Author Archives: advocacy4oromia
Ethiopia: Lethal Force Against Protesters Military Deployment, Terrorism Rhetoric Risk Escalating Violence
(Nairobi, DECEMBER 18, 2015) – Ethiopian security forces have killed dozens of protesters since November 12, 2015, in Oromia regional state, according to reports from the region. The security forces should stop using excessive lethal force against protesters.
Protesters in Oromia region, Ethiopia, December 2015.
Police and military forces have fired on demonstrations, killing at least 75 protesters and wounding many others, according to activists. Government officials have acknowledged only five deaths and said that an undisclosed number of security force members have also been killed. On December 15, the government announced that protesters had a “direct connection with forces that have taken missions from foreign terrorist groups” and that Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Task Force will lead the response.
“The Ethiopian government’s response to the Oromia protests has resulted in scores dead and a rapidly rising risk of greater bloodshed,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s labelling of largely peaceful protesters as ‘terrorists’ and deploying military forces is a very dangerous escalation of this volatile situation.”
Protests by students began in Ginchi, a small town 80 kilometers southwest of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, when authorities sought to clear a forest for an investment project. Protests quickly spread throughout the Oromia region, home of Ethiopia’s estimated 35 million Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group.
They evolved into larger demonstrations against the proposed expansion of the Addis Ababa municipal boundary, known as the “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan.” Approximately 2 million people live in the area of the proposed boundary expansion and many protesters fear the plan could displace Oromo farmers and residents living near the city.
Since mid-November, the protesting students have been joined by farmers and other residents. Human Rights Watch received credible reports that security forces shot dozens of protesters in Shewa and Wollega zones, west of Addis Ababa, in early December. Several people described seeing security forces in the town of Walliso, 100 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, shoot into crowds of protesters in December, leaving bodies lying in the street.
Numerous witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security forces beat and arrested protesters, often directly from their homes at night. Others described several locations as “very tense” with heavy military presence and “many, many arrests.” One student who took part in protests in West Shewa said, “I don’t know where any of my friends are. They have disappeared after the protest. Their families say they were taken by the police.”
Local residents in several areas told Human Rights Watch that protesters took over some local government buildings after government officials abandoned them. Protesters have also set up roadblocks to prevent the movement of military units into communities. Some foreign-owned commercial farms were looted and destroyed near Debre Zeit, 50 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa, news media reported.
Human Rights Watch has not been able to corroborate the precise death toll and many of the details of individual incidents because of limited independent access and restricted communications with affected areas. There have also been unconfirmed reports of arrests of health workers, teachers, and others who have publicly shown support for the protest movement through photos and messages on social media.
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that security forces shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Whenever the lawful use of force is unavoidable, the authorities should use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Lethal force may only be used when strictly unavoidable to protect life.
The Ethiopian government should respect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said. While police have the responsibility to maintain order during protests, they should only use force when strictly necessary and in a proportionate manner.
Ethiopia’s government regularly accuses people who express even mild criticism of government policy of association with terrorism. Dozens of journalists, bloggers, protesters, and activists have been prosecuted under the country’s draconian 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
On December 16, 2015, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the government “will take merciless legitimate action against any force bent on destabilizing the area.” The same day, Getachew Reda, the government communication affairs office minister, said that “an organized and armed terrorist force aiming to create havoc and chaos have begun murdering model farmers, public leaders and other ethnic groups residing in the region.” While there have been some recent reports of violence by protesters, according to information obtained by Human Rights Watch, the protests have overwhelmingly been peaceful.
Ethiopia’s pervasive restrictions on independent civil society and media mean that very little information is coming from affected areas although social media are filled with photos and videos of the protests. Authorities have cut mobile phone coverage in some of the key areas, particularly areas where there is significant military deployment, raising concerns over the potential crackdown. In communities where there is mobile phone coverage, witnesses reported repeated gunfire and a heavy military presence.
