo fi Qabsa'ota Bilisummaa Oromoo irratti oofama Jiru Ilaalchisee Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo Irraa Kenname.
Caamsaa 11,2016
Finfinnee
Ololli torbaan muraasa darbaan irraa kaasee dhimma 'Basaastuu fi Basaastumma' jedhu jala dhokachuun Qasbsoo fi Qabsa'ota Bilisummaa Oromoo irraatti oofamaa jiru qaama imaammata diinni Sochii Qeerroon Bilisummaa Fincila Gabrummaatti Xumura gochuuf saganteeffate maseensuuf wiixinate ta'uun isaa sabboontota Oromoo maraaf ifaa ta'uu qaba. Basaastota diinaa saaxiluu qofa osoo hin taane qindoomina gahaa horataa deemuun hundee ishee mancaasuuf qabsa'uun eejjennollee Qerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo masakan keessaa isa anagafa.
Sadarakaa Qabsoon saba keenya amma irra jirtu kanatti Basaastota diinni jaarmolee keenyatti bobbaafatu damaqinaan of irraa tiksuun dirqama sabboontota Oromoo hundaati. Keessattuu, sochii murteessaa Qeerroon yeroo ammaa geggeessaa jiru irraa basaastota diinaaf hojjetan dammaqanii tiksuun qabsicha shaffisaan milkeessuu keessatti gahee guddaa xabata. Tika sabboontotni ilmaan Oromoo milkaa'ina sochii isaaf godhan hunda Qeerroon ni kunuunsifata. Odeeffannoolee qabatamoo kan basaastota Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo saaxilan Qeerroon akka gumaacha qabsootti keessumeessa. Keessaanis ta'e alaan sochii Qeerroon mirga Ummata isaa deebisuuf godhaa jiru kannneen diinaaf basaasan yogguu saaxilumuu qabu. Qeerroon yeroo fi haala barbaachisaa tahan keessatti waayiloota qabsoo haqaa waliin ta'uun basaastota diinaa saaxiluu qofa osoo hintaane tarkaanfilee jajjaboo tahan irratti fudhataa as gahe. Gara fuul-duraattis Qabsoo saba keenya miidha diinaa irraa baraaruuf, basaastota keessaa fi alaan jaarmaa Qeerroo fi guutumaaa Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo irraatii baba'anii irraatti tarkaanfiilee barbaachisaa tahan fudhachuu irraa Qeerroon of-duuba hindeebu.
Wayyaaneen imaammata 'Gargar Qoodanii Bulchu' jedhuun hoogganamtee ummata keenya sadarkaa gandaatti tokko-shaneen hidhuun sirna basaastummaa daanga hinqabneen biyya keenya saamaa jiraachuun ishee waan haalamu miti. Qeerroon sirna tikaa wal xaxaa ta'e kana keessatti naamusa cimaan of-ijaaruun mirga saba isaa falmuu eegale. Qeeroon funyaan diinaa jala ta'ee gootummaa fi hubannoo cimaadhaan sochii Dargaggoota Oromoo kan gabroonfattuu Wayyaanee raasaa jiru kanaaf hooggansa gahaa kennaa as gahe. Qeerroon Saba Oromoo qofaaf osoo hintaane saboota cinqurfamoo biyyatti guutummaaf abdii jijjiirama dhugaa kan ta'uu danda'e dirree irratti wareegama qaqqalii gomachuudhaan malee toora internetaan olola afarsuudhaan hinturre.
ibsa-qeerroo-bilisummaa-oromoo-caamsaa-11-2016-dhimma-basaastummaa
The Oromo Movement: The Effects Of State Terrorism and Globalization in Oromia and Ethiopia May 11, 2016
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia's Colonizing Structure and the Development Problems of People of Oromia, Oromo, Prof Asafa Jalata, THE EFFECTS OF STATE TERRORISM AND GLOBALIZATION IN OROMIA AND ETHIOIA, THE OROMO MOVEMENT
The Oromo Movement: The Effects Of State Terrorism and Globalization in Oromia and Ethiopia: Paper presented by Asafa Jalata (Prof.) at the Conference on New Directions in Critical Criminology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, May 6-7, 2016.
THE OROMO MOVEMENT: THE EFFECTS OF STATE TERRORISM AND GLOBALIZATION IN OROMIA AND ETHIOPIA
Asafa Jalata
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 ethno-national 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.
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).
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THE OROMO MOVEMENT, THE EFFECTS OF STATE TERRORISM AND GLOBALIZATION IN OROMIA AND ETHIOIA
Gates Foundation: Spearheading the neoliberal plunder of African agriculture. #Africa May 11, 2016
Tags: Africa, Africa is still struggling with poverty, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates Foundation : Spearheading the neoliberal plunder of African agriculture
"The Gates Foundation has rapidly become the most influential actor in the world of global health and agricultural policies, but there's no oversight or accountability in how that influence is managed. This concentration of power and influence is even more problematic when you consider that the philanthropic vision of the Gates Foundation seems to be largely based on the values of corporate America. The foundation is relentlessly promoting big business-based initiatives such as industrial agriculture, private health care and education. But these are all potentially exacerbating the problems of poverty and lack of access to basic resources that the foundation is supposed to be alleviating."
Gates Foundation : Spearheading the neoliberal plunder of African agriculture
RUSH FOR THE EXITS: WHY IS ETHIOPIA'S CAPITAL FLIGHT ACCELERATING? May 11, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Africa, Corruption, Corruption in Africa, Economics, Illicit financial outflows from Ethiopia.
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia: TPLF's corruption empire, George Ayittey: Africa's cheetahs versus hippo, Illicit Financial outflows, Illicit financial outflows from Ethiopia, RUSH FOR THE EXITS: WHY IS ETHIOPIA'S CAPITAL FLIGHT ACCELERATING?
According to estimates reported by the World Bank, the amount of official development assistant (ODA) Ethiopia received in 2010 was $4 billion but total amount of IFFs during that year was $5.6 billion.
This means in 2010 alone Ethiopia's IFFs exceeded the ODA it received that year by $1.6 billion. In other words, Ethiopia's IFFs amounted to diverting the entire aid money of 2010 to foreign banks and then still transfer abroad an additional sum of money. During the entire period (2004 to 2013) the total amount of money that Ethiopia lost due to IFF was $26 billion. This amounts to stealing nearly $300 per citizen. Alternatively, the size of stolen money was about 11 times the total the amount of emergency aid being sought from donors in the current year to buy cereals from abroad and feed the drought victims.
RUSH FOR THE EXITS: WHY IS ETHIOPIA'S CAPITAL FLIGHT ACCELERATING?
By J. Bonsa (PhD), Special to Addis Standard, 9 May 2016
A substantial sum of money has been illegally flowing out of Ethiopia during the last decade. What is even more worrying is not just that the levels of out flows are high but also the sizes of illicit capital outflows have been rising at alarming rates. This rather unique pattern has attracted the attention of the general public as well as those of bilateral and multilateral donor agencies.
I will also attempt to put some flesh on the bones of facts presented in the GFI database. I will do so by shedding some light on the political economy context of the illicit capital outflow (IFFs) from Ethiopia.
Stolen money trails
The natural starting point is to get a sense of magnitude on the levels and trends. The GFI data is summarized and plotted in Fig. 1. For the time being we focus on the total flows, that is the heights of each bar denoting sizes of annual illicit money outflows. The sum of the blue and red colors gives total amount of money illegally moved aboard from Ethiopia during that year. This ranged from USD $0.4 billion in 2004 to USD $5.6 billion in 2010.
The average annual outflow was $2.6 billion during 2004 and 2013. This is a sizeable sum of money by any standard. For instance, according to estimates reported by the World Bank, the amount of official development assistant (ODA) Ethiopia received in 2010 was $4 billion but total amount of IFFs during that year was $5.6 billion.
This means in 2010 alone Ethiopia's IFFs exceeded the ODA it received that year by $1.6 billion. In other words, Ethiopia's IFFs amounted to diverting the entire aid money of 2010 to foreign banks and then still transfer abroad an additional sum of money.
During the entire period (2004 to 2013) the total amount of money that Ethiopia lost due to IFF was $26 billion. This amounts to stealing nearly $300 per citizen. Alternatively, the size of stolen money was about 11 times the total the amount of emergency aid being sought from donors in the current year to buy cereals from abroad and feed the drought victims.
Potential culprits
One may wonder – who are the culprits responsible for Ethiopia'seconomic fraud at such massive scale? The GFI categorizes possible perpetrators into three groups: (a) financial institutions; (b) complicit business counterparts, mainly importers and exporters; and (c) government officials.
In the Ethiopian case, it is reasonable to exclude financial institutions because there is no foreign bank operating in Ethiopia, and the domestic private banks are extremely tightly controlled. Ethiopia's most influential banks, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), are owned and run by the government. Therefore, in the context of Ethiopia it is safe to include (a) under (c).
That is to say Ethiopia's IFF can only be undertaken by importers, exporters or government officials. One would hasten to add that there is a huge extent of overlaps between government officials and big businesses in Ethiopia, since big businesses are highly interconnected with the government and/or they are directly or indirectly owned and run by government officials.
Money diversion channels
Now we can shift our attention back to fig. 1 and consider the breakdowns of the IFFs, the individual component denoted by the blue and red sections in each bar. The GFI applies a methodological framework that accounts for two types of illegal movements of money from one country to another.
The first one is export or import trade misinvoicing. This is measured by using a methodology called Gross Excluding Reversals (GER). This simply mirrors exports by one country with imports of another country and vice versa. For instance, items of imports recorded by Ethiopia should agree with records of exporters to Ethiopia in all aspects – value, quantity and quality.
The second one is various leakages in the balance of payments, measured by using the "hot money narrow" (HMN) approach.The latter one is often referred to as "net errors and omissions" in the balance of payment jargon. For instance, if a donor agency or country recorded $1 million grants to Ethiopia but this does not appear in the records by the authorities in Ethiopia, then the GFI records this as a leakage from Ethiopia's balance of payment.
It is clear from Fig. 1 that the bulk of illicit money transfer from Ethiopia has taken place using trade misinvoicing, denoted by the blue component of the bar. In 2004, trade misinvoicing constituted only 14% of the total IFFs. In 2013, however, this proportion has grown to 100%, the entire IFFs began to be accounted for more and more by trade misinvoicing. For the entire period under discussion, $19.7 billion (or 76% of the total IFFs) was conducted through trade misinvoicing. The year 2010 is an exception – diversion of "hot money" dominated in that year; it constituted 55% of the total IFFs.
False invoices
Trade misinvoicing can take place in one of the following four ways: over invoicing exports, under invoicing exports, over invoicing imports and under invoicing imports. In Ethiopia's case, the GFI report indicated import over-invoicing is by far the most important method of transferring money abroad. During the period under analysis, about $19.7 billion was transferred abroad through import over-invoicing.
It is critical to understand how import misinvoicing hurts the Ethiopian economy. This is important in the context of huge public construction projects with substantially large components of imports of machinery and other equipment. For instance, an acquisition of a set of machinery whose real value is $1 million is recorded with inflated invoice of $1.5 million.
The importer allocates project budget at the inflated import value, pays the real value to the supplier and then siphons-off the difference (in this case $0.5 million) and deposits it in a foreign bank account. The real damage to the economy happens in terms of inflated capital expenditure. Perhaps the opportunity large capital projects provide for corrupt officials could be the ulterior motive for the uncontrollable urge to attach such a high priority to large capital projects in economic development strategies.
However, it should be noted that public capital projects are often financed through commercial loans that should be paid back with cumulative interests in years to come. The economic return to capital project would partly depend on the cost consideration at project implementation stage.
The GFI also finds some export trade misinvoicing in Ethiopia's foreign trade, over-invoicing by $6.5 billion as well as $3 million under-invoicing. In trade based money laundering, the most common types of misinvoicing are import over-invoicing and export under-invoicing. As noted above, the case of import invoicing has no complications – so much over invoicing has taken place and it explains the bulk of trade based money laundering in Ethiopia. However, the case of export over-invoicing is uncommon.
Export over-invoicing do happen although they are rare, e.g. China's trade with Hong-Kong. Export over-invoicing is required when there is a need to plough back money from abroad and report it as inflated foreign direct investment. This is likely the case with Ethiopia where the authorities have been desperate to report higher foreign investments particularly in the first half of the period under analysis.
Ethiopia's capital flights dwarfs rest of developing countries
It would prove useful to know how bad Ethiopia's IFFs is relative to other countries. Fig. 2 below compares Ethiopia with its neighbors, the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well as the average of developing countries (DCs). The comparison was done by expressing total illicit money outflowas percentage of GDP. The years are grouped into three intervals. For reasons discussed further below, it would prove useful to contrast pre- and post-2005. Accordingly, I have isolated 2004 and then divided the remaining years into two equal intervals.
This revealed astonishing patterns of illicit money outflow from Ethiopia which starkly contrasted with those for other countries. First, throughout the years Ethiopia's records considerably exceeded those for its two immediate neighbors, Kenya and Tanzania. Second, a comparison of 2004 across the countries shows that Ethiopia's illicit money outflow was way below the Uganda, SSA, and the DCs averages.
Third, the situation changed dramatically from 2005 onwards. Ethiopia outstripped Uganda, and then closed the gap with the SSA average. Fourth, Ethiopia's average annual money outflows between 2010 and 2013 reached 11% of the country's GDP, considerably exceeding the corresponding figures for the other countries – SSA (5%), DCs (4%), Uganda and Tanzania (2%) and Kenya (0.013%). Fifth, it is important to note that illicit money transfers abroad constituted smaller and smaller percentages of GDP for most countries over the years, implying substantial improvements in transparency in their economic management. The situation in Ethiopia sharply contrasts with this reality – illicit money outflow becoming a larger and larger percentage of Ethiopia's GDP. This indicates transparency in Ethiopia's economic management has gone from bad to worse over the years.
