Author Archives: advocacy4oromia
Amnesty warns against ‘brutal crackdown’ on protesters
Image copyrightAFPAnti-terror rhetoric by Ethiopia’s government could escalate into a brutal crackdown on protesters, human rights group Amnesty International has warned.
A plan to expand the capital’s administrative control into the Oromia region has sparked deadly protests.
The government has accused Oromo protestors of links with terrorist groups and trying to topple the state.
Amnesty says the claims aim to justify repression of those protesting against feared land seizures.
The Oromo make up Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, at about 27 million people.
Oromia is the country’s largest region, surrounding the capital Addis Ababa.
Authorities say five people have died in protests so far, but opposition parties and human rights groups say the number is closer to 40.
Protesters also say they fear cultural persecution if what has been dubbed a “master plan” to integrate parts of Oromia into Addis Ababa go ahead.
‘Chilling’
Some have also raised the prospect that they will be forcibly evicted and their land taken amid the rapid expansion of the capital.
“The suggestion that these Oromo – protesting against a real threat to their livelihoods – are aligned to terrorists will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression for rights activists,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
In April last year the same plan sparked months of student protests.
The government said at the time that 17 people had died in the violence, but human rights groups said that the number was much higher.
Source: BBC News
OROMO PROTESTS: DEFIANCE AMIDST PAIN AND SUFFERING
By Mahlet Fasil and Tsedale Lemma
It all began on No 12th in Ginchi, a small town some 80 Kms South West of the Capital Addis Abeba. It is a town of not more than 50, 000 inhabitants, “95% of whom are Oromos”, a nation whose ethnic makeup is known to represent more than 35% of Ethiopia’s 90 million plus diverse population.
But as far as the story of township significance (for Ethiopia) goes by, Ginichi is the last town anyone could think of. It’s a sleepy town; but it’s surrounded by serine farmlands and a breathtaking forest reserve in and around the small hills on the outskirts of the town. Most of its communities are farmers with some small time traders who run the center of the town.
That status, however, may have changed on a sunny Sunday of Nov. 12th when a group of young (and some old) residents of the town confronted a government inspecting team of not more than “half a dozen,” according to a young grocery owner in the area. Residents suspect the officials were there to push though deals to transfer a nearby field used by local youngsters as Sunday football pitch and clear a forest reserve for an upcoming investment project. Officials from the Oromiya regional state, to which Ginchi belongs to, and the central government deny any of this happening. But it was too late to stop scenes of extraordinary defiance and students-led protest that started from Ginchi and spread throughout the country for the last four weeks.
Reason?
It was no longer the football pitch and the forest residents of Ginchi say they would protect at any cost; it was the Addis Abeba city hall’s ambitious (if ill-fated) plan – ‘Addis Abeba and the Surrounding Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Plan’. Known in short the “Addis Abeba Master Plan”, federal authorities say it is merely aimed at creating an economically integrated Addis Abeba with six of its surrounding localities currently under the special administration of the Oromiya regional state.
The four weeks that since ensued have seen protests (most of them led by elementary and high school students, but also joined by University students in cities where university campuses are available) spread like bushfire. Geographically, all protests are happening throughout the Oromiya regional state, the largest of the nine states that makeup Ethiopia. Commenting on the domino effect of the small protest in Ginchi, the young grocery owner said: “never in my lifetime could I imagine this.”
It’s a statement many could agree with, but not the protestors.
Ambo was next
A university city just over 30 km before Ginchi, and 120 kms west of Addis Abeba, Ambo, a three hrs drive from Addis Abeba, is the bedrock of Oromo opposition politicians such as the renowned Prof. Merera Gudina and their constituency. Going by a recent past, similar Oromo students’ protests in April and May 2014 saw the highest death toll per city and a fierce crackdown by government security personnel that also saw the arrest of several protesting university students. Oromo activists say more than 60 protestors were gunned down during the two month 2014 protest; the government’s own account put the death toll at just 11.
The current protest at Ambo University began barely a week after the small protests in Ginchi that went largely peaceful. Students at the university were having their dinner at the compass’s cafeteria when power went off – not an unusual incident. But the week was preceded by news from Ginchi and several indications that the federal government, which temporarily put off the implementation of the Addis Abeba Master Plan in the aftermath of the April 2014 protest (and said it was doing so to ensure greater public participation), was bent on proceeding with the implementation.