The authorities’ response to past protests in Oromia raises serious concerns for the safety of protesters and others arrested, Human Rights Watch said. In Oromia in April and May 2014, security forces used live ammunition against largely peaceful student protesters, killing several dozen people, and arrested hundreds more. Some of those arrested are still detained without charge. Former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated in detention. On December 2, 2015, five Oromo students were convicted under the counterterrorism law for their role in the protest movement. There has been no government investigation into the use of excessive force and live ammunition during the 2014 protests.
While both the 2014 and current protests are ostensibly responding to the Addis Ababa expansion plan, they also derive from deeper grievances, Human Rights Watch said. Many Oromos have historically felt marginalized and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments, and Oromos are often arbitrarily arrested and accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which waged armed struggle in the past and which the government designates a terrorist organization.
Under the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, in cases of death or serious injury, appropriate agencies are to conduct a review and a detailed report is to be sent promptly to the competent administrative or prosecutorial authorities. The government should ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense. Superior officers should be held responsible if they knew or should have known that personnel under their command resorted to the unlawful use of force and firearms but did not take all measures in their power to prevent, suppress, or report such use.
The Ethiopian government should support prompt, independent investigations into the events in Oromia region, including by UN and African Union (AU) human rights experts on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Governments and intergovernmental organizations, including the AU, should raise concerns about the excessive use of force against protesters and call on Ethiopia to respect fundamental human rights in its response to the protests, Human Rights Watch said.
“Ethiopia’s security forces seem to have learned nothing from last year’s protests, and, instead of trying to address the grievances that are catalyzing the protests, are shooting down more protesters,” Lefkow said. “Concerned governments and institutions should call on Ethiopia to halt its excessive use of force and stop this spiral into further violence.”
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/18/ethiopia-lethal-force-against-protesters
‘Stop the killing!’: farmland development scheme sparks fatal clashes in Ethiopia
William Davison
As government plans to build on Oromo farmland around Addis Ababa spark widespread protests, an increasingly brutal crackdown by the government has sparked fears that excessive force may become the norm
People mourn the fatal shooting of Dinka Chala by Ethiopian security forces in Wolenkomi, Oromia. Chala was accused of protesting; his family say he was not involved. Photograph: Zacharias Abubeker/Getty Images
The protesters wrapped the two bodies in blankets and plastic sheeting. On top, they placed pieces of paper with the names of the dead, alongside the bullet casings from the weapons that had just killed them. Then the chanting began: “There is no democracy, there is no justice.”
This was the scene in Wolenkomi, a town in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, on Tuesday, shortly after security forces fired into a crowd protesting at plans to develop farmland surrounding the capital, Addis Ababa. At least four people were killed.
The defiance of protesters from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, was recorded by one of the activists, who filmed the scenes with his mobile phone. “Stop the killing!” they shouted.
These deaths are the latest resulting from a wave of protests throughout Oromia over the government’s urban planning strategy, which envisages linking up Addis Ababa with surrounding Oromo towns through an integrated development approach.
Oromia region stretches across Ethiopia and is home to a third of the country’s 95 million people. It has its own language, Afaan Oromo, which is distinct from the official Amharic language.
While multiple witnesses said the Wolenkomi protesters were peaceful before the security forces began shooting, four days earlier a mob ransacked the town administration’s compound and burned the police station.
The government said this week that the recent protests had left at least five people dead, but opposition figures have suggested that more than 50 people were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters, many of whom tend to be students.
The government denies the protesters’ allegations that the urban expansion amounts to a land grab. The communications minister, Getachew Reda, says the plans are intended to ensure that the interests of Oromo are taken into consideration as Addis Ababa grows.
He insists the scheme is about rational development – ensuring that, for example, Addis Ababa road planners know where Oromia state plans to build hospitals – and says there is no possibility that parts of Oromia will be absorbed by the Addis Ababa administration.
Ethiopia is often hailed as a modern development success story. The government has generally maintained order, and has driven growth with an ambitious infrastructure programme. However, its record on freedom of expression and other rights is often criticised by activists.
Protesters surround a makeshift coffin in the town of Wolenkomi in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Photograph: William Davison
The demonstrations in Oromia expose tensions between a decentralised system of ethnic federalism and the top-down development approach of an effectively one-party state, which gives people little say in investment decisions.