It should be noted that the SSA average is largely driven by money being squandered by oil and other mineral resources exporting countries such as Nigeria and Angola. It is telling to note that Ethiopia, a country not known for exporting substantial mineral resources, is now characterized by illicit money outflow to GDP ratio exceeding that of an average SSA country.
Blind spots in accounting for remittance flows
The analysis in the preceding sections relied entirely on the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report. GFI methodology is strictly confined to official records as starting points and then mirrors records at different places and times. Systemic discrepancies between records are then registered as illicit transactions.
Clearly, then the GFI methodology does not account for illicit money flows that take place through financial transactions in informal or black markets. Remittance flows are riddled with black markets in hard currencies. The situation is even worse in the context of Ethiopia, where official hard currency flows are tightly controlled, and hence creating conditions for prevalence of underground currency transactions.
To the extent that remittances are channeled through formal banking or foreign exchange offices, then the transactions get into the balance of payment records. Leakages from the flow are accounted for through the GFI approach called "hot money" discussed earlier.
However, there are strong evidences indicating that the bulk of remittance transfers to Ethiopia actually happen through informal channels, mainly because of better rates and lower costs.
The informal channels may take one of two forms. First, it is common for Ethiopians living abroad to take hard currencies with them every time they visit home and then directly exchange it to birr in local black markets at better rates by avoiding transfer fees. It also happens that they send hard currencies via travellers they trust so that they give it to their relatives, who in turn get it converted in local black markets. The World Bank estimated that 14% of Ethiopians to whom money was transferred from abroad in 2010 got it through travelers. Since the World Bank has not made a reference to money converted at local black markets, it means the total amount of hard currencies entering Ethiopia by informal channels is much higher than the 14% who regularly receive remittances.
Additionally, there is a more sophisticated black market which operates pretty much like the way foreign money transfer services operate, except that these are operated informally by individuals living abroad. As any Ethiopian living abroad can tell, every big city countries with hard currencies has a few black market operators who offer exchanges of foreign currencies to birr with additional incentives,at least two or three birr on top of the going rate that money transfer agencies offer.
I selected a couple of major cities and gathered background information for this piece. The margins offered vary across time and space but the current margin on above Western Union conversion rates were at least one birr per unit of USD equivalents of local currencies in London, Dubai, and Kuwait, excluding foreign exchange office fees charged per transaction. This means Ethiopians living abroad have good enough incentive to look for black market operators rather than sending money through formal channels.
The role of the black market is simply to collect and bulk the hard currencies. Where exactly the collected money goes is anybody's guess. One may hope that importers who face constraints in foreign exchange rationing may smuggle out the hard currency they collected and/or importers may assign agents in foreign countries to collect and bulk hard currencies for them.
In both cases importers may spend the money they bulked on purchasing goods and services that will eventually enter Ethiopia. This is an optimistic scenario since the country may eventually benefit from availability of goods and services in the domestic market, except that the transactions were done informally and the government might have lost some tax revenues.
The upshot of this discussion, however, is that the hard currencies collected from local black markets may get smuggled out and get deposited in foreign bank accounts. Similarly, black market operators residing abroad may also be primarily motivated by a pressing need to convert birr into a hard currency and safely deposit it in a foreign bank account.
It should be noted that the GFI methodology misses out such blind spots in remittance flow accounting, which means Ethiopia's capital flights discussed in the preceding sections is highly likely to underestimate the size of illicit capital flights from Ethiopia. If so much has been done to move money illegally abroad by abusing formal channels, then it is realistic to assume that the informal channels are even more susceptible to abuses by the same group of actors who seem to be in a rush to the exits.
Why the rush?
At this juncture it is appropriate to pool together different lines of discussions in the preceding paragraphs. The most crucial point here is the timing of dramatic changes in Ethiopia's capital flight. It is clear from the facts presented in this piece that 2005 was a watershed moment in Ethiopia's capital flight history in recent years.
For those who closely follow Ethiopia's political and economic affairs, the fact that dramatic things began to happen soon after 2005 does not come as a surprise. The general election of that year and the upheavals that followed had seriously shaken self-confidence among the elites who held political and economic power. The possibility of losing power and economic advantages that accrues from it began to be felt starting from that year, when the ruling EPRDF snatched power under murky conditions from the hand of the opposition who claimed they actually won the general election.
This argument is substantiated by the following logical reasoning established in our discussions earlier. In the Ethiopian context there are no foreign banks, and domestic banks are very tightly controlled by the government. Also, there is a great deal of overlaps between interests of big businesses and those of government officials.
In that case, corrupt government officials and their affiliated businesses are the likely culprits for capital flights from Ethiopia at such epic proportions. The fact that rampant corruption has crippled the current government is openly debated in local media and among the elite at official forums. The evidence provided in this piece only corroborates the ongoing public debate.
ED's Note: J. Bonsa is an economist by training. He can be reached at dinade0612@gmail.com.
DW: Pulse: #OromoProtests May 11, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, Dw, DW NEWS NGO highlights plight of Oromo in Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Genocide Against Oromo People, Oromia, Oromo
The Oromo people in Ethiopia have long complained of being marginalized. Addis Ababa expansion plans which sparked fresh protests have been scrapped but the conflict continues to simmer, as DW's Merga Yonas explains.
New Report from State Department Details Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia. #OromoProtests May 11, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia's colonizing Structure, Ethiopia's colonizing structure and development problems in Oromia and Omo Valley, Gambella and Omo Valley, Genocide Against Oromo People, Genocide Against people of Omo Valley, New Report from State Department Details Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia, Oakland Institute, Ogaden, Oromia, Oromo
Oakland Institute, 9 May 2016
Oakland, CA—The United States Department of State recently released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, including an in-depth account of the human rights situation in Ethiopia. The report confirmed many of the ongoing human rights violations that the Oakland Institute has detailed in Ethiopia, including: abuses associated with the Government's villagization program; restrictions on basic freedoms of expression, assembly, association, movement, and religious affairs; restrictions on activities of civil society organizations; and more.
"The US State Department report confirms that countless human rights abuses are being perpetrated by the Ethiopian Government," said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. "It also highlights appalling issues associated with Ethiopia's criminal system, such as the use of torture, a weak and politically influenced judiciary, life-threatening prison conditions, and the use of electric shocks and beatings to extract confessions."
Caught in this horrific system are thousands of journalists, political opposition members, land rights defenders, students, and indigenous and religious leaders, who have been unlawfully detained and arrested under Ethiopia's draconian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
Included in the State Department report are the cases of Ethiopian Muslim leaders, detained and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for participating in protests for religious freedom; and of land rights defenders Omot Agway Okwoy, Ashinie Astin, and Jamal Oumar Hojele who were arrested en route to a food security conference in Nairobi and charged under the Anti-Terrorism law.
Countless more stories were not included in the report, including that of indigenous Anuak leader Okello Akway Ochalla, who was abducted in South Sudan and forcibly taken to Ethiopia, in complete violation of extradition treaties and international law, for speaking out about abuses perpetrated against the people of Gambella, Ethiopia. On April 27, 2016, after more than two years in jail, Mr. Okello was handed a nine year prison sentence.
"Over the past years, countless indigenous communities have been evicted from their land to make way for large-scale land grabs in Ethiopia," commented Mittal. "These displacements are happening without the free, prior, and informed consent of the impacted populations, and when communities resist, they are forcibly removed by means of violence, rape, imprisonment, and the denial of humanitarian assistance, including food aid. To make matters worse, the people who stand up and fight for the rights of those communities – people like Mr. Okello and Pastor Omot – are being jailed. This must stop."
"Ethiopia is the United States' closest ally in Africa and the second largest recipient of US overseas development assistance in Africa," she continued. "In these unique roles, the US has both the power and the moral responsibility to ensure that basic human rights and the rule of law are upheld in the country. Through its report, the United States acknowledges the widespread human rights violations taking place in Ethiopia. The question is: when will the US finally do something to address this egregious situation?"
HRW: Dispatches: Using Courts to Crush Dissent in Ethiopia. #OromoProtests May 11, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, Dispatches: Using Courts to Crush Dissent in Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Felix Horne of HRW and Henok Gebissa of OSA talk to South African radio about Oromo Protests, HRW, Oromia, Oromo, The tyrannic Ethiopia
(HRW) — For the past six months, thousands of people have taken to the streets in Ethiopia's largest region, Oromia, to protest alleged abuses by their government. The protests, unprecedented in recent years, have seen Ethiopia's security forces use lethal force against largely peaceful protesters, killing hundreds and arresting tens of thousands more.
The government is inexorably closing off ways for Ethiopians to peacefully express their grievances, not just with bullets but also through the courts. In recent weeks, the Ethiopian authorities have lodged new, politically motivated charges against prominent opposition politicians and others, accusing them of crimes under Ethiopia's draconian counterterrorism law.
Just last week, Yonatan Tesfaye Regassa, the head of public relations for the opposition Semayawi Party (the Blue Party), was charged with "planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt" of a terrorist act. The authorities citied Yonatan's Facebook posts about the protests as evidence; he faces 15 years to life in prison, if convicted.
In April, Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromia's largest registered political party, and 21 others, including many senior OFC members, were charged under the counterterrorism law, four months after their arrest on December 23, 2015. Bekele is accused of having links with the banned Oromo Liberation Front, a charge frequently used by the government to target ethnic Oromo dissidents and others. Deeply committed to nonviolence, Bekele has consistently urged the OFC to participate in elections despite the ruling party's iron grip on the polls. Bekele and the others have described horrible conditions during their detention, including at thenotorious Maekalawi prison, where torture and other ill-treatment are routine.
The authorities also charged 20 university students under the criminal code for protesting in front of the United States Embassy in Addis Ababa in March, 2016. The "evidence" against them included a video of their protest and a list of demands, which included the immediate release of opposition leaders and others arrested for peaceful protests, and the establishment of an independent body to investigate and prosecute those who killed and injured peaceful protesters. They face three years in prison if convicted.
The Ethiopian government is sending a clear message when it charges peaceful protesters and opposition politicians like Bekele Gerba with terrorism. The message is that no dissent is tolerated, whether through social media, the electoral system, or peaceful assembly.
ODUU
Itoophiyaan Uummata mirga isaa gaafatu jumlaan akka hiituu fi ajjeestu Saaxilame.
OMN:Oduu Caamsaa 11,2016 Qorataan mirga dhala namaa kan gaanfa Afrikatti Qorannoo geggeessan Filex Horne dhiheenna kana ibsa baasaniin, mootummaan Itiyoophiyaa mormii biyyattii keessatti geggeeffama jiru dhaabsisuuf jecha, hidhaa filannoo taasifatee jira jedhan.
Qorataa waa'ee mirga dhala nama ka ta'e Felix Horne, qorannoo isaa ta gaafa Afirkatti taasisee Caamsa 09, bara 2016 baasen, mormii ji'oota ja'an dabran geggeeffame irratti mootummaan Itiyoophiyaa lammiilee nagaa irratti tarkaanfii ajjeechaa raawwachuu dubbata.
Humnootii tikaa mootummaa tarkaanfii ajjeechaa geggeessaniin, namoonni dhibba hedduu yoo ajjeefaman, kumootatti kan laakkawaman ammoo hidhamuu isaanii Flex gabaasa isaa kanaan mirkaneessee jira.
Akka gabaasa kanaatti, mootummaan Itoophiyaa mormii guutuu Oromiyaa keessatti geggeeffame dura dhaabbachuuf jecha, tarkaanfii gara jabeennaa kana raawwachuun isaa sirrii akka hin taane Filex gabaasa isaa kanaan ibsee jira.
Dhiyeenna kana immoo dubbiin bifaa jijjiirattee, mormii tana dhaabsisuufi nama hidhuun filannoo duraa ta'uu dubbata.
Akka Filex jedhutti, torbaanuma dabree kana keessa paarti mormituu Blue Party jedhamutti, dura taa'aa hariiroo uummata kan ta'e obbo Yonaataan Tesfaaye Reggaasa, gochoota shororkeessumma karoorsuu, qindeessuu fi nama kakaasuu yaali gootee jechuun seera farra shororkeessummaatin himatan.
Akkaa ragaatti wanni irratti dhiyaate facebook irratti waa'ee mormi maxxansitee ka jedhuu yoo ta'uu, yakki kun ka isaa taanan hidhaa gannaa kudhan shaniitti(15) isa eeggata jedhaa Felix.
Ji'aa Eblaa ka dabre keessa hoogganoota paarti kongirasii Federalistii Oromoo kan ta'an, Obbo Beqalaa Garbaa fi, miseensota Paarti isaanii namoota 21fi daraggoota hedduu dabalatee, eegi murtii tokko malee ji'aa afur hidhamanii duubatti, seeraa shororkeessummaatiin himatamuu dubata.
Akka Felix Horne gabaaasa qorannoo isaa irraatti tuqetti, obboo Baqqalaa Garbaa ka ittin himatamee, yakka walitti dhuffeenna Addaa Bilisummaa Oromootiin walin qabdan, ilaalcha uummanni Oromoo biyyitti keessatti hacuucaatu irra ga'a ka jedhuu fi, waan akkaa akkaatiin himatamee jedha.
Hata'uu malee obbo Baqqalaan adoo mootummaan biyya bulchaa jiru qawwee qabatee lammiitti roorrisaa jiruu, paartiin isaanii karaa nagaayaan filannoo geggeessu akka qabu gadi faggeennaan mormaa turee jedha.
