Finfinnee, Amajjii 21/2022-Dhaabbileen hawaasaa Oromoo jaatamaa ol ta’an hundeeffamuu Komishiini Marii Biyyalessaa Itoophiyaa ilaalchisuun ibsa kennan. Yeroo jalqabaaf dhaabbilee Sivikii, Falmattoota Mirga Dhala Namaa fi Waldaalee Hawaaasaa Oromoo idil-addunyaa walitti dhufanii marii biyyaalessaa adeemsifamuuf jiru irratti yaaddoo qaban ibsan.

Sadaasa darbe manni maree bakka bu’oota uummaataa labsii hundeeffama Komishiini Marii Biyyaalessaa raggaasisuun isaa ni yaadatama. Manni  maree bakka bu’oota uummaataa labsiin kun beekumsa biyyaa keessaa fayyadamuun furmaata waaraa ni fida, akkasumas duudhaalee hawaasaa walitti ni hidha jedhe. Manni marichaa hoggansa Komishiini Marii biyyaalessaa uummataan akka kadhimamuu fi mana maree bakka bu’oota uummaataatiin akka ragga’u eere.

Dhaabbileen kunneen adeemsa fi tarkaanfileen marii biyyaalessaa keessatti  fudhatamanii amanamuummaa uumuun marii dhugaatiif haala ni mijeessuu danda’an lafa kaa’an. Ibsi kun marii biyyaalessaan dura tarkaanfilee fudhatamuu qaban tarreessa. Isaanis Lammilee waraanan miidhaman hundaaf haal duree tokko malee deeggarsa namooma adda hin cinne taasisuu, hidhamtoota siyaasaa hunda haalduree tokko malee hiikuu fi Humnootni alaa hunduu,  keessumaa humni nageenyaa, loltootni fi basaastotni Ertiraa, Itoophiyaa keessaa akka ba’an  dabalata. Dhaabbileen Oromoo kunneen  mootummaa Itoophiyaa fi qooda fudhattoota hundaaf tarkaanfii waraana dhaabsisuu fi marii walabaa, hunda haammate fi hunda hirmaachise akka taasifamuuf qooda isaanii akka ba’atan waamicha dhiyeessan. 

“Marii  biyyaalessaa keessatti adeemsii fi tarkaanfileen fudhataman amanamuummaa uumuun marii dhugaatiif haala mijeessa. Kunis Oromiyaa keessattii  fi naannoollee hundatti alatti dirree siyaasaa jiru bal’isuun miidiyaaleen walabaa akka jiraatan, mariiwwaan bu’uraa fi lammilee hundaa hirmaachisu taasisutu barbaachisa. Haaluma kanaan marii bal’aani fi hirmaachisaan qamoolee dhimmi ilaallatu waliin,yeroo, turtii, raawwii, iddoo, qabiyyee, saffisa, adeemsa, fi hojiirra oolmaa marichaa irratti akka taasifamu irra deebi’uun waamicha dhiyeessina.” jedha ibsichi. 

Ibsa Guutuu

Ibsa hundeeffama Komishinii Marii Biyyalessaa (KMB) Itoophiyaa ilaalchisuun Dhaabbilee Sivikii, Falmattoota Mirga Dhala Namaa fi Waldaalee Hawaaasaa Oromoo idil-addunyaa irraa kenname.

Nuti dhabbileen asii gaditti maqaan keenya dhahame, qophii mootummaan Itoophiyaa dhimmoota bu’uraa biyyaalessaa irratti waliigaltee umuuf, marii biyyaalessaa  jalqabuuf taasisu itti dhiyeenyan hordofaa jirra.

Mootummaan labsii hundeeffama KMB ulaagaa ifa hin taaneen kophaa isaa raggaasiseera. Yeroo  ammaa kana, hojimaata ifa hin taanee fi abbootii dhimmaa ijoofi deeggartoota waliin marii ga’aan utuu hin taasifamiin namoonni  Komishiini Marii Biyyaalessaa gaggeessan filatamaa jira. 

Hidhamtootni siyaasaa muraasni hiikamuu isaanii agarree jirra; garuu hidhamtootni  kuma hedduu  ta’an ammayyuu mana hidhaa jiru. Tarkaanfiin dura  kun  mootummaan biyya bulchaa jiru hidhamtoota siyaasaa hafanillee hiikuuf akka yaade fi  qalbii guutuun  maricha irratti hirmaachuuf fedhii qabaachu agarsiisa jennee abdanna.

