May 15, 2013

Oromo: Stateless And Deprived Of Basic Human Rights

The Ethiopian government has targeted the Oromo with violence and discrimination for many years. Now the Oromo must decide whether to flee their homeland or face continued oppression.

Below is an article published by

Successive Ethiopian regimes worked against the Oromo. A comparatively larger population, wide geographic area and immense economic resources of Oromia have been viewed by these regimes in Ethiopia as the threat to their naked ambition for domination for which reason they targeted Oromo as an object of fear and hate. Leaving the past regimes’ horrific acts against the Oromo for history we will cite few samples from the current regime.

For the last 22 years of its reign, the current Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) regime has been pitting other nations and nationalities, previously co-exiting with the Oromo people in harmony, against the latter in every direction, under the guise of peoples-based federation. This has been one of the regime’s standing policies against the Oromo.

Having Oromos killed, raped, their properties destroyed, physically displaced and their fertile land appended to the neighbouring peoples’ thereby changing the demography of the area, has been going on since the current regime came to power. In the west of Oromia the regime have mobilized and armed elements of the Gumuz people against the Oromo, after previously disarming the latter, which resulted in the death and displacement of hundreds of innocent persons and loss of millions of dollars worth of property. In the south and east the same plot has been going on pitting different Somali tribes against the Oromo. The Borana and Gujii Oromo in the south have faced the same ordeal while their appeal and inquiries from other Oromo nationals were deflected under the cover-up explanation of ‘traditional clashes between tribes on grazing land and water wells’. The number of lives lost through this criminal policy of the TPLF regime in different parts of Oromia is in the thousands.

All this instigation of conflict with every possible neighbouring people is done to prevent the Oromo from transforming its human and material resources into a force to counter the regime’s overall domination. It is only a continuation of the war TPLF declared on the Oromo people as primary enemy and persistently carried on, using its own armed forces and agents, to this day.

The current phenomenon going on in eastern Oromia is the same process continued on a higher level of coordination between the heavily armed regular ‘special police force’ and the state trained and armed bordering Somali tribal militia unleashed against the Anniyyaa and other Oromo, with very high atrocities so far. Oromos are killed, dispossessed and evicted. Hundreds, including women and children, have been massacred to date, unknown amount of property looted, several villages burned and vast swathes of land taken using misguided Somali tribal elements whose mind set is stuck in the old ‘greater Somalia’ dream. This ordeal has been going on for more than half a year uninterrupted.

As a nation under occupation of and ruled by an alien regime that is bent on keeping Oromo disarmed defenceless and constantly at risk, the only alternative to local residents is either to put up resistance bare-handedly and die or abandon their ancestral homesteads in the face of the government directed well trained and armed aggression.

There is no question that all the nations, nationalities and peoples in Ethiopia are suffering under the dictatorship of the TPLF. However, the intensity of oppression the Oromo nation is experiencing is exceptional in that the regime is bent on neutralizing Oromia’s vast human and material resources and its strategic centrally located landmass, sharing boundary with almost all the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia. An exceptional subjugation of the Oromo demands an exceptional solution to terminate.

Some may naively question why the so-called Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), which was created and is run by the TPLF, does not defend the Oromo against such blatant aggression carried out in the name of neighbouring people. The fact remain that conscientious elements in the OPDO are themselves victims of the relentless harassment and humiliation their people are subjected to and cannot even protect themselves let alone defending the people. The rest are simply enlisted to implement the whims of their TPLF masters and nothing more than a conduit between the TPLF and the Oromo people. While the entity is fundamentally organized to perpetuate TPLF occupation speaking in Oromo language, we leave it to the conscience of every Oromo serving this system how they can possibly justify standing idly by and watching this ordeal the Oromo people.

As has always been the case, there is only one solution for the Oromo, get organized and resist! Succumbing to aggression that comes to your doorsteps will only encourage further aggression. It is the success of the original aggression and occupation that paved the way for the current ones. The fundamental objective of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and its Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) is to end occupation and all its consequences. It is the duty of every Oromo to contribute all he/she can to strengthen this force numerically and materially so that all sorts of aggressions are quickly brought to an end. The peace loving culture of the Oromo is being challenged by the TPLF regime by every means. In so doing the regime has committed crimes against humanity for which it shall be held accountable.

We have a message for nations, nationalities and peoples who neighbour with Oromia, those whose regions are fully located in Oromia and non-Oromo individuals living among the Oromo. Let us all be mindful that TPLF occupation will come to its ignominious end through our concerted struggles. Taking the side of the TPLF aggressors in the current conflict and working against your Oromo brothers for temporary benefits can only perpetuate oppression and actually harm the eternal neighbourly relations between our peoples which shall remains enduring. Oromo has done no harm to you. Neither will this condition of unarmed and defenceless Oromo last forever, it will change.

Furthermore, since the TPLF regime is committing crime against humanity and war crimes in Oromia, for which they shall b held accountable, there is no way that those who participate in the regime’s crimes will avoid being accountable for their share in the atrocities. TPLF is well known for its ‘use and throw’ policy for persons and groups it makes use of. It can use anyone against any other to advance its particular interests. Besides, it remains our common oppressor. This regime will inevitably fall, and the future is more important for all our peoples. Do not harm the historical harmonious relation you have had with the Oromo people. We should rather cooperate and hasten the downfall of this oppressive regime and work together for our common progress.