Yoo mana hidha keessaa turanitti obbo Baqqalaa fi miseensonni isaalleen haala suukaneessaa keessaa jirachu, dubbachu isaanii himee, kun ammoo dhaanichaa fi dararamiinsa hamaa akka ofi keessa qabu ibsan.
Gamaa biraatiin mootummaan Itoophiyaa barattoota University namoota 20, gaafa baatii Bitotteessa bara 2016, Embassy United State ka Finfinnee jiru duratti mormii geggeesitan jechuun, seera yakkaatin himachuu isaallee dubbata.
Akkaa ragaatti wanni irratti dhiyaate, video mormii ka hoggantoota mormitoota fi namoota nagaa ka hiriiraa bahuun hidhaman hatattamaan akka gadi dhiifaman gaafatuu fi, qaamni walaba hundeeffamee dhimma mormiin irratti ka'ee akka qorannoo geggeessu, gaafachuu isaanii dubbata.
Akka Felix Horne jedhutti, yoo yakki kun ka isaanitti murtaa'u ta'ee, ijoollee tana tokko tokkoo isaanii hidhaa gannaa sadiittu eegata jedha.
Dhuma irratti mootummaan Itoophiyaa kana taasisuun isaa ergaa ifaa dabarsaa jedha felix.
Kun immoo, ammaan eegi karaa midiyaa hawaasaatiin ta'ee, kara sirna filannoo yokaan karaa nagaatilleen gurmaa'an mormuun, ka hin danda'amne ta'uu argisiisaa jedha.
Liiban Halaketiin.
Al Jazeera: Politics, War & Conflict in Ethiopia: 'Ethiopia is boiling' May 8, 2016
Tags: 'Ethiopia is boiling', Afars & Somali (Ogaden) and other Indigenous People are Facing Genocide in Ethiopia, Africa, Al Jazeera, Ethiopia's colonizing Structure, National Self Determination, Ogaden
Abdirahman Mahdi of ONLF: 'Ethiopia is boiling'
Senior leader of Ethiopia's Somali rebel group discusses a growing alliance of groups seeking self-determination.
Al Jazeera, 07 May 2016
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2016/05/ethnic-somali-abdirahman-mahdi-onlf-ethiopia-boiling-160507083254836.html
Ethiopia, Africa's oldest independent country, is one of the West's closest allies in the Horn of Africa.
Bordering Kenya, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, this vast nation is home to about 80 different ethnic groups, many with their own languages and customs.
Despite Ethiopia's demographic diversity, the country's power structure in mainly centralised in its capital Addis Ababa, located in the heart of the country.
And this is resented by some of Ethiopia's many different ethnic groups.
To the far east of the country lies Ethiopia's Somali region. The people there have Ethiopian nationality but identify as Somalis. Many there say that their desperately poor region is starved of resources.
This has led some to rise up and challenge the government.
Self-determination struggle
A movement for self-determination for Ogaden, which is officially known as the Somali region, led by the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF), began in the mid-1980s. ONLF took up arms a decade later.
Their attacks led the Ethiopian government to send in troops and to carry out what many describe as a brutal crackdown on the some five million ethnic Somalis who live in this arid region.
Thousands of people have died in a struggle that few outsiders are allowed to witness. It's an invisible conflict that has cost lives and livelihoods, and despite several rounds of talks in recent years, has no end in sight.
After decades of conflict with little or no progress, should ONLF give up their fight?
"How long did South Africa [take to] defeat Apartheid? When you are fighting for your rights, time is not an issue," Abdirahman Mahdi, a founding member and the foreign secretary of ONLF, tells Al Jazeera.
The only policy in the Somali region they have is to dominate it, to exploit the oil, to consider the people as just a nuisance, and to exploit our resources and kill our people. Even if they allowed 10% of our rights in 1994, this fighting would not have started.
Abdirahman Mahdi, founding member and foreign secretary of the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF)
"My father was fighting for our rights and my children will fight for our rights. So for us, justice is the only solution – there is no other way."
Madhi denies that ONLF wants to secede from Ethiopia and claims this is "a misconception that's being propagated by the Ethiopian regime".
ONLF's fight, he says, is about seeking the "right to decide our future".
The movement wants the "right to self-determination, including even leaving the country". ONLF "cannot decide what the Somali people want. What we are saying is let them be given their right to decide."
He says: "Free choice is not secession; free choice means you can choose the right to live together in peace and dignity."
ONLF's fight is not with federalism nor with ethnicity, Madhi says. "The issue is when one group wants to dominate the rest of the people in Ethiopia. So we are going to dismantle that."
Madhi speaks of the marginalisation of Ethiopia's Somali region. "[Until] recently, we had only one secondary school after 100 years of Ethiopian occupation, we had one hospital … Our women have no maternity services."
The region, he says, suffers from a brutal trade and aid embargo and a military occupation, which he alleges has resulted in the rape of 30% of the region's women and more than 30,000 detentions.
"How can you develop people you are raping?" he asks.
Madhi says ONLF is an Africanist movement, the struggle is expanding and the group is now working with other ethnic groups in the country by staging "peaceful mass demonstrations".
"Our alliance is now expanding," he says. "Like the Arab Spring, we are going to start insurrection all over the place. Ethiopia is now boiling … The regime is now in disarray; they're divided. The people of Ethiopia have now risen up. They want their rights. We are tired of one clique dominating the rest of Ethiopia."
On Talk to Al Jazeera, Madhi discusses the future and vision of ONLF, the criticism that he is out of touch with the needs and situation of the people in Ethiopia's Somali region now that he lives abroad, and he responds to allegations of human rights abuses committed by ONLF and that the group is armed and trained by Eritrea.
From a Student Movement to a National Revolution A Struggle with an Independent Oromo State In Sight May 8, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, Africa, From a Student Movement to a National Revolution, Mekuria Bulcha, National Self Determination, Oromia, Oromo
From a Student Movement to a National Revolution
A Struggle with an Independent Oromo State In Sight *
Prof. Mekuria Bulcha
The Oromo and the other peoples in the southern part of Ethiopia are caught in a vicious circle of tyranny that is deeply rooted in a colonial conquest at the end of the 19th century. The tyranny had stirred popular uprisings in many places at different times. Hitherto, most of the uprisings have been suppressed, and the revolutions were hijacked and reversed. As we know, the revolution that overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 was hijacked by a military junta, which came in promising democracy but delivered terror in abundance. The response to the military dictatorship was the formation of half a dozen national liberation fronts with the aim of waging a struggle and liberate their respective peoples from an empire which a British political scientist Ernst Gellner called a prison-house of nations.[1] After a decade and a half they defeated the military regime in 1991 and formed a Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE). One of the victorious fronts which formed a coalition and built the TGE was the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). The Charter on which the transitional government was based, promised to bring about fundamental changes in the prevailing political and social order in Ethiopia. It made provisions for a federal structure that will create space for democracy and the self-determination of peoples in Ethiopia. However, within a year, the revolution was hijacked and reversed by the TPLF which was militarily and organizationally the strongest party in the coalition and a new dictatorship replaced the military dictatorship. As an autocrat, Emperor Haile Selassie was the law for there was no law above him. He ran the country as his private property, handing out favors in land and punishing lack of loyalty severely. After consolidating his political power and asserting his position as the prime minister of Ethiopia, the TPLF leader Meles Zenawi assumed an autocratic posture similar to that of Haile Selassie and ruled the country with an iron hand. In his book Ye-Meles Tirufatoch (The Legacies of Meles), Ermias Legesse mentions that Zenawi's subordinates – ministers and other functionaries in his government – referred to him internally as "Dirgitu", meaning "The Organization".[2] Gradually, his wishes and orders came to weigh more than provisions in the Ethiopian Constitution and conditions set by the laws of the country. Thus, with a pernicious form of Abyssinian rulers' despotism in place, Melese and his acolytes intensified the abuses of their predecessors plundering the properties of the state which they were supposed to guard. They committed human rights violations with impunity that has surpassed the appalling records of the military regime they had replaced. The Oromo have been affected by the policies of the regime more than most of the peoples in Ethiopia. The reason is simple and well known: (a) they occupy a territory that produces more than 60 percent of Ethiopia's gross national product. The Oromo peasants produce more than 85 percent of the coffee exported from Ethiopia. Gold, platinum and tantalum which play an important role in the Ethiopian economy today are also extracted from mines in Oromia. (b) Democracy, as promised by the Transitional Charter, will not allow the TPLF leaders to structure the political economic institutions in their own favor. (c) Therefore, it was necessary not only to weaken the structure that was designed for a democratic change in Ethiopia, but undermine also legitimate Oromo institutions and political organizations in order to control the state and exploit the economic resources of Oromia, and indeed the rest of the country.
A revolution can be aborted by a counterrevolution, but that does not always mean that no change had occurred or the present is an unaltered continuation of the pre-revolution system. Whenever and wherever revolutions occur somethings will change or seeds of change are planted. One of the changes which was introduced by the 1991 Transitional Charter was the right to language and culture. In the case of the Oromo, what made this change important was the "vernacular revolution" which followed in its aftermath. The speed and efficiency with which textbooks were prepared and the change from Amharic toAfaan Oromoo was implemented between July 1991 and June 1992 was stunning. What could have taken several years to organize and implement was accomplished in less than a year under the leadership of Ibsaa Guutama, a member of the OLF who was Ethiopia's Minister of Education in the TGE. The school which, by and large, was seen as an alien institution in many parts of the Oromo countryside in the past became an Oromo institution overnight. With Afaan Oromoo as a medium of instruction, it became a place of learning and engagement, where education was sought eagerly and acquired easily by millions of Oromo children. The Oromo children who started their education with Afaan Oromoo as a medium of instruction in 1991-92 became the first cohort of the qubee generation. The Oromo youth who are currently enrolled in grade-schools (grades 1-8), high schools (grades 9-12), colleges, and universities are over seven million.[3] Without this generation, we wouldn't have had the ongoing revolution. The strength of the current uprising cannot be appreciated without a proper understanding of the qubee generation's cultural underpinnings and demographic background.
To be called a revolution, an uprising should mobilize a population for a fundamental change. Uprisings can occur in a country in different places and their causes may be also similar; but they become revolutionary only when they occur simultaneously "nationwide". In the case of the Oromo, the uprising which occurred in a small town a small town of Ginchi, central Oromia, on November 12, 2015 had triggered such an event. Together with the prevailing contention between the Oromo people and the Ethiopian state over the so-called "Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan", widely known as "the Master Plan," and multitudes of other illegitimate acts conducted by the TPLF regime against the Oromo, the event in Ginchi, as will be discussed in this article, could raise popular grievances to a boiling point throughout Oromia. The result is a revolution in which millions of people have taken part during the last five months. In spite of the brutal violence with which the regime has been trying to suppress the revolution, not a single day has passed without massive demonstrations, often occurring simultaneously in a number of towns, cities and districts in Oromia during the last five months. The situation has been such that it gives, at times, the impression that the entire Oromo nation is out demonstrating in the streets.
Purpose of this article
The current Oromo uprising has been preceded by a trajectory of contentious events such as the forest fires of 2000, the 2002 conflict over fertilizer prices, and the 2003/4 conflict over the transfer of Oromia's capital from Finfinnee to Adama that had marked the relationship between the Oromo youth and the Ethiopian regime during the last fifteen years. Since I have dealt with these events and the contentious "Master Plan" at large elsewhere, I will not delve into them here.[4] Although the outset of the ongoing Oromo uprising was triggered by "the Master Plan", the main focus of this article is on factors that made the year 2014 a turning point in Oromo politics and history. The article will discuss a crucial political identity shift among the Oromo that is caused by the atrocities inflicted on peaceful Oromo protesters by the TPLF regime's police and security forces. It argues also that the consequences of the silence of the international community over these atrocities was, by and large, an Oromo awakening to the realities of realpolitik and strengthening of their will to defend their national rights. With the November 2015 Oromo revolution in focus, the article discusses some important similarities between the revolts of the Oromo qubeegeneration, the Intifada kids of the state of Palestine in the 1990s and the black youth of South Africa's shanty towns in the 1970s and 1980s in revitalizing the revolutionary processes in their respective societies and in influencing positive changes in the positions of world powers on the struggles and rights of their respective peoples. On the home front, it compares the current Oromo Student Movement (OSM) with the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM) of the 1960s and 1970s. It suggests that, because of its size, the unity of purpose and ideology of its members and their embeddeness in the Oromo society, the OSM will show more resilience against the repression of the Ethiopian regime and become more successful in achieving its goal than the ESM did.
2014 – A decisive juncture in Oromo politics
Since a lot has been said and written about "the Master Plan", particularly in Oromo media, I need not go into details. What I want to mention here are some of the factors that made 2014, in my view, and the declaration of the "Master Plan" a turning point in the struggle of the Oromo people. Obviously, "the Master Plan" was not an Oromo-friendly idea. The Oromo saw it as a physical and psychological attack on them as a nation. Planned to cover over a million hectares of land, it threatened to evict millions of Oromos who live in a dozen towns and rural districts. If implemented, it will tear Oromia into two parts. Between the two, it will carve out of central Oromia a large region from which the Oromo language and culture will disappear gradually.[5] The political consequences are also obvious. The project will not only violate Oromo sovereignty, but also pose a threat to Oromo nationhood. With its implementation, Oromia will cease to be a compact contiguous territory as we know it now. In fact, as a concept, "the Master Plan" brings to mind the map of the Palestinian territory and the problems which its separation into "West Bank" and "Gaza Strip" has created for the Palestinian people and state. Should the Oromo accept the creation of similar problems in their territory? Obviously no. Given this and what is said above, it is not difficult to understand why the Oromo oppose resolutely the implementation of "the Master Plan"
One may doubt whether the scenario I have described above is a true intention of the TPLF regime. But it is a reality which is already partially in progress. "The Master Plan" which was announced in 2014 was an enlarged extension of an ongoing project which started in 2005 unannounced by the government. According to Ermias Legesse, the TPLF leaders had grabbed over 50,000 hectares of land that belonged to 30,000 households with over 150,000 family-members were evicted from 29 kebeles. Ermias Legesse refers to this as an act of ethnic cleansing. He says that 95 percent of those whose land is confiscated are Oromo and the vast majority of its recipients are Tigrayans.[6] It is also a widely acknowledge fact that many of the evicted Oromo farmers have died, thousands of families have been disintegrated, and that the majority are now laborers, guards and beggars in Finfinnee and elsewhere in Oromia. The irony is that this is even what members of the ruling party and government are saying.[7] According to Legesse, those to whom the land was distributed had collected about 20 billion birr or US$1.5 billion from land sale.[8] It is public knowledge that the TPLF leaders and their followers became fabulously rich selling the land from which they had evicted Oromo peasants.