Haa ta’u malee, mootummaan Itoophiyaa qaama walaba, Komishiinii loogii  siyaasa irraa bilisa ta’e hundeessuu danda’u miti.  Kuni ammoo marii biyyaalessaa hunda hammate godhuuf ulaagaa ijoofi barbaachisaadha  .

Kanaafuu, ibsa Hagayya 18, 2021 basneen waraanii akka  dhaabatuu fi mariin hunda hirmaachise akka taasifamu  gaafatu irra deebi’uun, gaaga’amni  siyaasaa walxaxaan biyyattiin keessa jirtu  furamee  nageenni  waaraan akka dhufu  gorsa armaan gadii dhiyeessuu barbanna.

1.Waraanni hatattamaan akka dhaabbatu taasisuun, humnoota federaalaa fi garee hidhattootaa naannoo Oromiyaa, Tigraay, Beenishaangul Gumuz, Amhaara fi Affaar keessa jiran giddutti walii galteen dhukaasa dhaabuu taasifamee, mariin siyaasaa hunda hirmaachise akka godhamuuf haala miijessuu.

2.Lammilee waraanan miidhaman hundaaf dhiyeessii nyaataa fi qorichaa dabalatee deeggarsa namooma adda hin cinne haal duree tokko malee akka  taasifamu; kanneen amma sababa hongeetiin beelaaf saaxilaman deeggaruu  fi tajaajiloota bu’uura akka baankii, telekoomi, geejjibaa fi tajaajila ibsaa, lammilee miliyoonan lakkaa’aman naannolee Oromiyaa, Tigraayi, Beenishaangul Gumuuz, Affaar, Amaaraa fi Somaalee keessatti argamaniif akka deebi’u.

3.Hoggantoota Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO) dabalatee, hidhamtootni siyaasaa hundi haalduree tokko malee akka hiikaman. Caamsaa 2021 irraa eegalee hidhaa mana keessaarra kan jiran hayyu dureen dhabichaafi, dargaggootni Oromoo kumatamootan  mana hidhaa adda addaa keessa jiranii fi hidhamtootni biroo haalaa sabummaa irratti xiyyeffateen erga  labsiin yeroo muddamaa bahe hidhaman hundi akka hiikaman.

4.Humnootni biyya alaa hunduu,  keessumaa humni nageenyaa, loltootni fi basaastotni Ertiraa, Itoophiyaa keessaa akka ba’an taasisuun  biyyootni naannoo gaanfa Afrikaa  fi biyyootni Itoophiyaa wajjiin walitti dhufeenya qaban deeggarsa akka godhaanii fi haala dhiittaan mirgaa akkasumas wal waraansi waliinii itti  dhaabbatu haala miijessuu. 

5.Komishiinii marii biyyaalessaa walaba ta’e, qooda fudhattoota hundaa biratti fudhatamummaa qabu fi  marii biyyaalessaa ifaa fi hunda haammataa  ta’eef haalaa miijessu danda’u hundeessuu.   KMB mootummaan deeggaramu itti gafatamummaa barbaachisaa fi seena qabeessa kana amanamummaan ba’uu danda’a jennee hin amannuu;  komishiiniin qaama kamirrayyuu walaba ta’e akka hundeeffamuuf hawaasni idil-addunyaa deeggarsa barbaachisa akka taasisu waamicha dhiyeessina.

6. Marii  biyyaalessaa keessatti adeemsii fi tarkaanfileen fudhataman amanamuummaa uumuun marii dhugaatiif haala mijeessa. Kunis Oromiyaa  fi naannoollee hundatti  dirree siyaasaa bal’isuun miidiyaaleen walabaa akka jiraatan, mariiwwaan bu’uraa fi lammilee hundaa hirmaachisu taasisutu barbaachisa. Haaluma kanaan marii bal’aani fi hirmaachisaan qamoolee dhimmi ilaallatu waliin,yeroo, turtii, raawwii, iddoo, qabiyyee, saffisa, adeemsa, fi hojiirra oolmaa marichaa irratti akka taasifamu irra deebi’uun waamicha dhiyeessina.