Once darkness fell, students began throwing their cutlery and started chanting “Say No to the Master Plan”, a slogan recently adopted by social media activists. A few minutes later, the cafeteria was surrounded by campus police who agreed with the students that they can have their grievances peacefully staged the next morning, according to Workinesh Hinsarmu, who works at the university. But that ‘hold it until morning’ promise was not to come; the next morning the compound was heavily surrounded by not only the regional police but also the federal police forces.
“On a Monday morning at 8:30 we moved out from our dormitories to start our peaceful demonstration but about five federal police officers approached us and told us to stop. We continued shouting our slogans. By this time other group of the federal police came and took three of our friends and started kicking them violently,” remembers Gudeta, a third year student who only wanted to be mentioned by his given name. The situation escalated when hundreds of students ran to their dormitories and (“mostly federal”) police pursued after them. “They went from dormitories to dormitories and captured many of us – even those who didn’t participate in the rally.” Gudeta recounted of the violent physical assault by the police including “an order for us to stare at the blazing sun for nearly 40 minutes.”
Gudeta says many elementary and high schools in the city were already closed by the time the university students tried their chance to protest against the so called Master Plan. The university administration put up an emergency notice calling for the resumption of class as of the next morning. But the students demanded the withdrawal of the police and federal security personnel from campus. A senior administrative official told us “the police were here to stay for six months, or even a year and half if necessary,” Gudeta said.
Caught in the crossfire is Abel Tamrat, a 2nd year student who wasn’t planning to participate in the protest rally but was taken from his dorm during police’s search for those who ran away from the aborted rally. “All I wanted was to sleep in my bed, but they broke into our dorm and took me and started beating me. I tried to tell them I wasn’t a part of the protest rally, but no one was listening. Instead one of them started beating me on my face with his gun’s butt. Next thing I know I am at a hospital missing four of my front teeth.” Abel tells of a disturbing scene at the hospital, where the doctors and nurses were soaked in tears and despair to attend their patients. “We were many.”
The iconic photo that became the face of the ongoing Oromo protests (Photo: Social media)
The whereabouts of several other university students is not known. Both Abel and Gudata told Addis Standard (often looking at their shoulders and still scared) that they are frantically trying to locate their missing friends.
Students from other cities in the country are the hardest hit. Sheltered at an Orthodox Church, around 50 students who were even scared of showing their faces told Addis Standard’s reporter Mahlet Fasil that they can’t leave the town for lack of money and police’s control in the city exists. Upon checks on busses leaving town anyone with a student ID is haunted and returned back to the city. All of them say they couldn’t withdraw the money their parents have sent them from different banks operating in the city. Berka Gudata, a bank employee, confirmed their story. “We have no network in the bank. They ask as to help them, but there is nothing we can do.”
In the last three weeks Ambo and its surrounding turned itself into a hot spot of protest when residents from several villages surrounding the city joined students to express their anger both at the violent way the security personnel dealt with the protestors and the fundamental question – the Master Plan. In follow up calls (when available) with eye witnesses in the city, people tell of the death of protesters at the hands of the police (no accurate figures are available); and last Saturday a grenade exploded near Abebech Hotel in the center of the town. No causality was reported. Security officers patrolling the town are extremely vigilant; they routinely stop individuals on the street (as was the case with our reporter Mahlet Fasil, who was stopped from taking pictures and was told by a plain clothed security officer that she looked “a stranger and should go back to where you came from as soon as possible.”)
The southern part of Ambo, off the rough road leading to Wonchi Creator Lake and further south to Woliso town (administratively known as South-west Shewa zones) in local areas such as Ameya and Geldu news that both regional and federal police have lost control of the villages is rife. Lemma Gaddisa, an eye witness describes “carnage, looting and vandalism committed both by security officers and people who are total strangers to the area.” “The people in the area have destroyed roads leading to villages to prevent security officers entering the villages,” Lemma said on the phone.
Further afield to the north of Ambo in an area called Ginde Beret, another eye witness who is sheltering at relatives in Ambo town and says he is wanted by the police for helping print banners told Addis Standard he has seen a fierce battle between residents and the police. “I saw many people shot and lying on the road.” He also talked of “ransacked government offices, cadres badly beaten and cars and tyres burned on the street.”