A decisive shift in Oromo attitude
The reaction to the news about "the Master Plan" was dramatic. The Oromo were rudely awakened not only by the news about "the Master Plan", but also by the arrogance of a junior TPLF official who was present at a workshop the regime organized in Adama on April 13, 2014, allegedly to start public discussion on "the Master Plan". Responding to reactions from some OPDO members who complained that "the Master Plan" imposed from above without consulting the Oromo people he said "there is nothing to prevent us to impose the Master Plan from above." The implication was "the project will be implemented whether you like it or not". The TPLF regime's lack of respect for Oromo rights to homeland and property was reflected by the attitude of the TPLF official. Although the eviction of the Oromo from Finfinnee and its vicinity has been taking place since 2005, that the decisions were made entirely by the TPLF was not clear to most Oromos. As reflected in the reactions at the Adama workshop, ironically, even the members of the OPDO were not informed about "the Master Plan" until April 2014. That the TPLF leaders can exercise their power over the Oromo people and their resources without consultation and legal constraints became crystal clear at the meeting in Adama. When exposed in a rare report by journalists from the state-run Oromiyaa TV (OTV), the knowledge that the TPLF officials did not bother to consult even the mayors of the 15 townships that are affected by "the Master Plan", let alone the millions of Oromo farmers of the surrounding villages, was humiliating not only to the junior OPDO members who were attending the workshop, but also the Oromo people at large. [9]
The crisis did not stop there. Be it out of arrogance or ignorance, the leaders of TPLF regime did not give attention to the angry words of some of the young OPDO members at the Adama workshop on "the Master Plan." They continued to stress the irreversibility of its implementation. Consequently, the protest against the project spread quickly to universities and high schools across Oromia. The students of Ambo University organized a protest on the 25th of April and translated the popular indignation into action. Students from other universities and high schools took similar steps. One of their most resonant slogans was"Finfinneen handhura Oromiyaati!", "Finfinnee is the bellybutton of Oromia!" Their message was clear: "we won't allow you to cut it out; you are interfering with the geography of our national identity." The crackdown of the regime's security forces on the students became the bloodiest they had hitherto conducted against Oromo demonstrators. Over 70 students and residents were killed. Most of them were massacred in Ambo. The impunity with which the federal police and military forces of the regime cracked down on unarmed students revealed clearly their blatant lack of respect for the Oromo right to life.
The atrocity committed against the Oromo youth had unexpected effects. It changed the attitude of the Oromo, including those who hitherto had been indifferent about the ongoing Oromo struggle for justice. It created a reaction which reflected not only the revulsion provoked by the atrocities committed against children, pregnant women and the elderly, but also a national solidarity among the Oromo at large. Above all, the events of 2014 made it clear to many Oromos that regaining control over their homeland is a precondition for exercising their fundamental human and peoples' rights. "The Master Plan" came to be seen as a crime against the Oromo nation and the attitude of the Oromo people about the Ethiopian state started to take a decisive negative turn.
The banner of Oromo struggle was raised and engrained
The cruelty of the Abyssinian rulers against the Oromo is well-known, but the TPLF regime's atrocity against the Oromo youth in 2014 was an eye-opener to many Oromos. It stirred the Oromo diaspora across the globe to mobilize and protest in mass. In many cities around the world, they went out condemning the atrocities of the TPLF and chanting the slogan "We are Oromo; we are not Ethiopians." Many had not only joined the demonstrations against the TPLF-led regime for the first time, but were also carrying the OLF flag. In a number of ways this reaction was significantly different from the mixed feeling which many Oromos had about Ethiopia in the past. What is new, and interesting in my view, is the combination of the declaration of identity expressed as "We are Oromos! We are not Ethiopians!" and the act of carrying the OLF flag, the symbol of the Oromo struggle for freedom, by Oromos who have never been members and even supporters of the OLF. Obviously, the events of 2014 had forced them to take a positions on the "Oromo versus Ethiopia question" which is at the core of Oromo politics. To carry a flag in a public demonstration is like carrying a banner in a battle: it is to endorse or protect the objective or interest which the flag signifies. Be that as it may, in the diaspora, many Oromos carry the OLF flag at mass rallies, or decorate their homes with it, to express their support for what it represents: that is to say, the establishment of an independent Oromo state.
At home, the significance of flags in identity politics was clearly marked during the 2015 national parliamentary elections. Those of us who followed the 2015 Ethiopian elections were surprised the fact that, among the thousands of Oromos who had participated in rallies organized by the only Oromo opposition party at home, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), not a single person was seen carrying the Ethiopian flag. In fact there were no banners of any kind at many of the videoed rallies. It is said that there was an attempt to distribute the Ethiopian flag to the participants during one of the OFC rallies, but that was unsuccessful. No one was willing to carry it. Given the level of the prevailing political consciousness among the Oromo, it is difficult to expect them to march with a flag which symbolizes the subjugation of their forefathers. But, the intriguing question is that, when we talk about rejection of the flag that does not tell us whether it is the subjugation, which the flag symbolized, which was being rejected, or the Ethiopian identity which is also implied. My guess is both. The rejection of Ethiopian flag and identity is also reflected in the actions of the Oromo youth who have been raising the OLF flag in many places across Oromia. As we have been witnessing during the last five months through social media, it is raised to honor those who were killed by the Ethiopian security.
In general, it seems that as a symbol of resistance, the OLF flag is arousing positive emotions among the Oromo in tandem with the increased atrocity committed against them by the TPLF regime. The demonstrations of 2014, 2015 and the last three four months have indicated clearly the significance the OLF flag in the Oromo struggle. Juxtaposed with the evergreen odaa tree, the symbol of gadaa democracy, and rays of a rising morning sun, the red, green and yellow OLF banner has become a resonant symbol of the expected Oromo resurgence from the dark nights of a more than a century old subjugation, into the bright light of independence. That the image which the OLF flag is ingraining in the minds of the Oromo. Although the Oromo do not have an independent state, and the use of the OLF flag is not endorsed by an Oromo parliament as a national flag, it is "seen" fulfilling many of the functions that national flags fulfill.
A shocking but liberating moment
The indifference of the international community to the crime perpetrated by the Ethiopian regime was another issue that awakened the Oromo to reality. The Oromo who naively believed that the international system is humane and justice-based were suddenly confronted with the culpable silence of realpolitik. Although the atrocities the Ethiopian regime had committed in Oromia constituted a clear case of what the Statute of the International Court (Article 7) defines a crime against humanity, the rest of the world continued doing business with the Ethiopian regime as usual. The two American Peace Corps volunteers, Jen Klein and Josh Cook who had witnessed atrocities committed against Oromo students in the town of Ambo, central Oromia, wrote "Ironically, as we sat at home, listening to gunshots all day long, John Kerry was visiting Ethiopia a mere 2 hours away in Addis Ababa, to encourage democratic development."[10]
The visiting US Secretary of State was not the only diplomat who was silent about the student massacre. Although 70 peaceful students were massacred in a couple of days, no government raised its voice against the Ethiopian regime. The African Union, which has headquarters in Finfinnee/Addis Ababa, remained conspicuously silent about a massacrethat took place "on its doorsteps". This was also the case with the entire diplomatic corps who staff the embassies of nearly all the member states of the UN, who reside in the heart of the Oromo country. In fact, the two Peace Corps volunteers mentioned above were advised to keep quiet when they started to inform others about what they saw in Ambo. This appalling indifference can be explained by a mixture of factors including the lack of interest in what was happening to the powerless, pursuit of selfish geopolitical and economic interest or selfish individual motives. The Abyssinian ruling elites have a refined tradition of distorting reality. The British journalist Evelyn Waugh wrote "Tricking the European was a national craft; evading issues, promising without the intention of fulfilment….were the ways by which [Abyssinian rulers] had survived and prospered."[11]The rulers of Ethiopia remained adept at exploiting this time tested method long after Waugh made this critical observation. Writing about the 1973 Ethiopian famine, the American writer Jack Shepherd argued in his Politics and Starvation that, "honorable men and women' working for honorable institutions refused to jeopardize their jobs or their comfortable relationship with Haile Selassie's government by calling international attention to the Emperor's secret."[12] The Abyssinian national craft of tricking foreign diplomats is inherited and is being diligently used by TPLF leaders in their dealings with the international community. We also know that they are diplomats and foreign experts themselves who are reluctant to jeopardize their comfortable relationship with the TPLF regime and jobs in Finfinnne (Addis Ababa) today. Avoiding criticism of the Ethiopian government for undemocratic practices, they prefer to talk about a step forward on the right road towards democracy, and pledge assistance for further democratization irrespective of how grave the observed violations of human rights are.[13]
"Oromoo! Walmalee fira hinqabnu!"
Like other oppressed peoples who believed the promises of the UN Charter and that of the other international organizations which that pledge support the oppressed, humiliated and downtrodden peoples, it took the Oromo a long time to understand that their lofty promises are empty words. The Oromo interpretation of the silence over the massacre of Oromo youth in 2014 was that the death of the powerless is not more important than business with the Ethiopian regime. The conclusion they drew from the silence was summarized in a statement which said: "Oromoo walmalee fira hinqabnu!" ("Oromo! We have only ourselves!"). This was on the lips of everyone for a while after the tragic massacre of Oromo students in 2014. Notwithstanding the tone, the statement did not reflect hopelessness or victimhood; it expressed the sober understanding that waiting for others to liberate them was an illusion. It underlined the necessity of internal solidarity and collective action to overcome their national predicament. The overall reaction to the external silence was an internal unity and psychological bonding among the Oromo. The feeling was that "if we are united we will stop the Master Plan; if not our future as a people is in danger." In my view, the silence of the international community was a "blessing in disguise": it killed the naïve belief which many Oromos had about the international community's readiness to condemn injustice wherever and whenever it occurs. It underlined the importance of self-reliance and aggressive engagement in diplomacy.
"Black man, you are on your own!"[14]
The Oromo are not the first people to find themselves in that situation. The South African Student Organization (SASO) declared in the early 1970s: "Black man, you are on your own!" Steve Biko, the co-founder and first president of SASO (1969), who is known more as a prominent leader of the anti-Apartheid movement called Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), reminded his compatriots:
We are oppressed because we are black. We must use that very concept [black] to unite ourselves and respond as a cohesive group. We must cling to each other with a tenacity that will shock the perpetrators of evil.[15]
The silence of the international community over its massacre of Oromo students in 2014 emboldened the Ethiopian regime to continue its policy of evicting the Oromo from their land. In spite of the widespread Oromo opposition, both at home and in the diaspora, it did not drop the Master Plan. In February 2015, the former Minister of Federal Affairs and current special advisor of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Abay Tsehaye, declared his government's determination to implement the plan. However, it was not only the position of the Ethiopian regime that was unwavering on the question of Finfinnee. Notwithstanding the threats from the government, the Oromo youth at home were prepared to pay the sacrifice it may ask and continue their struggle and defend the sovereignty of their homeland and the rights of their people. In the diaspora, media outlets such as the OMN (Oromia Media Network) and others that connect the remotest parts of Oromia with Oromo communities across the globe were in place. Informed by these sources and through other networks such as Facebook, Tweeter and Instagram, the Oromo in the diaspora were active in bringing the atrocities being committed by the Ethiopian regime in the name of development to the attention of the international community. By and large, the Oromo opposition to the threat posed by the "Master Plan" was united and their response to the crimes committed by the TPLF regime against the Oromo youth was cohesive
The Oromo appeal to the international community got attention after another round of TPLF massacre in late 2015. Following the strong resolution passed by the European Parliament in January 2016, and statements made by the US Department of State on the situation in Ethiopia in general and Oromia in particular, the deafening silence that had prevailed on the ongoing violence against the Oromo was lifted. The Oromo have also started to win some ground in the diplomatic front. However, that does not mean enough work has been done and effective pressure has been applied against the TPLF regime. In fact the violation of human rights in Oromia has kept on escalating since November 2015.