Nuti dhabbileen asii gaditti maqaan keenna eeramee,  waldaaleen hawaaasaa, dhaabbileen Ogeeyyii, falmattoonni mirgoota namoomaa fi hawaasni waligalaa Oromoo, mootummaa Itoophiyaa fi qooda fudhattootni biyyattii hundaa akkasumas Hawaasa idil addunyaa,  Dhabbatni Motummoota Gamtoomanii, Yunaayitid Isteets, Chaayinaa, Gamtaan Awurooppaa fi biyyootni miseensa gamtichaa, Gamtaan Afrikaa fi  biyyootni miseensa gamtichaa, Gamtaan Emireetota Arabaa, Turkii fi Iraan, naannolee Itoophiyaa hunda keessatti walitti bu’iinsi akka dhaabbatuu fi  adeemsi marii biyyalessaa haqa qabessaa fi hirmaachisaa ta’e akka itti fufuf tarkaanfii barbaachisu akka fudhattan gaafanna.

On the evening of December 1, 2021, 14 respected, experienced and culturally venerated leaders
in the Karrayyuu Oromo community of 100,000 in central Ethiopia were killed in minutes by
Oromia Special Police and Federal forces operating on orders by ruling party officials sitting a
hundred kilometers away in Adama city. The murdered men were located at Fantalle district,
East Shewa Zone of the Oromia regional state in Ethiopia. They were killed execution-style at
7:00 PM far from the village where they were abducted when Prosperity Party bosses gave the
go-ahead signal via cell phone message to awaiting members of the special forces. The murdered
men had just finished conducting Waaqa Kadhaa, a sacred indigenous prayer ceremony held on
special ground designated for that purpose. In the close-knit iconic livestock-rearing culture of
the Karrayyuu people, this was an unthinkable atrocity.

We, a coalition of Oromo advocacy and human rights groups operating internationally consider
that this horrifying series of events indicate the intentionality and destructiveness of Abiy
Ahmed’s government against Oromo and other Southern and marginalized peoples who do not
support his direction for the country. We urge the international community, in particular those
concerned with justice, peace, stability and human rights, to take note of what has happened in
Karrayyuu. Those who were deeply committed to spirituality and to democratic principles above
all, were brutally massacred with lightning speed: an act that sends a menacing warning to the
populace that no one is safe right now in Ethiopia.

Historic, Political and Economic Contexts

The shocking massacre was carried out amid ongoing brutal wars between Ethiopian Defence
Forces and the Tigray Defence Forces in the north of the country and with the Oromo Liberation
Army in the south. The site of the killing is the Karrayyuu camel-rearing, pastoral grazing and
watering lands located near coveted trade routes for lucrative commodities in a cash-strapped
economy. This valued territory has become a target of territorial expansionism by Amhara
militias emboldened by Abiy Ahmed’s government’s failure to protect vulnerable peoples like
the Karrayyuu. In the days leading to the event, the Karrayyuu Oromo’s community leaders had
resisted releasing young people to be conscripted to leave their homeland to fight as part of the
Ethiopian Defense Forces in the north. Among Oromo communities throughout Ethiopia, the
Karrayyuu are well-known and esteemed for their consistent practice of the principles of the
time-honored Gadaa system of socio-political organization that encompassed all Oromo prior to
incorporation into Ethiopia at the turn of the 20th century. These and other factors make the
tragedy of December 1 resonate throughout the population and account for an ongoing sense of
threat and foreboding among other vulnerable groups in the country.

We, the initiators of the idea behind the joint statement by worldwide Oromo Civic, Professional, Advocacy, Human Rights, and Community organizations, would like to express our deepest gratitude for all the co-signers of the joint statement for taking your time, receiving and approving the joint statement. As it stands now the joint statement is co-signed by a total of 64 Oromo civic organizations of various backgrounds and portfolios.

For that purpose it is safe to refer to the joint statement as an ‘A Consensus Oromo Statement on the NDC’ calling for careful sequencing of actions leading to inclusive dialogue in Ethiopia. We are scheduled to release the statement to the public through the media in the late afternoon on Friday 21 January.

To that end, we would like to make the following important points:

1 – The Statement BELONGS to all the co-signers. No single individual or institution lays exclusive claim on its ownership. Each co-signer owns it and is free to make use of it to advance the Oromo civic organizations’ recommendation with regard to inclusive dialogue in Ethiopia.