Woliso
Accessible both from Ambo and the capital Addis Abeba, Woliso is located some 200 kms west of Addis Abeba. Previously unknown as a city of protest, Woliso serves as the center of trade between Addis Abeba and Jimma, another major town in the Oromiya regional state some 360kms west of Addis Abeba. But on Wednesday Nov. 25th Woliso witnessed what some of its residents said was an “unprecedented standoff between residents and the regional and federal police” when security agents started to randomly detain students and young people on the streets. The town’s people then got news from Ambo and its surrounding and connected the dots on why their children were being preemptively picked up by security forces. Hundreds of students have gathered and started shouting “stop killing our brothers,” said Dirbe Arega, a long time resident of the town and a mother of five. “Soon the shooting began. I ran to the middle of it because two of my five children aged 13 and 15 were on their way from school.” Dirbe said already in mid-morning after she saw an unusual deployment of security forces she went to the school and took three of her younger children from an elementary school not far from her house. “I have lived in this town for nearly 30 years but I have never seen anything like this.”
Four nearly four days between Nov. 25th – 30th Woliso was isolated (for a better part of the days) from both roads leading to Jimma and Addis Abeba. The extraordinary scenes of defiance started unfolding when protestors returned to the streets on Friday Dec. 11th. “This time, protestors came with piles of tyres to keep the police away and set them on fire,” a young student attending training as tailor for school leaving girls told Addis Standard. She is attending the training at a project financially supported by a government micro financing scheme, but she got the chance only after she was registered as a member of the ruling party. “Many young people went to the micro finance office and have tried to set it on fire. They are angry because not everyone is lucky enough to receive support.” She says as the week went by the question of the Oromo students protesting was no longer the Addis Abeba Master Plan, but “a better opportunity for all of them.”
Pictures allegedly sent by the protestors and were posted by activities on social media show two dead young men lying on the street. After the Friday’s shooting the biggest hospital in the town, St. Luck Catholic Hospital, was overstretched “beyond its capacity,” a worried nurse told Addis Standard on the phone. The road to the hospital was blocked by security officers who were busy preventing relatives from coming into hospitals. With news of road blockades on the road to Addis Abeba, virtually every business closed and a scene of utter chaos on the streets, Woliso, a town of lodges and several hotels known for many tourists, felt no more safe. Follow up phone calls confirm the town as slowly returning to normal, but a it remains tense and apprehensive.
Adama
A bustling city 100 km south of Addis Abeba, Adama is the second most important administrative city next to Addis Abeba. It was once made to become the capital of the Oromiya regional state, a politically toxic decision that cost the lives of unaccounted numbers of Oromo university students in the hands of security forces during a protest in 2001 against the decision. Since then, Adama is “under the vigilant supervision of the federal government,” says a professor at the Adama Science and Technology University, the largest of its kind.
Oromo protests at the university began the last week of November. It started with the students demanding the University for the withdrawal of the increasing numbers of federal and regional police forces from the compound. According to a civilian security of the campus gate, who wishes to remain anonymous, the police became suspicious about the demands and started checking the students thoroughly upon leaving and coming in to the compass. That set off the protest.
But instead of the usual confrontation between unarmed students and police officers armed to the teeth, the students did an unexpected display of solidarity with Oromo student protestors, by now happening in more than 50 cities, according to campaigners and activists. More than 600 students at the Adama Science and Technology University gathered at the canteen for lunch and received their lunches but left every single plate of it untouched.
The ongoing Oromo protests have not all been voilence. Symbolic peaceful protestes like shown here have spread widely (Photo: Social media)
It became an act of solidarity widely repeated around several university campuses including here at the Addis Abeba University main campus.
But that peaceful display of solidarity didn’t spare the students from gun shots. Hana who works in the administrative department of the campus and wanted to be called by her given name only, told Addis Standard that she heard “guns being fired at around freshmen dormitories.” For the next three days, the campus was a scene of despair and chaos, but also persistent protest. Although the protests didn’t spread to the town, many students were “wounded by bullets”, according to Nahom Endale, a 3rd year marketing student; many have also left the campus; it is unclear who will show up and who will not when this is over.