The November 2015 Oromo Revolution
An event in a small town in Oromia on November 12, 2015 epitomized the crimes of the TPLF. An uprising which was ignited in Ginchi, a small town 80 km west of Finfinnee, involved an assortment of injustices: land grabbing, the plunder of Oromo resources, deforestation, destruction of the environment, the impunity of the security forces, in other words, the major causes of Oromo grievances because of which the Oromo students have been protesting for a long time across Oromia. When the news of what happened in Ginchi was reported over social media, it became an epitome of both the crimes of the TPLF regime and the resistance in Oromia. The people could not tolerate the situation anymore. The news caused uprisings first in Ambo and then to Mendi, a town in western Oromia, and immediately all over Oromia. The situation is such that sometimes it seemed as if the Oromo are marching simultaneously in one and the same demonstration. It is as if people were responding in unison to a national call made in March 2015 by the students of Jimma University who, among other things, said: "We have been subjugated together; we should stand shoulder to shoulder to reclaim our God given rights and freedom together."[16] The news and video records that have been coming out of Oromia on daily basis since November 12, 2015 show successions of mass demonstrations across Oromia that reflect similarities with the daring actions of the Palestinian Intifada kids and the mighty post-Soweto youth protests in South Africa's black townships in the 1980s.[17]
In January 2015 Opride wrote that today's Oromo youth are "like a new species of Oromo." They are "keenly aware of their state's boundaries and the Oromo people's longstanding misgivings about the Ethiopian state." It said "the average Oromo protester personifies the indomitable spirit of Oromo nationalism and a steely determination to see to it that the injustice against the Oromo becomes a thing of the past. Such open national consciousness was hitherto unthinkable in Ethiopia, which remained a unitary state in large part by harshly suppressing Oromo self-expressions."[18] In fact, OPride's observation about the Oromo qubee generation's national consciousness and indomitable determination is reflected in the following sample of slogans. Chanted in chorus by tens of thousands of schoolchildren, secondary school and university students, these and other slogans have been reverberating across Oromia during the last five months.[19] In many towns and remote villages schoolchildren were chanting the touching slogans defying cruel beating, tear gas, and even live ammunition directed at them by policemen and the security forces of the Ethiopian regime.
Afaan Oromoo Translation
Oromiyaan Biyya keenya!
Biyya keenya dhiifnee eessa deemna?
Oromiyaa irratti dhalannee
Oromiyaa irratti guddannee!
Oromiyaa irratti of barre!
Biyya keenya dhiifnee eessa deemna!
Biyya keenya ni falmanna!Oromoon mirga namaa hinxuqnu!
Barattonni keenya maaliif dhuman?
Barsiisaan kenya maaliif dhuman?
Qotee bulaan keenya maaliif dhuman?
Hojeetaan keenya maaliif dhuman?
Harr'as borus Oromiyaaf duuna!
Mirga keenya ni falmana!
Biyyi keenya hingurguramu!
Mirga keenya yoomiyyuu ni falmanna!
Lafa hingurgurru
Oromiyaa ni falamanna!
Oromiyaan ni bilisoomti! Oromiyaa is our Homeland!
Where shall we go leaving our Homeland!?
Oromiyaa is our Motherland!
Oromiyaa has nurtured us!
Oromia has fostered us!
We shall not be evicted from our land!
We shall defend our Homeland!We do not violate others' rights!
Why were our students killed?
Why were our teachers killed?
Why were our farmers killed?
Why were our workers killed?
We shall die for Oromia!
We shall fight for our rights!
Our Motherland is not for sale!
We shall never stop fighting for our rights!
We will not sell our land
We shall fight for Oromia!
Oromia shall be free
As reflected in these slogans, the Oromo youth want that their people should get rid of terror, eviction, and humiliation under the rule of the TPLF regime and be in charge of their own destiny. They demand respect for their rights – their right to life, and the right to shape their individual and collective lives without external interference. They will not violate others' rights, but, as reflected in the slogans, they will sacrifice their lives to defend Oromo rights and dignity. To paraphrase a comment made by an observer, the Oromo protesters have shattered fear and intimidation and are confronting the regime's brutal crackdowns, including salvoes of live ammunition, defiantly with hands crossed. This bravery is not an impulsive act. To the Oromo, the question of Finfinnee is seen as a matter of life and death for Oromo sovereignty and territorial integrity, in a federation or as an independent state. Although almost all of the Oromo youth's protests have been conducted hitherto peacefully, the responses from the Ethiopian regime has involved deadly brutalities, beatings, rapes, disappearances, imprisonments etc. The men, women and children killed so far are at least 550; those who have been injured are counted in thousands. Nobody knows the number of those who have been kidnaped and disappeared. Those who are detained are counted in tens of thousands.
The Oromo youth, the children of Soweto and the Intifada kids of Palestine
It is interesting to note here that features of the revolution that had been ignited by the incident in Ginchi in November 2015 has similarities with the resistance of the South African and Palestinian peoples in the past. To begin with, welded together by an unwavering faith in their legitimate cause the Palestinian Intifada kids constituted a defiant "army" who faced Israeli tanks, jeeps and soldiers with stones. Their bravery had cost them many lives, but, it was not pointless or in vain. It was contagious and took the Palestinians to the streets in their thousands. The burial of each and every Palestinian killed by Israeli bullets became a massive show of national solidarity in a resolute psychological defiance against the Israeli occupation. The kids who lost their lives were not betrayed and forgotten. As we remember, it was the heroic acts of the Intifada youth which forced the Israeli government under Yitzhak Rabin to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Front (PLO) and its leader Yasser Arafat in 1993. Thus, the daring youth also put the Palestinian question on the agenda of the powerful West and the Palestinian state on the map of the Middle East.
The similarities between the current deeds of the Oromo youth to stop the implementation of "the Addis Ababa Master Plan," and the courage the Palestinian kids had shown in defense of Palestinian rights are striking. It is even the struggle of the Oromo youth that has made the world to pay attention to the Oromo question for the first time. Among others, the European Parliament passed resolution on the situation in Ethiopia condemning the use of violence against peaceful Oromo protesters. The US government expressed its concern publicly for the first time about the situation in Oromia. However, the statements are yet to be accompanied by tangible action. On its part, the Ethiopian regime has continued with its vicious actions against the Oromo people ignoring the concern of the international community.
Again, it is important to remember that the support of the international community, though needed, is not a panacea for a national predicament in the last analysist. Although, the assistance given to the ANC by external powers was very substantial, but we must remember that Apartheid was brought to its disgraceful demise by the monumental demonstrations and death-defying confrontations which were conducted in the racially segregated shanty towns in which the vast majority of the indigenous African population live. Indeed, it was those actions which had gradually turned Apartheid South Africa into a hell for the white racist regime. The trend we see in Oromia is proceeding in the same direction. As the uprising shocked "the perpetrators of evil" in Apartheid South Africa, the Oromo uprising has given the TPLF regime a shock it has never felt during last 25 years. As we know, it took a decade and half to bring down the Apartheid regime after the Soweto uprising. While the popular base of the ongoing Oromo revolution seems to be at least as united and strong as the Anti-apartheid movement had been, one cannot say the same when it comes to the strength of its leadership. However, I can say that what the OMS has already achieved has brought the Oromo people nearer to the goal they have been aspiring for a long time: (a) it has united the Oromo people from corner to corner to struggle for a common goal; (b) it has brought the Oromo question to the attention of the international community. (c) One of the arguments against Oromo independence concerns the security of non-Oromos who live in Oromia today. However, the humanity shown to non-Oromos during the last five months must have, by and large, dispelled that fear. In other words, it has indicated that non-Oromos can live in an independent Oromia without fear for their lives and property. These and other victories scored by the Oromo people, particularly during the last five months, indicate that the day of their independence is not far
Number matters
The current Oromo uprising is maelstrom that has refused to cease for the last five months and is involving scores of cities, all the universities in Oromia, nearly all the high schools and most of the elementary schools. In addition, millions of farmers, businessmen and women, and civil servants have been participating in it. However, the Oromo youth remain in the forefront. The term youth includes university and high school students and primary school children. The TPLF leaders seem to have forgotten the role the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM) had played in overthrowing the Haile Selassie regime in 1974 when they under-estimated the strength of the Oromo youth. The ESM of late 1960s and early 1970s of which many of the TPLF leaders were members, was based on population of 6,098 university (in 1974-75), 88,541 secondary school and 1,191,158 grade school (1-8) students in the country, including Eritrea, in 1976.[20] Compared to that, there are, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia[21], over 600,000 students enrolled in higher institutions of education in the country during the academic year 2013/14. If we estimate that between 35 percent of them are Oromo that means there are over 210,000 Oromo students in the colleges and universities. According to the same source, the number of Oromo students who were attending secondary schools was more than 650,000. Over 6,620,000 Oromo children were attending grade schools. Given this gigantic number of current schoolchildren, it is plausible to assume that the number of Oromo students in secondary schools and universities will double and even triple soon. Therefore, it is unlikely that the TPLF or any other regime that may take power in Finfinnee hereafter can destroy the Oromo youth movement physically or diminish its political importance unless it is prepared to commit a genocide.
It is important to point in this connection that the majority of the Oromo youth with whom the TPLF regime is in conflict were born after it came to power. They are between the ages of 17 and 24. A regime which treats a young generation of such an immense size with unbridled atrocity as the TPLF has been doing for the last fifteen years cannot have a future. The TPLF regime is seating in an irreparably damaged boat that is sinking in a stormy sea. The only means it depends on now to stay in power are the instruments of coercion. But those are not functional any more in Oromia.
Unity of purpose and ideology matter
Unity of purpose and ideology are the other variables which differentiate the Oromo Student Movement (OSM) from the Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM). The ESM's mission was based on the notion of class struggle. Its vision was building an Ethiopian state dominated by a working class. However, a working class that can conduct a revolution and run a state did not exist in Ethiopia. Therefore, the revolution for which it became a catalyst paved the way for a military dictatorship. After the Dergue destroyed ESM in the mid-1970s, it has not been possible to unite Ethiopian youth under a similar organization. The case of the Oromo youth movement is different. It is not only larger in size, but is also free from the ethnic division which denied members of the ESM unity. It is based on Oromummaa (Oromo nationalism) the essence of which is psychological bonding and the conviction to defend Oromo rights. As Frantz Fanon had stated, "each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it." According to most of the respondents interviewed by media outlets such as Voice of America (VOA) and Oromia Media Network (OMN), abba biyyummaa is the aim for which they will struggle to the end. In its six-point resolution of April 15, 2016 the students of Wallaga University have declared, among others, that "Diina guyyaa saafaa mana keenya seenuun haadhaa fi ilmoo wal irratti ajjeesaa jiru of keessaa baasuuf halkaniif guyyaa hojjenna" (We will work day and night to dislodge the enemy that is killing mothers and their children together entering our homes in broad daylight).[22] Even though it is not declared as a manifesto, the liberation of Oromia is crystalizing as a mission of the qubee generation. The events of the last five months indicate a rapid progress in that direction.
Embeddedness
Another factor that makes the Oromo youth movement different from that of the ESM is itsembeddedness in the society. The signs are that it has greater support from the people than the ESM ever had. In fact few had heard about the ESM outside the major urban centers. John Markakis has the following to say about them. They "came neither from the down-trodden peasant mass nor the minuscule working class. They were the offspring of the ruling elite, the makuanent, gultegna, neftegna and balabbat; the overwhelming majority were of Abyssinian origin, and lived in towns. … [These) town-bred radicals were little acquainted with conditions in the countryside."[23] In other words, the vast majority of the students knew little about the aspirations of, particularly the non-Abyssinian peoples they were talking about. Since the class perspective defined the sociology of Imperial Ethiopia in their view, its main problem was distributive justice. One was rich or poor, landless or landlord. Therefore, they emphasized distributive justice as a solution for conflict in Ethiopia.
The case of the present Oromo youth movement is different. Conceived in the wombs of an ongoing struggle for national liberation, the overriding concern of the majority of its members is the achievement of national sovereignty. In their view, distributive justice and the national question cannot be seen separately – for a conquered, and politically and culturally dominated people like the Oromo, economic liberation in the absence national freedom is barely achievable. More significantly, the overwhelming majority are from the rural areas and the sons and daughters of farming households. What they want is what their people are aspiring for. The subordination of the Oromo as a nation and the economic disadvantages they experience as individuals are often interrelated. They express the grievances of their people. The most common slogan of the Oromo demonstrators during the last five months has been "Gaafiin Bartoota gaaffii ummataatii!" "The student demands are the demands of the people!" As a generation, the qubee generation see themselves as the offspring of heroes who had sacrificed their lives while fighting for the liberation of Oromia. Almost every Oromo household seems to have at least one young member who entertains these feelings and convictions of the OSM.
A peaceful resistance against a regime that does not understand peace
The pre-emptying efforts to silence the Oromo youth through the practice of arbitrary imprisonment, beating, torture, murder, rape, and disappearing may continue, but there will be no room for the reproduction of the Abyssinian system of domination in Oromia anymore. The TPLF atrocities have not only intensified youth resistance, but also awakened the Oromo people at large to the reality that fighting injustice with every means necessary is a must. The events of 2014, 2015 and now 2016 made the Oromo to come to the conclusion that they cannot allow anyone to hunt and kill their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters or their neighbors as if they are unprotected wild game. The Oromo people have learnt to withstand increasing repression with determination under the present regime. They have "killed" their worst enemy, fear. Many of us have been often stunned with awe during the last five months to see the failure of atrocious violence including live ammunition to force the Oromo youth into flight or silence their protest. They buried their dead and went back to the place where their brothers, sisters or compatriots were killed to continue with the protest. However, their method of resistance may not remain as peaceful as it had been hitherto. Frantz Fanon, whose views about freedom were informed by the struggles waged by indigenous peoples against European colonial rule in Africa and elsewhere in the 1950 and 1960s, and shaped particularly through his direct participation in the Algerian war of independence, has reminded us that, "For he [the indigenous person] knows that he is not an animal; and it is precisely when he realizes his humanity that he begins to sharpen the weapons with which he will secure his victory."[24] Or as stated by another influential thinker Mamood Mamdani, "He of whom they [the colonizers] have never stopped saying that the only language he understands is that of force, decides to give utterance by force" to become the master of his destiny.[25] By and large, Fanon's and Mamdani's statements mirror a universal truth: whenever history takes that course, we find yesterday's victims turning around and casting aside their victimhood and becoming masters of their own lives and destiny. So far the Oromo have conducted peaceful protests facing live bullets from the police, the notorious Agazi squads and military forces of the Ethiopian state. Confident in the righteousness of their demands, they haven't been using violence to achieve it. But, they are determined to defeat the Ethiopian regime by making themselves uncontrollable and Oromia ungovernable. In an effort to crash the Oromo uprising, the TPLF regime has made recourse to the indiscriminate use of violence against the Oromo people as a whole. This violence may increase in its atrocity. However, like all oppressors the TPLF-regime tends to forget that it does not have a monopoly over violence. It ignores the Oromo also have the right to use violence in self-defense and pursuit of justice.