2 – We encourage all the co-signers to release the statement using respective institutional communication channels of each institution/organization which is the co-signer.

3 – We encourage all the co-signers to consider and promote the statement as ‘Consensus Oromo Statement on the NDC’ for various purposes, including during lobbying, awareness creating campaigns, distribution to the media and the international community including members of Parliaments /House /Senate, among others, in your respective districts. Let the world know what 64 Oromo civic organizations are recommending as a way out of Ethiopia’s crisis.

4 – We encourage all the co-signers to communicate and distribute the statement to their grassroots members and encourage them to use it during campaigns and lobbying works as well as social media engagements to create global awareness on what more than 60 Oromo civic organizations are recommending to be done before the commencement of inclusive dialogue in Ethiopia.

Once again, we thank each and every Oromo institution/organization for co-signing on this important statement. Together, we can be heard loud and clear.

Regards,

21 January 2022

For full statement click below link:

(Advocacy4Oromia, Melbourne, 9 December 2021) Australian Oromo and Tigray communities stage Multicultural Freedom Rally in Melbourne today.

According to the organisers the rally is a part of world-wide action to condemn a recent series of atrocities, mass arrests, and airstrikes against civilians.

Melbourne’s Oromo, Tigray and other communities marched from Victorian Parliament to Federation Square, where community leaders spoke of unity in the face of oppression.

The participant states that the aim of the rally is to express their grave concerns and to demand the international community to pay attention to the development in Ethiopia.

“We’re not afraid to stand together, to be able to stand against violence and repression.  Today, we join the Multicultural Freedom Rally in Melbourne to help raise our voices against a shared experience of brutal repression by Abiy regime.”

Demonstrators denounced the killings and violent repressions being meted out by the Abiy regime.

“We’re here today in the spirit of freedom rally to denounce any forms of violence. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Abiy regime must respect the Oromo and Tegaru dignity, peace and freedom.”

Rights groups say Abiy regime has opened wide ranging military campaign in many parts of Oromia; continuously carrying out hostilities and mass arrests on these civilians. Journalist, book author, translator and bookstore owner, Hinsene Mekuria, has been arrested by gov’t security forces from his workplace in Finfinne on 4th Dec 2021 around 1:30 local time. He often writes on social media and speaks for the cause of the Oromo people. His whereabouts is unknown.

Reports by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Amnesty International describe widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans, including Orthodox priests, older people, and mothers with children.

In many parts of the country individuals are being arrested and detained without charges or a court hearing and are reportedly being held in inhumane conditions.

Demonstrators also appealed to the Government of Australia and the wider international community to put diplomatic, political, economic pressure on the Ethiopian regime.

“We URGE the good people of our international community to avoid the ultimate tragedy of silence over cruelty of the worst genocide in Ethiopia. We specifically urge the Australia and the wider international community, to take action and help stop the heinous crimes of the regime before Ethiopia potentially becomes a historic African tragedy.”

The message of Australian Oromo and Tigray communities is just calling for peace and freedom. “We’re not afraid to stand together, to be able to stand against violence and repression.  We join this Freedom Rally to help raise our voices against a shared experience of brutal repression by the State.”

Addis Abeba, December 06/2021 – A joint statement signed by the governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States and released this afternoon expressed profound concern about the “detention of certain ethnic groups” in Ethiopia and called on the government for the detentions to “cease immediately.”

Full Statement

We, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are profoundly concerned by recent reports of the Ethiopian government’s detention of large numbers of Ethiopian citizens on the basis of their ethnicity and without charge. The Ethiopian government’s announcement of a State of Emergency on November 2 is no justification for the mass detention of individuals from certain ethnic groups.

MANY OF THESE ACTS LIKELY CONSTITUTE VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND MUST CEASE IMMEDIATELY. WE URGE UNHINDERED AND TIMELY ACCESS BY INTERNATIONAL MONITORS

JOINT STATEMENT

Reports by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Amnesty International describe widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans, including Orthodox priests, older people, and mothers with children. Individuals are being arrested and detained without charges or a court hearing and are reportedly being held in inhumane conditions. Many of these acts likely constitute violations of international law and must cease immediately. We urge unhindered and timely access by international monitors.