Molla Yerga, a father from Gondar who came to pick his son spoke with Addis Standard with utter sense of despair: “I couldn’t find my son. When he called me to tell me there was a problem at the campus, I warned him to stay in his dorm but he is not there. All his friends told me they haven’t seen him.” Molla said his son’s cell phone is also switched off. “I trusted the safety of my son to the government when he came to study at the campus, now my son is missing. It is a shame.”
On Dec. 5th evening the federal anti-terrorism task force issued an alarming statement labeling persistent protests as attempts of terrorism and indicating that the task force will do everything necessary to bring law and order in some areas. In other words, there is “more death to come,” said Gonfa Abera, a student at Ambo University but who is staying here in Addis.
The protests have spread to more than 80 cities and the opposition, Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), says more than 50 protestors have so far been gunned down by the police and more than 500 arrested. The government puts the number of death at just five and maintains the protests are happening in “few areas by a few individuals.”
But as of the publishing of this news, information coming from social media activists (supported by still pictures, videos and audios) show defiant protests happening in cities in Oromiya regional state from east to west, south to south east of the country.
Source: http://addisstandard.com/oromo-protests-defiance-amidst-pain-and-suffering/
many Oromos have felt marginalised and discriminated
Addis Ababa (AFP) – Ethiopia’s government said Tuesday five people had died in weeks of protests sparked by land grab fears in the country’s Oromia region, dismissing opposition reports of dozens dead and scores arrested.
"So far we know that five people died," government spokesman Getachew Reda said, adding "peaceful demonstrations" that began last month had escalated into violence.
"Now… they are terrorising the civilians and inciting ethnic groups against others — they even killed administration officials, even unarmed policemen," Getachew said, saying some protestors had guns.
Protests have taken place in towns including Haramaya, Jarso, Walliso and Robe, sparked by fears over land grabbing as the capital Addis Ababa expands onto land traditionally occupied by the Oromo people, the country’s largest ethnic group.
Pictures have been shared on social media claiming to show bloodied protesters and armed police firing tear gas at student demonstrators.
Pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the protests appear similar to those in 2014 when police were accused of opening fire and killing protestors.
"The current protests echo the bloody events of April and May 2014, when federal forces fired into groups of largely peaceful Oromo protesters, killing dozens," HRW said this month.
The government said eight people died in the 2014 unrest.
"Both then and today, the demonstrators are ostensibly protesting the expansion of Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary into the surrounding Oromia region, which protesters fear will displace Oromo farmers from their land," HRW said.
"But these protests are about much more: many Oromos have felt marginalised and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments and have often felt unable to voice their concerns over government policies."
With nearly 27 million people, Oromia is the most populous of the country’s federal states and has its own language, Oromo, distinct from Ethiopia’s official Amharic language.
The protests began in November when students opposed government proposals to extend administrative control from the capital to several towns in Oromia, sparking fears of land grabs.
THE GREAT UNRAVELING: A POLITICAL ENDGAME IS UNDERWAY IN OROMIA
Written by J. Bonsa
(OPride) – The finale of the Ethiopian regime’s tragic political drama is being played out on the streets of Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest state. Oromo students have been ratcheting up tensions in ongoing protests that began in early November. The protesters oppose the encroaching of Addis Ababa, a federally administered city, into Oromia’s jurisdiction, which has already evicted hundreds of thousands of Oromo farmers from their ancestral lands.
The dust has not yet settled to clearly predict what happens next, but the endgame appears imminent. It is important to start taking stock of what has been happening over the last two and a half decades.
This piece provides a broad overview of the Machiavellian political and economic policies of Ethiopia’s ruling party. The first of two-part analysis discusses the ongoing dramatic showdown between Oromo students and Ethiopian security forces, as well as the circumstances that triggered the standoff, including Addis Ababa’s deceitful experiment with federalism and democratization.
The Oromo uprising
The dramatic events unfolding in numerous districts and townships across Oromia represent an unprecedented popular uprising in modern Ethiopian history. The uprising began on Nov. 12, in Ginci town, 81 kms southwest of the capital. This was set off by transfer in ownership of a school playground and stadium by local authorities and the clearing of pristine natural forest near the town to make way for investors.
Ginci is located 32 kms from Ambo, the site of Oromo resistance for many years and where security forces killed dozens of peaceful protesters in 2014.