Peace and justice go together. Therefore, talking about peace doesn't make sense in the absence of justice. Wherever it fails to restore justice, peaceful resistance cannot remain peaceful indefinitely. As reflected in the events described above, the peaceful protests of the Oromo students during the last fifteen years have been extremely costly to themselves, their families and the Oromo nation as a whole. The regime has made it known repeatedly that it will never tolerate, any opposition to its power whether it is peaceful or not. The option which its leaders have been offering the Oromo and other peoples in Ethiopia is not democracy but submission to their rule. As I tried to show in this article the Oromo youth have shown their rejection of subjugation. A writer summarizes their feeling as follows:
The only future I see is a future free of Abyssinians [who do not] dominate any aspect of Oromo life. It is a future where Oromo police protect Oromo towns, Oromo armies protect Oromo borders, Oromo teachers educate Oromo children and where Oromo leaders are peacefully elected to govern Oromo people. It is a future where the name of our homeland is Oromia.[26]
The independent state of Oromia implied in the quotation is not a new as an idea or a program for action. Hundreds of Oromo have written about it. Thousands of them have sacrificed their lives to realize it. The Indian sociologist T. Oommen has said that "a nation tends to produce its state when it faces abnormal situations."[27] Needless to say here that the situation in which the Oromo had been caught for more than 130 years had been abnormal before it became totally abominable under the present regime. The experience of the Oromo youth during the last 15 years has proved that use of peaceful protests will not change the situation. The logical response to the situation is self-defense by all means necessary. Freedom is seldom given freely. It cannot be achieved by begging oppressors for it. Speaking about Apartheid South Africa, Steve Biko said that for the blacks, begging the Apartheid regime for emancipation is "giving them further sanction to continue with their racist and oppressive system."[28] Begging the TPLF-led regime for political democracy will amount not only to inviting them to continue with the ongoing massacre of the Oromo youth, evicting of Oromo farmers, and imprisoning, torturing and killing Oromos, but also to sanction their blatant contempt for the Oromo people.
The Oromo have shown great patience and tried to create conditions in which they can live on decent and respectful terms in Ethiopia for a long time. It did not work. That is what the 2015 Ethiopian elections showed us. The Oromo do not have much choice but paying the ultimate price to reclaim their freedom. It is a moral imperative to get rid of the repressive grip of a vicious system that is killing them and is destroying the eco-system on which they depend for their survival. The events of the last two years have given us a clearer view of not only the cruelty of the Ethiopian regime, but also a glimpse of a new phase in the Oromo struggle for independence. If I may predict, the increasing number of Oromos who are responding to the call of their youth heralds that the day of freedom is dawning. As I will discuss elsewhere (forthcoming in Oromia Today) this does not mean that their revolution is secure against both Oromo and Abyssinian hijackers. What I will suggest here is that our youth should stay vigilant regarding about political parties who promise democracy now but will even reverse the achievements the Oromo people have made so far through their struggle once they come to power in Finfinnee.
The leaders of the Ethiopian regime did not imagine the resistance which the Oromo had put up, since November 2015 was possible, when they threatened those who would dare to oppose the Master Plan with reprisal. Then, they were shocked and said they had cancelled the controversial Mater Plan. However, the statement about the termination of the project came not only too late, but was also insincere. It was false because the regime did not release the tens of thousands of Oromos they have incarcerated for protesting against "the Master Plan;" they have continued to use violence with impunity against those who demand the release of the detained Oromos and imprison more Oromos. Lately they are even saying the Master Plan is not abandoned but will be revised and implemented.Turing deaf ears to the popular slogan "Oromia is not for sale", they are promising to pay Oromo farmers for the land from which they will be evicted. The conclusion is that the Oromo have no other option left than getting rid of the oppressors by all means necessary and at any cost to regain their freedom and control over their own resources.
The first version was presented at the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) 2016 Mid-Year Conference, London School of Economics on April 2 – 3, 2016. This version is prepared for the website Oromia Today on request.
[1] Ernst Gellner, Nationalism, 1983, p. 85
[2] Ermias Legesse, Ye-Meles Tirufatoch – Balabet Alba Ketema (The Legacies of Meles – A City Without Owners), 2014, p. 16ff.
[3] For non-Oromos who do not have information about Oromo language, qubee is the Latin script adapted by Oromo scholars to Oromo sounds and is used in Oromo writing.
[4] Mekuria Bulcha, "Land Grabbing and the Environmental Crime: Causes of the Oromo Student Uprising 2000-2015." Paper present at Oromo Studies Association (OSA) Symposium Washington Ethical Society, January 16, 2016. Forthcoming in the Proceedings of the Symposium.
[5] Gizachew T. Tesso, Amharic interview with ESAT TV on November 5, 2015.
[6] Ermias Legesse, ibid.
[7] See Oromia Media Network (OMN), March 8, 2016. In a meeting which was videoed and leaked to the mass media recently, the current Speaker of the Ethiopian Federal Parliament, Abba Duulaa Gammadaa, was confessing that the said evictions had destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of former self-sufficient families and who are now jobless and beggars, or are daily laborers, guards and cleaners hired by those to whom the government sold their land. In the video, he was persuading Oromo parliamentarians to go and see the situation for themselves. The sincerity of Abba Duulaa Gammadaa is questionable because the ruling party, of which he is a member, is killing Oromos who are protesting against "the Master Plan" while he is speaking. In addition, in the first place, he was the President of the Regional State of Oromia when the eviction of the Oromo farmers he was talking about occurred.
[8] Ermias Legesse, 2014, p. 6.
[9] See News report by Yihun Ingda on Ethiopian Television Oromo Program, April 13, 2014
[10] Jen & Josh "Ambo Protests: A Personal Account", May 24, 2014.
[11] Evelyn Waugh, Waugh in Abyssinia, 1936.
[12] Cited by Peter Gill in Famine & foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 29.
[13] The hypocrisy of whitewashing Ethiopia's murky "realities" is not limited to the diplomatic community in Finfinnee but includes also agents of international organizations. A UNDP report which quotes a World Bank document talks about impressive progress made by Ethiopia Cited in UNDP National Human Development Report 2014: Ethiopia, p. 86.
[14] Steve Biko, S. I Write What I Like, Oxford: Heinemann, 1976, p. 91
[15] Ibid, p. 91
[16] See Gadaa.com, "Appeal Letter of the Students of Jimma University to the University's Administration", March 3, 2015.
[17] See Gizaw Tassisa, "The Soweto (South African) Students Uprising for Freedom and Justice
Implications to the April 2014 Oromo Students Uprising for Freedom and Justice",Gadaa.com, January, 2015.
[18] OPride, "OPride's Oromo Person of the Year 2014: Oromo Student Protesters", January 1, 2015.
[19] See for example Gadaa.com, "Vidoeos Chronicle How Fear Got Defeated by Oromo Protests in Oromia –December 9, 2015 to January 4, 2016, posted on January 6, 2016,
[20] Central Statistical Office (SCO), Ethiopia: Statistical Abstract 1976, Addis Ababa, 1976, p. 231
[21] See Ministry of Education of Ethiopia (ME), Education National Abstract 2013/14, June 2015
[22] See Ayyaantuu.com, "A Statement from the Qeerroo branch of Wallaga University", April, 15, 2016.
[23] Markakis, J. Ethiopia: The Last Two Frontiers, James Currey, 2011, p. 162.
[24] Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Translated from French by Constance Farrington, New York: Grove Press, 1961, p. 43.
[25] Mamdani, M. When Victims Become Killers, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 13
[26] Jiituu Finfinnee, "The Abyssinian Personality: Why They Cannot Be Trusted." Oromo Press, April 22, 2014
[27] T. K. Oommen, Citizenship and National Identity: From Nationalism to Globalism,London: Sage Publications, 1997, p. 31.
[28] Biko, S. ibid. p. 97.
AI: Ethiopia must release opposition politician held for Facebook posts May 8, 2016
Tags: 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Amnesty International, Crimes against Humanity in Oromia/Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia must release opposition politician held for Facebook posts, Oromo
(Amnesty USA) — 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.
The Human Rights League: Ethiopia: Endless Injustices against Oromo Nation in the Name of Law Enforcement. #OromoProtests May 8, 2016
Tags: #OromoProtests, 'BECAUSE I AM OROMO': SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA, Africa, Ethiopia, Ethiopia: Endless Injustices against Oromo Nation in the Name of Law Enforcement, Genocide, Human rights league of the, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, Oromia, Oromo, Violation of Oromo Human Rights in Ethiopia
Ethiopia: Endless Injustices against Oromo Nation in the Name of Law Enforcement
HRLHA Press Release
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) strongly condemns the TPLF/EPRDF Government's endless manipulations of the justice system to its own political ends, which was once again manifested in the fully fabricated allegations and charges filed against 22 (twenty-two) Oromo nationals. It surprised no one that the TPLF/EPRDF Government, as usual, used the infamous legal tool of the Anti-Terrorism Law, as a result of which thousands of innocent Oromos and other nationals have been victimized, to arrest, detain and take to court another batch of Oromo activists. These newest allegations and attempts of abusing the justice system are taking place following the months-long and region-wide public protests in Oromia; and are, undoubtedly, parts of the heavy-handed crackdown, which included the imposition of martial law in the Regional State in an effort to suppress the public anger and demands for change.
As described by some international legal analysts, the Ethiopian Anti-Terrorism Law "… criminalizes basic human rights, especially freedom of speech and assembly. The law defines terrorism in an extremely broad and vague way so as to give the government enormous leeway to punish words and acts that would be perfectly legal in a democracy". This is the reality that came into play in the case of these newly made allegations against 22 Oromo nationals.
According to documents obtained by HRLHA, the 22 Oromo nationals, including top political leaders of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress party, such as Mr. Bekele Gerba (Deputy Chairman) and Mr. DejeneTafa (Deputy Secretary General), Addisu Bulala and others have been charged with allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government by means of instigating a public revolt and protests as well as collaborating with other political organization called Oromo Liberation Front. The new creation in this case is that attempts were made to associate the officially registered and legally operating political parties like the OFC with opposition political organizations that were deemed outlaw by the Ethiopian Government in order to criminalize their legitimate existence and activities.
From left to right, Bekele Gerba, Djene Tafa, Addisu Bulala & others
It is so unfortunate that Mr. Bekele Gerba is being subjected to such politically and racially motivated injustice and the resultant sufferings in Ethiopian substandard jails for the second time in a matter of two years.
The HRLHA has ample documents that hundreds of thousands of innocent Oromos and members of other nationalities have already fallen victims of such injustices and dictatorship committed particularly using this Anti-Terrorism Law, described by some as "a tool to stifle dissent", as a legal weapon.
Local, regional and international communities have repeatedly witnessed over the past twenty-five years that the TPLF/EPRDF Government of Ethiopia misuses the political power, the justice system, and other public resources to silence and/or eliminate all forms of oppositions and political descents, despite the constitutionally declared democracy, in order to ensure monopoly and lasting partisan political goals. But, no tangible and effective actions are taken so far to make the Ethiopian Government refrain from punishing its own citizens just for exercising or attempting to exercise some of their basic and constitutionally provided democratic rights.
The HRLHA, first of all, calls upon the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally release these Oromo nationals detained and charges for allegedly committing acts of terrorism; as their words and/or acts are undoubtedly legal and, above all, constitutional. HRLHA also calls upon the international community's so that they condemn the Ethiopian Government, acts of injustices against innocent citizens, and request that these unjustly detained and falsely charged Oromos are freed unconditionally.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Amharic, or your own language expressing:
For the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners illegally detained
Urging the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that these detainees would be treated in accordance with the regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners,
TheUS Department of State Secretary
Office of Foreign Missions2201 C Street NW
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street ,
Email: Enquiry Service – Online form
UN Secretary – General
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki – Moon
Executive Office of the Secretary-General
http://www.un.org/sg/
The UN Human Rights Commissioner
Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
FRANCE+33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
Western Region P.O. Box 673 Banjul
Tel: (220) 441 05 05, 441 05 06
Fax: (220) 441 05 04
Can aid reform end Ethiopia's repeated hunger emergencies? May 8, 2016
Tags: Africa, Ethiopia, Famine and Ethiopia rising meme, Famine Ethiopia, Why Famine is a Permanent Phenomenon in Ethiopia?, Women and elders) are dying of genocidal mass killings and politically caused famine
Debre Mekuria breastfeeds her malnourished baby in Seriel health centre in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region, Feb. 13, 2016. REUTERS/Tristan Martin
NAIROBI, May 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation, 4 May 2016) – Over the years, Ethiopian mother-of-three Hana Mekonnen has received all sorts of aid designed to free her from the bitter trap of poverty and hunger: goats, cash transfers, resettlement and, of course, sacks of grain.
None has worked.
Hana's one-year-old son was diagnosed with malnutrition in October, usually a time of plenty in Ethiopia's mountainous Amhara region, when the main harvest starts to come in.
The Horn of Africa nation's worst drought in 50 years has left her destitute, reduced to arguing with neighbors over the allocation of aid rations.
"Because of the drought, we are all poor," she said, seated in her dimly-lit hut with her child on her lap.
"No one in this village has anything to give their children. We all live on food aid."
Hana blames God for failed rains, but development experts say her chronic poverty is the result of traditional farming methods, a soaring population and a lack of alternative sources of income.