We reiterate our grave concern at the human rights abuses and violations, such as those involving conflict related sexual violence, identified in the joint investigation report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the EHRC, and at ongoing reports of atrocities being committed by all parties to the conflicts. All parties must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including those regarding the protection of civilians and humanitarian and medical personnel.

It is clear that there is no military solution to this conflict, and we denounce any and all violence against civilians, past, present and future. All armed actors should cease fighting and the Eritrean Defense Forces should withdraw from Ethiopia.  We reiterate our call for all parties to seize the opportunity to negotiate a sustainable ceasefire without preconditions. Fundamentally, Ethiopians must build an inclusive political process and national consensus through political and legal means, and all those responsible for violations and abuses of human rights must be held accountable.

Published yesterday at 06.22
Swedish Radio has, as one of the few media, met one of the main actors in the Ethiopian civil war – Oromo Liberation Army, OLA.

The OLA, together with Tigranian armed forces, will soon surround the capital Addis Ababa, which could lead to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed being forced out of power and the entire political landscape being redrawn.

Addis Ababa is increasingly isolated and Abiy Ahmed has now decided to head to the front line. OLA’s commander describes Abiy as a dying horse kicking for the last time.

We are a bit across the Kenyan border into southern Ethiopia. It is hot, dry and mountainous. In the background, a dromedary roars. Here I meet a force of young soldiers from the armed group Oromo Liberation Army, some years ago a relatively unknown guerrilla, now one of the main actors in the Ethiopian drama.

Maybe they are a hundred . Most were former university students, some from high school, who joined here to fight the federal government and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and for what they see as an oppression of Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest population. Sure, it’s a bit of a show here, far from the front line, but just a few weeks ago, most people here were involved in battles further north, here they now get a much-needed but short rest.

One of them is Galmo, 22 years old. She joined the armed struggle as a teenager.

• I’m not afraid of fighting, she explains. I’m determined to free the Oromo people, I’m not afraid.
• I fight against the oppression that Oromos lived under. That is what drives me, to live a free life where the rights of Oromos are taken advantage of.

The Oromo warriors show their strength with a march and a short maneuver through the bushes. They wear simple uniforms, wear their equipment in shawls around their upper bodies, and wear only sandals in the barren landscape. The weapons are automatic rifles and machine guns and not much more. Yet here, and thousands of others in the Oromo Liberation Army, the Federal Ethiopian Army has fallen to its knees.

They have now surrounded Addis Ababa from three directions, from the west, south and southeast. In the northeast, they are acting together with the Tigranian armed forces, which may soon cut off the capital from the strategic road leading to the port city of neighboring Djibouti.

Jaal Gammachii’s Aboye is the second highest commander of the Oromo Liberation Army. For 20 years he has been in the armed forces and now it may be nearing an end. He says that Addis Ababa or Finfinne as the city is called in Oromo, will fall soon.

“No matter how much the federal Ethiopian army tries to resist, we are constantly approaching the capital together with the Tigranian forces,” he says. The main challenges have been the difficulties for communication, because the murderous regime in Addis, as he puts it, does not want the abuses to be known in the outside world, they have shut down the internet and mobile network, despite that we are steadily moving forward, he says.

The Ethiopian government has been widely criticized for almost completely isolating the Tigray region, preventing emergency aid from entering and allowing looting and mass rape. Hundreds of thousands are threatened with starvation there now. But all parties to this conflict are accused of abusing the civilian population, both the Ethiopian army, Tigranian forces and the Oromo Liberation Army.

However, this is something that is rejected by all parties. It is clear, however, that hatred and violence have led some observers to believe that reconciliation is possible between the second largest group of Amharis on the one hand and Oromos and Tigers on the other. Former Peace Prize laureate and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has long been criticized for his harsh rhetoric, in which he specifically accused tigers of all guilt in the conflict.

Several of his posts on social media have therefore been removed because they were considered to drive ethnic hatred. As the one who can now try to get out of Addis Ababa, Abiy Ahmed decided to go to the front, which some see as a sign of desperation. So did the second-in-command of the Oromo Liberation Army.

• It’s like one last kick from a dying horse, says master Jaal Gammachii’s Aboye. This is a way for him to show courage in the end. Even if he were not killed on the battlefield, this is a way for him to show some form of pride before he is ousted from power, he says.