The protests in Ginci were suppressed brutally, but the resistance spread to other parts of Oromia like a forest fire, galvanizing university, high school and even elementary school students. As usual, security forces responded heavy-handedly, killing at least 50 people. The death toll is growing by the hours and is estimated to be higher. Hundreds of protesters have been injured and taken to hospitals and hundreds more are jailed in a heightened crackdown.
The Oromo uprising has expanded to include the wider Oromo public who intervened to stop security forces from firing at young and unarmed students. In most cases, the public joined in because soldiers refused to heed their call for restraint and demands for proper burials of dead students.
Protesters are blocking roads in many localities to obstruct the movement of security forces, but the protests have remained largely peaceful.
A grand land grab scheme
The main trigger for the protesters the so-called “Addis Master Plan,” which they refer to as the “Master Killer.”
Addis Ababa is located in the Oromia state, but it was unjustly made an independent federal region, with a constitutional guarantee for Oromia’s “special interest” over the city. The rationales for this were that: Addis Ababa is located in the heart of Oromia, Oromo resources are used in its development and surrounding Oromo communities are exposed to severe urban pollution.
The special privilege remained on paper, but Oromos continue to suffer from the city’s expansions. For instance, most Oromia rivers passing through or near Addis Ababa have been poisoned to a catastrophic extent so much that fishing in them has become a thing of the past. The livelihoods of downstream Oromo farming communities are completely destroyed. Addis Ababa has aggressively encroached into Oromia almost unrestricted, forcibly evicting native Oromo farmers from their ancestral lands with paltry compensations far below the value at which the authorities resell the land to private developers.
The number of farming households evicted from and near Addis Ababa has not been properly documented, but it’s estimated that about 150,000 farming households were displaced in a single round of eviction campaign in the early 2000s. Since then, evictions has intensified as the city expanded horizontally in all directions, which means, at least, a million households have been dislocated over the last decade. This estimate does not include widespread evictions taking place elsewhere in Oromia, for instance, to make way for flower farms and other export-oriented investments in the vicinity of Addis Ababa.
The convenience to foreign businessmen in accessing the Ethiopian Airlines services for exports was given a priority over the lives and welfare of millions of Oromo farmers. As a result, once thriving farming communities have become destitute, thrown onto the streets and now make a living by working as daily laborers or beggars on the streets of Addis Ababa.
The ill-fated master plan was an effort to further entrench the city’s expansion. Government technocrats without any public participation prepared it. If implemented, the plan will enlarge the city by 20 times its current size. Clearly, the master plan was a deliberate act to weaken Oromia’s status within Ethiopia’s federal structure. It will divide the state into two parts, rendering it a non-viable regional unit.
The government “spin doctors” are busy fabricating distorted stories to misrepresent the popular opposition as anti-development. However, as discussed elsewhere, the ploy to expand the city is nothing more than a grand scam aimed at grabbing Oromo land by government cronies, private developers, and corporations that aspire to maximize their own profits at any costs.
‘Illegitimate parliament’
The dramatic events of last month underscore the fact that the regime in Addis Ababa lacks legitimacy and popular mandate. In general elections last May, the EPRDF declared that it won 100 percent of parliamentary seats. By declaring a total victory, the regime shot itself in the foot – inadvertently exposing its abuses of the electoral system and process.
The gap between the rhetoric and the reality becomes apparent when we juxtapose this total victory against extraordinarily large turnouts at opposition rallies during the campaign period. EPRDF reluctantly “allowed” opposition parties to campaign for a few weeks, presumably to create a façade of a free and fair election in Ethiopia.
On the campaign trail, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) galvanized the youth, attracting huge crowds in all corners of Oromia. It is a gross understatement to view EPRDF’s victory as “stolen election” even by the standards of its previous polls. The bald-faced announcement was a humiliating insult to voters. EPRDF cadres displayed an utter contempt for the very people they claim to govern.
The gap between EPRDF’s words and deeds has become ever wider. Steadfast Oromo resistance has frequently led to widespread killings and imprisonments. Human right groups have relentlessly documented some of the atrocities committed by EPRDF leaders. This includes the Amnesty International’s landmark “Because I am Oromo” report that provided compelling evidence that “being an Oromo is a good enough reason to be incriminated and put in jail under the EPRDF government.”
In part II of this piece, I will examine the unraveling of the EPRDF rule, focusing on the bogus claim around Ethiopia’s miraculous economic growth over the last decade.