Millions of farmers and herders across Africa have been pushed into crisis by drought this year, raising questions about the ability of aid to break the hunger cycle, despite a resolve to do so after famine killed 260,000 people in Somalia in 2011.
How to make people less vulnerable to natural disasters, and improving the aid response when they do strike, are key themes of the World Humanitarian Summit on May 23-24 in Istanbul.
Hana receives cash and food six months a year, in exchange for environmental work, like digging ponds and planting trees.
Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), set up in 2005, helps her through the 'lean season' between harvests, while also rehabilitating land and building roads, health posts and schools to tackle some of the underlying causes of poverty.
The scheme, administered by the government and largely funded by international donors, was set up to end the annual scramble for emergency funding to feed hungry Ethiopians, averaging 5 million a year in the decade before its launch.
It has made the provision of food aid more predictable and cheaper, helping to prevent the terrible famines that tarnished Ethiopia's international image in the 1970s and 80s.
But it has not ended hunger.
"Ethiopia is, and has demonstrated itself to be, very effective at response," said Laura Hammond, who heads the development studies department at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
"But there's still this level of vulnerability and poverty that is persistent and that's harder to turn a corner on."
This year, one in five Ethiopians need food aid, with 8 million receiving support from the PSNP and another 10.2 million from a $1.4 billion humanitarian appeal.
By 2020, the project – Africa's largest social safety net – will have cost donors $5.7 billion, raising questions about its sustainability.
"Ultimately, there does need to be a vision for this not being a donor-financed safety net," Greg Collins, director of the Center for Resilience at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"We more and more need to be investing in creating opportunities that allow those who are able to graduate from the PSNP."
Initial optimism about a rapid shift to self-sufficiency has been replaced with an acceptance that some Ethiopians will be dependent on aid indefinitely.
GROWTH STORY
The busy roads, endless construction sites and new light railway snaking over Ethiopia's capital are testament to the double-digit growth it has enjoyed for the last decade.
This growth has led to a dramatic drop in poverty rates, with the share of the population living below the poverty line falling from 56 to 31 percent between 2000 and 2011, according to World Bank data.
"Ethiopia is the darling of Africa at the moment," said Lindsey Jones, a researcher with the London-based Overseas Development Institute. "Its economy is expanding massively."
But deeper structural changes, like urbanization and industrialization, are needed to end poverty, experts say.
From the early 1990s, Ethiopia pursued an agriculture-led development strategy, under visionary strongman Meles Zenawi.
Increased use of fertilizer, better seeds and expert advice produced sharp increases in yields, benefiting the 92 percent of Ethiopians who, according to the World Bank, own land.
As Ethiopia's population has doubled since the early 1990s, many people's farms are often only half a hectare.
"There is no means to increase the landholding size," said Mitiku Kassa, head of Ethiopia's National Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Committee. "The only option is to increase the productivity of the land by using agricultural technologies."
Each ward has three development agents, graduates in crop and animal sciences, who demonstrate to villagers how to increase their yields, he said.
But farmers remain vulnerable to poor rains, unlike workers in manufacturing and services jobs, which have proven critical in reducing poverty in countries like Bangladesh and Rwanda.
Ethiopia's recent investment in the food processing, textile and flower industries is a step towards diversifying the economy away from its heavy dependence on farming, said SOAS's Hammond.
ACT BEFORE DROUGHT
The most popular buzzword among aid workers after the 2011 drought across the Horn of Africa was "resilience", which means boosting people's ability to bounce back from shocks like a failed harvest or a death in the family.
Projects that provide families with alternative sources of income, such as livestock, or loans to set up small businesses, can make them less vulnerable when disaster hits.
"What's needed is more investment in action before droughts strike," said Michael Mosselmans, head of humanitarian policy and practice for Christian Aid.
Every dollar spent on preparedness saves seven dollars in disaster aftermath, the United Nations says, but it is harder to generate enthusiasm for preventative projects than tackling visible crises, like starving children.
At the World Humanitarian Summit, Christian Aid is calling for 5 percent of aid to be spent on resilience and disaster preparedness, up from the current 0.4 percent.
Ethiopia is not holding its breath.
The government's Mitiku says efforts to end hunger for women like Hana must be driven by Ethiopia itself.
"Emergencies will continue, in my view, as long as we are living with adverse climate change," he said, drawing comparisons with drought-hit California.
"They are not appealing (for funds) because they have the capacity to respond. We expect Ethiopia to have such capacity to respond by itself… when we reach lower middle-income (status)," he said, a target it has set for 2025.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-humanitarian-summit-resilience-ethiop-idUSKCN0XW00R
Famine: Ethiopia (Addis Ababa): Increased number of people on the streets begging for food and money and the government is trying hard to keep word from getting out May 2, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Famine in Ethiopia.
Tags: Africa, DEFYING CENSORSHIP, Ethiopia, Famine, Famine and the "Ethiopia rising" meme, HUNGER STORIES EMERGE FROM ETHIOPIA, Why Famine is a Permanent Phenomenon in Ethiopia?, Women and elders) are dying of genocidal mass killings and politically caused famine
DEFYING CENSORSHIP, HUNGER STORIES EMERGE FROM ETHIOPIA
by Christabel Ligami
During my recent visit to Addis Ababa, one thing caught my eyes: the increased number of people on the streets begging for food and money. This is not the same Ethiopian capital I visited last year. It is very different due to a severe drought, and the government is trying hard to keep word from getting out.
Ziway Dugda district communities waiting for food distribution at Ogolcha food centre in a drought stricken area in Ziway Dugda district, during UN Secretary General, Ban Ki moon's visit to Ethiopia, on 31 January, 2016.(AP/MulugetaAyene)
I asked a fellow journalist from Ethiopia – I will not mention his identity for security reasons – if I could take a photo.
"The government doesn't want us (media) to write about this, and especially if you are a foreign journalist, you will be in much trouble. Most of the local journalists here are in jail for reporting the hunger stories and other stories that the government is against.
"The government thinks by telling the hunger stories, it is an embarrassment to the country," he says, echoing what I hear from other journalists as well as NGOs.
Ethiopia is facing its worst drought in at least three decades, with devastating effects on agriculture and livestock, whilst millions of people face food insecurity. More than 10 million people – one in ten Ethiopians – are said to need emergency aid due to failed rains.
The Ethiopian government and humanitarian agencies have said that Ethiopia needs nearly US$600 million in international humanitarian assistance. But critics say the government's new leasing law for foreign concerns is aggravating the crisis by blocking livestock from grazing in areas less-affected by the drought.
One-quarter of all districts in Ethiopia – mainly in the north of the country – are officially classified as facing a food security and nutrition crisis after the drought cut production by up to 90 per cent in some areas. That has caused a flight to the cities.
"Whenever the drought occurs in these areas, people migrate to areas less affected to look for food, and Addis Ababa is one of the areas they move to, especially those just in the outskirts of the city," said Mitiku Kassa, the Commissioner in charge of Ethiopia's Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Agency, in an interview with Equal Times.
According to the NGO Save the Children the number of those affected could be higher, considering that 7.9 million people are supported by the government's safety net program that provides wheat, cereals and cooking oil. It says at least 6 million children are hungry.
Worst seen since the 1980s
The nation has historically struggled with hunger, including in the 1980s, when famine and civil war left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
Experts are predicting that Ethiopia will experience the worst drought in generations, one that will surpass the 1984 famine that killed one million people.
United Sates Department of Agriculture reports that Ethiopia sought 1 million tons of wheat late last year – more than what it bought last season. The government also purchased 500,000 tons more last month through the port of Djibouti, as Ethiopia is a landlocked country.
It is estimated that imports will jump to 2.5 million tons this year, up from the 900,000 tons purchased last year. And USAID, which has deployed a disaster response team to Ethiopia, last month announced that it would provide nearly US$4 million in maize and wheat seed for more than 226,000 households.
"The Ethiopian government is building distribution points and temporary warehouses for the food delivery," Mohammed Said, the Ethiopian government Director of Communications and Media, tells Equal Times.
"All the centres in the drought-affected regions have been equipped with food they need, and focus is now shifting to providing seeds and fertiliser to farmers so they can start planting following the start of rains."
He said that the government has a budget of US$381million to cater for those affected by drought, including their animals.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) early this year announced an emergency US$50 million aid to help drought-hit Ethiopians.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said Ethiopia has launched emergency food delivery and supervision system that helps provide food for the drought affected areas before the onset of the rainy season. He also called for more international assistance.
The United Nations also says that 5.8 million people in the country are in need water, sanitation, and hygiene services while the total assistance required in 2016 is US$1.4 billion.
The predicted number of children at risk from suffering from severe malnutrition this year is 430,000.
Paul Handley, Head of the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia, said that by the end of the first quarter of 2016, 546,257 moderately malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women were treated through the Targeted Supplementary Feeding (TSF) Programme. This represents 82 per cent of the first quarter target of 665,000 people.
"Food overall will become harder to access if we continue to see prices rise, food stocks deplete and livestock become weaker, less productive, and perish," says FAO representative for Ethiopia, Amadou Allahoury.
"As soon as the rains start, FAO plans include distributing seeds and animal feed, vaccinating animals, delivering 100,000 sheep and goats to vulnerable households and giving farmers cash for bringing weakened and unproductive livestock to slaughter."
He says that the current drought is not just a food crisis – it is above all a livelihood crisis.
Under Ethiopian law, land is government-owned but occupants have customary rights. In 2010, Ethiopia passed a new farm policy to which the government is leasing 3 million hectares to foreign agricultural investors who mostly include Chinese, Indians and Saudis.
According to the government, the foreign investors will have to satisfy domestic food needs before they can export, while at the same time improve the social welfare of people in the rural areas.
"You cannot speak about land issues now especially with the food insecurity in the country. You will be arrested for that," says one official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The vast majority of land is being used by foreigners for agriculture, especially rice cultivation in the southwest region," he says.
Although not as affected by the drought as the northern region, the southwest is where most of the food for the country comes from.
"Pastoralists would also move to this region whenever there is drought in the north, to graze their animals, but now they can't," the official says. "This is one of the reasons we are witnessing the worst hunger in the country."
http://www.equaltimes.org/defying-censorship-hunger-stories?lang=en#.Vychth0rJdi
Nuti Oromooni: New Oromo Music By Guddinaa Mulunaa, Yai Gulalle Film May 2, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Oromo Music.
Tags: Africa Beat, Guddinaa Mulunaa, Nuti Oromooni: New Oromo Music By Guddinaa Mulunaa, Oromo music, Oromo music and Oromo identity, Yai Gulalle Film
Oduu maaster plan Hararii: Fascist TPLF Ethiopia's regime has engaged in ethnic cleansing of Oromo people from city of Harar and surroundings Oromo land May 1, 2016
Tags: Genocide Against Oromo People, Harar Master killer, Oduu maaster plan Hararii, The Ethiopia's regime is evicting Oromo People from city of Harar and surroundings
Oduu maaster plan Hararii
Naannoon Hararii master plan Harar kan jette yeroo dheeraadhaaf karoorfatte haala mijiaawaa ittin eeggachaa turtee karoorfattee ajandaa dhokataa kan oromoo lafa saatirraa godaansisuudhaan sab-lammii Hararii biyya keeysa kan jiruu fi kan biyya alaati kolgaltummaan jiru Dollar ergee mana jaarsifatu qubachiisuuf karoora baafatte guyyaa 27/4/016 irraa eegalte hujirra oolfachu jalqabde jatti oduun nu geeyse.
Haaluma kanaan lafa baadiyyaa magaalaati dhiihaate arkamu Manneen kuma lama tahan kan Oromoon Oyruu sirrati Ganna 10 dura ijaarratte guyyaa kamisa dabree fi jimmata kana abbooti fi joollee dhiiraa eega mana hidhaati galchan booda Ganda Bubbee fi Shankoori je'umti humna polisii hamma funyaaniti hidhachifte ummatarrati bobbaafte manneen diigu jalqabde jirti
Ganda Bubbee qofati manneen 90 guyyaa kamisaa qofati diigame jira. tan eega ilma deessee guyyaa 16 daa'ima deeyse wajjiin mana irrati diigani jiran.
Guyyuma san ummanni dirmate fincila kaaseen dhukaasni akka roobaati gadi bu'ee namoonni 4 akka malee madaawani jiran namoinni 200 ol hidhamani jiran. fincillii ummataa humna polisi ol waan taheef federaal polisi dirmannoo yaammatani diiggaa manneen itti fufani jiran.
naannoo Araddaa shanki fincillii ummataa haalaan waan hammaateef haga ammaati humni polisii araddaa san seenu hin dandeenyee.
Kan baayyee nama gaddisiisuufi Oromoo lafarraa buqqaasani saba adaree qubachiisuuf tahu kan ragaa bahuu. namoota Adaree tahaniifi firoota prezdantichaa kan tahan muraasaaf yoo maqaa dhooyne namoota maqaan isaani Jorjoo fi Afandi jedhaman manni irraa hin diigamne. akkuma jiruutti kan oromoo qofti diigamaa jira.
Akkuuma kanaan durati tokkummaan roorroo saba keentarrati gayaa jiru ittisuuf waliif lallabne dirmannuti Orimoon martii jalaa gubbaan kaabaa kibbaan bahaa dhihaan dhimma kana quba qabaatani waliif dirmachuudhaan akka falmitanii dura dhaabbatanii fi akka mormitan jenna.
waliif dabarsaa share godhaa
Oromia (#OromoProtests) :Shirri Xaxamuu fi Ololli Geggeeffamu Falmii Bilisummaa Fi Mirga Abbaa Biyyummaa Finiinaa Jiru Hin Dhaabu! May 1, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in #OromoProtests, Oromia.