But if now the Tigranian forces and the Oromo Liberation Army take over Addis and get rid of Abiy Ahmed – what happens then?

• Our goal is to liberate the Oromo people. But when all this is over, it is up to Oromos to vote for themselves about how they want to see their future and what the relations with the other groups should look like. The Ethiopian government has not defended our rights, that is what has driven us to this armed struggle, he says. But this may be decided later.

While the commander expresses himself a little cautiously, there is no doubt in the case of the young guerrilla warrior Galmo.

• Our long struggle is soon over, she says. I see a bright future for our people.

Richard Myrenberg, Ethiopia
richard.myrenberg@sverigesradio.se

Source: https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/oromo-gerillan-abiy-ar-som-en-doende-hast

By Prof. Mohamed Hasasan*

To cite this article: Mohammed Hassen (2021): Genocidal Conquest, Plunder of Resources
and Dehumanization of the Oromo in Ethiopia, Journal of Genocide Research, DOI:
10.1080/14623528.2021.1992925
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2021.1992925

Ernest Gellner aptly described Ethiopia as “a prison-house of nations if ever there was one.”75 In that prison-house of nations the Oromo language was banned from being used for radio broadcasting and publishing up to 1974. Up to 1991, it was neither permissible to teach nor to produce literature in the Oromo language, and nor was it possible to use it in legal forums. “In court or before an official an Oromo had to speak Amharic or use an interpreter. Even a case between two Oromos, before an Oromo-speaking magistrate, had to be heard in Amharic.”76 Even today, Oromo Orthodox Church clergy are not permitted to preach in their language. Oromo Orthodox Christians are denied the right for learning and understanding their religion in their language.

From the time of its creation during the 1880s and 1890s and up to 1991, the Ethiopian state never recognized the identities, languages, and cultures of most of its peoples, including the Oromo. The identity of the Amhara national group, their language,
culture, religion and way of life were projected as pan-Ethiopian identity. It was only after the establishment of federal system in Ethiopia in 1992, that the Oromo were able to administer themselves in Oromia, and for the first time to write and develop literature in their own language.

At stake in the current genocidal war in Tigray, Oromia and other parts of Ethiopia is the existence of the federal system, and the threat that the Oromo will lose their democratic rights if it is dismantled. The Oromo fear that their language will be banned from being used for teaching, governmental services, and publishing in their country.

The history of the Oromo reveals the meaning of Ethiopian imperial-nationalism and warns against its revival: “It remains the belief of the Amhara elites that to be an Ethiopian one has to cease to be an Oromo. The two things were/are seen as incompatible.”77

A must read article just published:

74 Bulcha, “The Making of the Oromo Diaspora,” 192.

75 Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 85.

76 Paul Baxter, “Ethiopia’s Unacknowledged Problem: The Oromo,” African Affairs 77 (1978): 288.

77 Mekuria Bulcha, “The Language Policies of Ethiopian Regimes and the History of Written Afaan Oromo: 1844–1994,”
Journal of Oromo Studies 2, nos. 1–2 (1994): 101.

*Mohammed Hassen joined Department of History at Georgia State University in January 1992 and
retired in 2017. His research interest is in Ethiopian history, with special focus on Oromo history, the
area in which he has published extensively.

(Melbourne, Irreechaa, September 30, 2021)-The Oromia Irreechaa Organising Committee in Victoria is preparing to celebrate Irreecha Birraa in Melbourne on 3rd October.

Irreechaa is the annual Oromo people Thanksgiving Day that is celebrated every year in Birraa near the river bank or water and tree.

Head of the Committee, Ob Abdeta Homa, said the celebration marks the end of the rainy season (June to September and the beginning of the spring season for planting (September to June).

Irreechaa is celebrated every year in the end of September or beginning of October in various part of the globe where the Oromo community resides.

The organisers states that this year celebration in Melbourne will be held in the context of the country at family level due to COVID-19 lockdown while cultural values of the Irreechaa celebration are maintained. The celebration still helps to strengthen and promote the Oromo tradition of respect for nature and gratefulness for life in Melbourne.

Head of Cultural Education Committee, Danye Dafarsha, also said the Irreecha festiv­ity celebrated in Birraa (in September and October) is the cultural expression of thankfulness to Waaqaa  for providing life necessities to human beings and other living things.