On the periphery of booming Addis Ababa, the contradiction is acute. As industrial zones, apartments and factories spring up as part of the government’s urban expansion plans, more Oromo farmers will lose their land, say activists.
Sixty-year-old Oromo Desa Geleta is adamant she will not leave the farm where she has always lived in Burayu, on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. As she plucks stray fava beans from the grass, she says that local officials called a meeting three weeks ago to tell residents a housing development would soon be built in the area.
“During the Derg time we died for this land, so we are not going to give it up to anybody,” she said, referring to the military regime, which was overthrown in 1987.
The Derg junta cracked down on the Oromo and other groups in Ethiopia. But the current government has also been accused of abuses – last year, Amnesty International said the authorities had “ruthlessly targeted” and tortured members of the Oromo because of their perceived opposition to the government.
Commenting on the recent protests, the government has described the demonstrators as terrorists and accused them of planning to destabilise the country. Amnesty said this rhetoric would escalate the crackdown against the protesters.
“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 Lynne Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s regional director for east Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“Instead of condemning the unlawful killings by the security forces, which have seen the deaths of more than 40 people in the last three weeks, this statement in effect authorises excessive use of force against peaceful protesters.”
In an internet cafe in Burayu, Falmata Sena says the planned Addis expansion will be very negative for the Oromo living nearby. “Most of them are farmers, and when you change from agrarian to urbanised, it has its own impact. It will completely diminish the opportunity for Oromo youth. And after the plan is implemented, the language of the area will change from Afaan Oromo to Amharic.”
Falmata would like to see a local development plan that considers the needs and rights of Oromo farmers.
For now, there are few signs that either side is willing to back down. Across Oromia, reports of protests and unrest are still emerging despite the killings. In Ambo, about 50 miles from Wolenkomi, witnesses said two people were shot dead at a demonstration last Saturday.
Protesters block a road in Wolenkomi. Photograph: William Davison
As darkness fell in Wolenkomi after the killings on Tuesday, the Oromo protesters, who had been jogging round town and chanting defiant slogans, finally began to slip home.
In the quiet of the evening, a group of government workers detailed a litany of grievances against a centralised system they see as overbearing, corrupt and undemocratic.
One guard said he has worked every day since September for an after-tax salary of £19 a month. His office rarely gets the materials it needs as officials pocket the money. Cattle traders tell of a new regulation that requires them to be licensed and pay a fee each time they enter the market. Farmers are angry about a demand for £16 to pay for uniforms for the local defence forces. Corrupt land administration is a recurring theme.
“If a rich person comes and builds a big house, how does it benefit us?” the guard wonders.
Anti-terror rhetoric will escalate brutal crackdown against Oromo protesters
PRESS RELEASE DECEMBER 16, 2015
Protesters have been labelled ‘terrorists’ by Ethiopian authorities in an attempt to violently suppress protests against potential land seizures, which have already resulted in 40 deaths, said Amnesty International.
A statement issued by state intelligence services today claims that the Oromia protesters were planning to “destabilize the country” and that some of them have a “direct link with a group that has been collaborating with other proven terrorist parties”.
“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 International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“Instead of condemning the unlawful killings by the security forces, which have seen the deaths of more than 40 people in the last three weeks, this statement in effect authorizes excessive use of force against peaceful protesters.”
The latest round of protests, now in their third week, are against the government’s master plan to integrate parts of Oromia into the capital Addis Ababa.
Similar protests against the master plan in April 2014 resulted in deaths, injuries and mass arrest of the Oromo protesters.
Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation 652/2009, permits the government to use unrestrained force against suspected terrorists, including pre-trial detention of up to four months.
People that have been subject to pre-trial detention under the anti-terrorism law have reported widespread use of torture and ill treatment. All claims of torture and ill treatment should be promptly and independently investigated by the authorities.
“The government should desist from using draconian anti-terrorism measures to quell protests and instead protect its citizen’s right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” said Muthoni Wanyeki.
Source: Amnesty International
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)
Advocacy for Oromia 