*The writer, J. Bonsa, is a researcher based in Asia.
IOYA Press Release drafted about the ongoing Oromo Protests
09 December 2015
We are greatly concerned about the recent brutal crackdown against innocent unarmed peaceful protesters in Oromia by Ethiopian police.
Words seem inadequate to express the sadness we feel for the peaceful protesters who have been killed, beaten and unlawfully detained. We share their grief in this time of agony and pain. We are appalled that a similar tragedy occurred last year in April, 2014 and not much has changed in Ethiopia. Recent images surfing the internet are heartbreaking and disturbing. As an organization subscribing to broader democratic engagement of the Oromo youth, we oppose the brutal violence that the Ethiopian government is meting out on innocent, unarmed young students who are peacefully protesting. As International Oromo Youth, we support and stand in solidarity with Oromo student protesters.
The students are protesting the Addis Ababa “Integrated Developmental Master Plan” which aims at incorporating smaller towns surrounding Addis Ababa, displacing millions of farmers. The implementation of the “Master Plan” will essentially result in the displacement of the indigenous peoples and their families. Farmers will be dispossessed of their land and their survival both in economic and cultural terms will be threatened. The student protesters strongly believe that this plan will expose their natural environment to risk, threaten their economic means of livelihood (subsistence farming), and violate their constitutional rights.
We call on the international community to join us in denouncing these inhumane and cruel activities carried out by the Ethiopian government. It has been reported that shootings, unlawful arrests, and harassments by security personals are becoming rampant. We believe it is imperative that the international community raise its voice and take action to stop the ongoing atrocities that are wreaking havoc to families and communities in the Oromia region.
We pray for safety and security of all peoples in Ethiopia.
Sincerely
IOYA BOARD,
OPDO is under attack
This week TPLF has decided to temporarily suspend OPDO from the party until Oromo leaders submitted to TPLF demands and controlled their population. Currently there is a silent rebellion taking place after Oromo farmers had been evicted of their land to make ways for new Addis Ababa expansion called The Master Plan.
Several Oromo students have been killed so far and hundreds arrested.
Last week the ‘federal’ government ordered OPDO to come up with solution regarding the the Master Plan. On Friday (Dec 4) OPDO leaders both at regional and federal position met in Adama. The meeting lasted through Sunday evening. Out of 27 individuals at attendance all but Aster Mamo and Muktar Kedir supported announcing termination of the Master Plan. The two would not budge arguing but could not explain their reasoning except threatening the majority of ‘siding with narrow nationalists and anti-peace elements”.
The result of the meeting was presented to the ‘federal government’ on Monday ( December 7). Key figures who proposed termination of the Master Plan and the two who opposed it were summoned and asked explain themselves. Attendance were TPLF old guards who were invited to play observer/ elder role. The meeting was adjourned without agreement.
On Wednesday the ‘federal ‘ government informed OPDO that the Master Plan will go a head. causing uproar. OPDO convined and discussed whether toi reject the decision from federals. They could not reach consensus.
On Thursday night senior EPRDF leaders were convined. OPDO and Oromia regional government were attacked not only for failing to contain the situation. Some went as far as accusing OPDO having direct role in agitating and organizing the revolt. Without much discussion it was announced that a “Command Post” has been created to deal handle the situation. The command post is to be chaired by the Prime Minister and includes chiefs of the army, Intelligence,federal police and president of Oromia, Muktar Kadir. ‘Command Post’ is an extraordinary security approach first introduced by Meles Zenawi in the aftermath of the 2005 election.
It was then repeated during the 2015 Oromo student protest. It gives the selected committee an extraordinary power and practically suspends normal governing procedures and jurisdictions. This means, Oromia regional government has been striped even the symbolic role it had in being responsible for security issues within its jurisdiction.
Today (Friday), Muktar Kadir held press conference where he said the Master Plan will go a head ‘with consultation’ and threatened protesters with further punishment.