This is because the Oromo believe Waaqaa is the sole creator of everything and source of all life. It is also regarded as pure, omnipresent, infinite, incomprehensible and intolerant to injus­tice, crime, sin and all falsehood. It can do and undo anything.

On this day, family come to gather at their best place (near the river bank or water) depending on their states lockdown restrictions, to give thanks to the almighty Waaqaa(God) for all the blessings throughout the past dry season and ask for Araaraa (Reconciliation), Nagaa (Peace), Walooma (Harmony) and Finnaa (Holistic Development) for the present and the future.

• 

Australian Oromo formally celebrated this Irreecha every year in Birraa near the river bank or water and tree.

According to the Irreechaa Organising Committee, all Oromos in Victoria are expected to take part in the celebration at the family level.

“What a wonderful time we had on a cooler than typical spring day in 2021 enjoying all that the Irreechaa Festival presented,” Ob Abdeta Homa added.

• 

Accordning to Ob Oluma Qubee, the Oromo elder who has been involved in nurturing Oromo culture for many years, Irreechaa is the celebration of peace, unity and cooperation where the celebrants carrying bunch of straw and daisies in their hands praising, blessing and praying Waaqa in their songs.

“The Oromo people celebrate Irreechaa not only to thank Waaqaa (God) but also to welcome the new season of plentiful harvests after the dark and rainy winter season associated with nature and creature,” Ob Oluma added.

In the traditional religion of the Oromos, the spirit is the power through which Waaqaa  (The Almighty God) governs all over the world. Thus, Oromos believe that every creation of Waaqaa has its own spirit.

The ceremony honors elders’ blessings and wisdom, preserves the heritage and assesses the progress of humanity.

“Here in Australia, Melbourne, we continue this fabulous event every year for since 2007.

“The celebrations are unique in that the Melbourne celebration has come again and that contributes to the development of Oromummaa in the Diaspora,” Ob Abdeta said.

There is also a ceremony of thanking all forebears for their endurance and determination to survive their culture and history – paving the way for further social victory.

In the Oromo tradition river banks, the tops of mountains, the hills and other elevated grounds are respected landscapes because they believe that these landscapes represent the value of life and nature.

It is a unique Oromo cultural, historical and natural beautification in their full glory at the height of the season.

Oromos are celebrating this auspicious event to mark the end of rainy season^[1], known as Birraa, was established by Oromo forefathers, in the time of Gadaa Melbaa^[2] in Mormor, Oromia.

The auspicious day on which this last Mormor^[3] Day of Gadaa Belbaa^[4]-the Dark Time of starvation and hunger- was established on the 1^st Sunday of last week of September or the 1^stSunday of the 1^st week of October according to the Gadaa lunar calendar ‐‐ has been designated as our National Thanksgiving Day by modern‐day Oromo people.    Oromo communities both at home and abroad celebrate this National Thanksgiving Day every year.

Irreechaa as a medium for bringing all Oromias together

The Oromian Irreechaa Festival will not only serve as a medium for bringing all Oromias together, from all its diasporas, as one voice, but will also focus on promoting and enhancing Oromummaa in freedom struggle, tourism, arts and crafts, business, restaurants and hospitality, and entertainment.

Moreover as a moving and flourishing heritage, Irreechaa also connects our Oromo identity with the global civilization in which the industrial and manufacturing sectors of heavy and light machinery of natural resources and raw materials.

During the event, we will be serving with Oromo foods and featuring with traditional dances by Oromo children, youth and dance troupes. Irreechaa is about a lot more than just putting on shows, it encourages engagement and participation from everyone in the greater community across our great city, country and the globe.

On Irreechaa festivals, friends, family, and relatives gather together and celebrate with joy and happiness. Irreechaa festivals bring people closer to each other and make social bonds.

Irreecha is one of the previous Cushitic religious traditions of praying to God (Waaqa). It has been observed by the Oromo people for more than 6400 years.

[1] Rainy season symbolized as a dark, disunity and challenging time in Oromia.

[2] Gadaa Melbaa was established before 6400 years ago at Odaa Mormor, North-west Oromia.

[3] Mormor in Oromo means division, disunity, chaos.

[4] Gadaa Belbaa is the end time of starvation.