Tags: #OromoProtests, Oromia, Oromo, Qeerroo, SBO
Shirri Xaxamuu fi Ololli Geggeeffamu Falmii Bilisummaa Fi Mirga Abbaa Biyyummaa Finiinaa Jiru Hin Dhaabu!
(SBO/VOL – Caamsaa 01,2016) Fincilli Diddaa Gabrummaa gara Fincila Xumura Gabrummaatti jijjiiramee falmaan mirga abbaa biyyummaa fi bilisummaa ummata Oromoo fi ilmaan isaa barattoota/dargaggoota Qeerroo Bilisummaan finiinuu erga eegalee ji'oota shanii ol lakkoobsisaa jira. Warraaqsa ummata Oromoo FXG kanaan mootummaan wayyaanee haalaan rukutameera. Hundeen sirna cunqursaa wayyaanee/TPLF Oromiyaa keesssaa asitti hafee kan hin qabneen haleelamee caasaaleen sirnichaa diigamanii burkutaawaniiru. Waggoota 25 bara bulchiinsa abbaa irree wayyaanee kanneen keessattis diddaan mul'ataan akkanaa gamtaa ummata Oromoon oggaa mul'atu kun isa jalqabaa ti jechuunis ni danda'ama.
FXGn har'a golee Oromiyaa cufa keessatti finiinaa jiru wayyaanee qofa kan rukutee fi wayyaanee qofa kan baaragse osoo hin taane, leellistootaa fi harka mirgaa mootummichaa kan ta'an, lukkeelee, ayyaanlaallattootaa fi fakkaattota fedha adda addaa qaban, kanneen gufuu qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo ta'an hunda kan haleelee dha.
Adda durummaan barattoota/dargaggoota/Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo hirmaachisuun kan geggeeffamaa jiru warraaqsi ummata Oromoo FXGn akka ibidda saafaa sirna cunqursaa mootummaa abbaa irree fi goolessaa wayyaanee guggubee waxalaa jiru kana gartuun kun akkuma inni jalqabeen of booda deebisuu fi dhaamsuuf ayinaa fi baay'inaan waraanaa fi basaasosta isaa guutuu Oromiyaatti bobbaasee ummata Oromoo addatti ammoo dargaggoota/barattoota Oromoo dhibbootaan ajjeeseera; kumootaan qaamaa hir'iseera; kumoota kudhanootaan ammoo guuree hidhaatti naqee jira. Kun hundumtuu ta'ee ummatni Oromoo ajjeefame, hidhame jedhee yakka diinaan isa irratti raawwatamuuf jilbeenfatee falmaa biyya abbaa isaaf jalqabe irraa hin deebine; hin deebi'us. Daangaa hamma daangaatti, golee arfan Oromiyaa irraa ibiddi warraaqsaa daran belbele. Kun mootummaa wayyaanee guddoo rifaasise. Ummata Oromoo akka duraatti gowwoomsaa fi sossobbaan dallaa gabrummaa keessatti ittisaa itti fufuu akka hin dandeenye hubachiise.
Murni TPLF/wayyaaneen aangoo humna waraanaan of harkaa qabu kana yeroof illee taatu jiraachisuu fi warraaqsa ummata Oromoo FXG dadhabsiisuuf, danda'u ammoo dhaabuuf ijibbaata garagaraa taasisuu ammas itti fufee jira.
Humna warraaqsaa fi qabsoo Oromoo kan ta'an, FXG finiinaa jiru keessattis adda duree hiriiruun wareegama bifa hundaa baasaa qabsoo Oromootiif injifannoo galmeessaa, mootummaa gabroomfataa ammoo hundeen raasaa kan jiran dargaggoota Qeerroo Bilisummaa irratti xiyyeeffatee laaffisuuf duula ololaa fi shiraa irratti geggeessaa jira.
Akka hubatamutti sochii ummatni Oromoo keessaa fi alaan gamtaan itti jirutti mootummichi haalaan rifatuu irraa, adeemsa jiru laaffisuu fi gara dabarsuuf keessaa fi alatti duula adda addaa kan olola dabalatu geggeessaa jira. Shira xaxuu fi olola adda addaa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo irratti geggeessuunis qaamuma duula kanaa ti. Arraata Qeerroo kan ta'e Sagalee Qeerroo irrattis bifa adda addaan dalagaan diinummaa fi diiggaa geggeeffamaa jirus duuluma kanaan walitti hidhata.
Duula shiraa fi olola dharaa banamee jiru keessatti hogganootni wayyaanee kan akka ministeera dhimmoota kominikeshinii mootummaa Geetaachoo Raddaa jedhamuu faa keessatti argaman. Isaan kun hanga biyya alaatti dalagaa shiraaf bobbaafamaniiru.
Duulli sochii Oromoon amma godhaa jiru busheessuu fi Gamtaa Qeerroo laaffisuu ykn gara dabarsuuf itti jiramus akeekni isaa dargaggootni humna qabsichaa, warraaqsa finiinaa jiruufis adda duree ta'anii waan socho'aa jiraniifi. Humni dargagootaa kun humna gowwoomsaa fi sossobbaa wayyaanee xumurate, fayidaalee gara garaaf garaa hin hirre, wareegamii fi bobbaan diinaa kamuu of duuba isa hin deebisne, akeeka qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo tarkaanfachiisuu fi mirga ummata Oromoo guutuutti falmu ta'uu irraa diinaa fi kanneen fedha adda addaa qabaniif yaaddoo guddaa dha. Kanaafi kan diinni Qeerroo Bilisummaa warraaqsa finiinaa jiru kana keessatti taargeeta godhatee itti duulaa jiruuf.
Ogguu hundaa hirriba keessallee waa'een ABO kan isa baaragsu wayyaanee/TPLF waggoota aangoo irra jiraate kana hunda keessa guyyaan itti ABO maqaa hin dhahin hafe hin jiru jechuutu danda'ama. Waraanaan, basaasotaan, shirootaa fi ololootaan osoo irratti duuluu bakka har'a jiru kana gahe. Har'as warraaqsa kana kan geggeessaa jiru ABO ti, miseensota ABO qabanne, murtiif dhiheessine…..ololaa fi jechoota nuffisiisoo baroottan darbaniif midia irra jiraatan, kan namnuu dhagahuu hifate san har'allee deebisee ittiin weeddisaa jira. Har'as ABO irratti ololaa fi shira xaxaa jira. Kunis akkuma duraa sochii ABO danquuf akeekkatuu isaa mul'isa.
Cuunfaatti akeekni olola amma deemaa jiruu fi bobbaalee diinaa bakka hundaayyuu, sochii Qeerroo Bilisummaa gufachiisuuf, adeemsa QBO ABOn hogganamuu danquuf, waliigalatti ammoo sochii QBO fi adeemsa warraaqsa FXG sadarkaa olaanaa irra gahee jiru kana gara gulantaa itti aanuutti akka hin tarkaanfanne gufachiisuuf karoora diinaan baafamee ittiin sossohamaa jiruu dha. Haa ta'u malee, shirri xaxamuu fi ololli geggeeffamu falmii bilisummaa fi mirga abbaa biyyummaa finiinaa jiru tasumaa dhaabuu akka hin dandeenye diinnis firris jala muree beekuu feesisa.
Xumura irratti dhaamsi dabarfamu hubannoo tokkoon maleetti murnootni hawaasa Oromoo kan keessaa fi alaa marti olola faajjessaa adda addaa waan gara garaa maqaa dhahatee diinaa fi farreeniin Qeerroo Bilisummaa irrattis ta'u ABO irratti ololamuu fi hafarfamu keessatti hirmaachuun meeshaa diinaa ta'uu irraa of qusatuu dha.
Miseensotanii fi deggertootni, ummatni Oromoo addatti ammoo warraaqsa ummata Oromoo belbelaa jiru keessatti duree hiriiranii kan jiran Barattootni/ Dargaggootni/ Qeerroon olola bifa fedhee diinnii fi ergamtootni diinaa ta'e jedhanii oomishanii ololaniif osoo gurra hin ergisne, falmaa finiinsuun FXG milkeessuu qofa irratti cichoominaan hojjechuun xumura sirna gabrummaa wayyaanee gabaabsuu dha.
Oromia (WBO): Irree fi Gaachanni Ummata Oromoo Waraanni Bilisummaa Oromoo Godina Kibba-Bahaa Tarkaanfii Waraana Wayyaanee Irratti Fudhateen Loltoota Diinaa 87 ajjeese 37 madoo taasise May 1, 2016
Posted by OromianEconomist in Oromia (WBO).
Tags: Oromia, WBO, WBOn Loltoota Diinaa 87 ajjeese 37 madoo taasise
(SBO – Camsaa 1 bara 2016): Irree fi Gaachanni Ummata Oromoo Waraanni Bilisummaa Oromoo Godina Kibba-Bahaa Tarkaanfii Waraana Wayyaanee Irratti Fudhateen Loltoota Diinaa 87 ol Hojiin Ala Taasisee, Meeshaalee Waraanaa Adda Addaa hedduu Booji'uudhaan Injifannoo Cululuqaa Galmeesse.
Gootichi Humna Addaa WBO Godina Kibba-Bahaa, Oromiyaa Godina Baalee Ona Eelkarree bakkoota adda addaatti haleellaa Bitootessa 24 fi 28 bara 2016 akkasumas Ebla 2 bara 2016 waraana wayyaanee Sochii Fincila Xumura Gabrummaa (FXG) dura dhaabbachuu fi WBO sakatta'uu akeekkatee bobbaafame haleeluun loltoota diinaa 57 battalummatti ajjeesee, 30 ol ammoo madoo taasisuudhaan injifannoo galmeessee jira.
Haaluma kanaan Bitootessa 24 bara 2016 gootichi humni addaa WBO, Godina Baalee Ona Eelkarree bakka Gooroo Saalaa jedhamutti ganama keessaa Sa'aatii 8:00 hanga 9:00tti waraana Wayyaanee WBO sakatta'uuf bobbaafame haxxee hidhee haleeludhaan loltoota 15 battalummatti yoo ajjeesu, 9 ammoo haala hamaan madeessuun kanneen hafan facaaseera.
Haleellaa kanaanis:
Qawwee AKM-47 baay'inni isaa 15 tahe hidhannoo guutuu waliin
Rasaasa AKM firii 800 ol
Boombii harkaa fi lakkoofsaan 25 tahu fi meeshaalee waraanaa adda addaa humna diinaarraa booji'uudhaan QBO ABOn hogganamuuf oolchee jira.
Irree fi gaachanni saba Oromoo Waraanni Bilisummaa Oromoo tarkaanfii laalessaa waraana qubattuu, wayyaanee/TPLF irratti fudhatu itti fufuun Bitootessa 28 bara 2016 Onuma Eelkarree naannoo Gaara Girriirraa bakka Eela Hoofii jedhamutti loltoota diinaa WBO akka sakatta'aniif bobbaafaman rukutee 23 ajjeesudhaan 14 ammoo madeesse.
WBOn loltoota diinaa sakattaarra oolanii guyyaa sa'aatii 1:00 irratti bakka Eela Hoofii jedhamu boqotaa turan irratti tarkaanfii fudhate kanaan,
Qawwee AKM-47 Baay'inaan 17 tahu hidhannoo guutuu waliin
Rasaasa AKM firii 1200 ol
Bombii harkaa fi baay'inni isaa 32 akkasumas
Raadiyoo qunnamtii RT-33 tokko (1) loltoota Wayyaaneerraa booji'uun dantaa QBOf oolchee jira.
Gootichi humni addaa WBO Godina Kibba-Baha humnoota diinaa sochii FXG qeerroo-barattoonni Oromoo ummata waliin tahuudhaan gaggeessaa jiran dhaabuu fi lammiilee Oromoo gooluuf akkasumas sochii WBO danquuf bobbaafaman irratti tarkaanfii fudhatu ittuma fufuudhaan Ebla 2 bara 2016 Ona Eelkarree bakka Gola Hurrii jedhamuun beekkamutti lola ganama sa'aatii 10:00 hanga 10:45tti taasiseen, dursee dhukaasa irratti banuun loltoota wayyaanee 9 battalumatti ajjeesudhaan 7 ol madeessudhaan gaaga'ama tokkoon alatti injifannoo boonsaa galmeessee jira.
Walumaagalatti, Gootichi Humni Addaa Waraana Bilisummaa Oromoo Godina Kibba-Bahaa Ona Eelkarree bakkoota sadeenitti tarkaanfii waraana Wayyaaneerratti fudhateen, loltoota sirnichaa 47 ajjeesee kanneen 30 caalan madeessudhaan hojiin ala taasisee jira. Tarkaanfiidhuma boonsaa kanaan Qawwee AKM-47 heddumminni isaa 33 tahe hidhannoo guutuu waliin, rasaasa AKM firii 2000 ol, boombii harkaa F1 57 fi Raadiyoo Qunnamtii RT-33 tokko akkasumas meeshaalee waraanaa adda addaa diinarraa booji'uun qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo ABOn durfamuuf oolchuun injifannoo cululuqaa galmeessee jira.
Tarkaanfii humnoota hidhattootaa sirna Wayyaanetiin bobbaafaman akkasumas farreen QBO fi FXGtti gufuu tahaa jirani fi Ummata Oromoo hiraarsaa jiran irratti fudhatu hanga Bilisummaan Ummata Oromoo fi Walabummaan Oromiyaa mirkanaahutti jabeessee fi bal'isee kan itti fufu tahuu Ajajni WBO Godina Kibba-Bahaa beeksisee, Ummanni Oromoo tinnisa roga hedduun WBOf taasisaa jiru daran akka cimsee itti fufu dhaamee jira.
Injifannoo Ummata Oromoof