Long-Sought Oromo Self-Rule Restored in Gindeberet, Ammayya, Guliso as Oromo Protests Spread Across Oromia
On Saturday, December 12, 2015, media outlets reported that Gindeberet and Gindo joined Guliso (all in western Oromia) as freed localities in Oromia. It is to be remembered that, earlier this week, protesting citizens of Guliso dissolved what the protesters called the local go-between administration of the Tigrean-dominated Ethiopian Federal government. Another town named Babich has also been partially liberated by its citizens; however, to impose power through terror, the Ethiopian Federal police killed at least two Oromos in “execution style” from close range in front of the protesting crowd, according to reports (viewer discretion advised: photos of the executed Oromos attached here). The reports added that the dissolution of the local go-between administrations will have a strong cascading effect across Oromia in the coming days and weeks as the Oromo protests spread to every corner of Oromia.
Observers say the Tigrean-dominated Ethiopian government uses go-between individuals, whom are said to be coerced, corrupted and collected inside “People’s Democratic Organizations,” to indirectly exert its rule and extract resources from Oromia and other States in Ethiopia; accordingly, the go-between agent for the Oromo region (Oromia) is the “Oromo People’s Democratic Organization” (OPDO). These local go-between administrations have been instrumental in enabling the land-grabbing campaigns, including the Addis Ababa Master Plan, that are said to be taking place by the Ethiopian Federal government across Oromia, Gambella, Afar, Southern State, Benishangul and Ogadenia, among other Federal regions. Critics of this type of federal arrangement accuse the Tigrean ruling elites of taking away real self-rule power from the Federated regions; instead, they say, the Tigrean elites rule and extract resources through theirgo-between local agents at the peripheries. It is this long-denied real power of Oromo self-rule that has been apparently restored in Gindeberet, Gindo and Guliso over the last few days by the Oromo protesters, according to the reports.
Here are some photos and videos from the liberated localities of Gindeberet (Kachise), Ammayya (Gindo) and Ayira (Guliso); the moment has been ecstatic for the elderly, especially, who had dreamed of such a day of victory for Oromo self-rule throughout their lives.
(Direct link to the video on Facebook)
(Direct link to the video on Facebook)
One minute Strong Silence showing Solidarity for Oromo Protests
#OromoProtests-Oromo activists @ Melbourne Oromo rally showing solidarity to #OromoProtests, one minute strong silence to remember those paying sacrifice for Oromo cause in Oromia, at Federation Square on 11 Dec 2015. — at Federation Square, Melbourne City.
Ethiopian Opposition Say 10 Oromo Students Killed at Protests
By William Davison
-Government says four students died, 20 police officers injured
-Oromo students demonstrating over development plan for capital
Ethiopian police killed 10 Oromo students who were demonstrating peacefully over plans to integrate the capital, Addis Ababa, with surrounding towns in Oromia region in the past three weeks, an opposition leader said.
High-school and university students from across Ethiopia’s most-populous region are protesting to demand the government shelve a master plan for the city, said Bekele Nega, general secretary of the Oromo Federalist Congress.
“The protest is not as usual, they are not backing away,” he said by phone from Addis Ababa. “They are not willing to stop until the demands are met.” Authorities gave a lower number of fatalities.
Ethiopia, which the International Monetary Fund forecasts will have sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest-growing economy this year, is seeing tensions between its plans for rapid development and its constitution, which enshrines the right to ethnic self-administration. Oromo critics say the integration of the capital with surrounding towns amounts to annexation of the ethnic group’s territory as farmers will be evicted and the language and culture lost.
Integrated development will benefit Oromo residents of peripheral towns and there will be no changes to administrative boundaries, said Getachew Reda, Ethiopia’s communications minister.
Four students died and 20 police officers were injured when protesters became violent, including an attempt to take control of a police station in Toke Kutaye in West Shewa zone, Getachew said by phone from Gambella town on Wednesday.
‘False Claims’
“We know the protests are based on false claims by some political elements, but whatever the source of protest they should be done in a peaceful manner,” he said. “Generally security forces have been exercising significant restraint, but there were areas where they have been overwhelmed.”
Around 150 people have been injured and 550 arrested, although persistent demonstrating has led to the release of 140 detainees, Bekele said. A worker from the state-owned Fincha sugar factory was killed on Dec. 7 during a protest, he said. The Sugar Corp. is seeking further information on a reported incident at Fincha, which is in Horo Gudru Welega zone, spokesman Zemedkun Tekle said Wednesday by phone from Addis Ababa.
A student reported to have died at Haramaya University by falling from a window when police raided dormitories is recovering, Alemshet Teshoma, a university spokesman, said by phone from East Hararghe zone.
Advocacy for Oromia 