Category Archives: News

URGENT ACTION: OROMO OPPOSITION LEADERS AT RISK OF INTIMIDATION

Feb 29

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(A4O, 29/02/2020) Five Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) executive committee leaders have been arrested in Addis Ababa.

Gamtessa Boru, OLF economic advisor,

Dr Shigut Geleta, OLF Advisory Head,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abdi Regassa, OLF Executive Committee member,

Kenessa Ayana, OLF CC member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Boran, OLF Executive Committee member,

Among those detained today are Gamtessa Boru, OLF economic advisor, Abdi Regassa, OLF Executive Committee member, Dr Shigut Geleta, OLF Advisory Head, Michael Boran, OLF Executive Committee member, and Kenessa Ayana, OLF CC member.

According to reliable sources, police broke into their home in Finfinnee, Oromia on Saturday 29/02/2020 and arrested them.

The house of five OLF leaders have been surrounded by security forces.

The OLF is a major political force in Oromia.

The return of mass arrests of opposition leaders and supporters is a worrying signal for opposition leaders in Ethiopia.

Just months ahead of the elections, the Abiy’s regime intensifies mass arrest and detention in Oromia.

  • Parts of Western Oromia have been shut off from the internet and phone services since late 2019. At a press conference in mid-January, EthioTelecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru acknowledged the shutdowns and said they were “connected to peace and security” in the area, according to the Addis Standard.
  • Several Ethiopian media houses have reported that OLF-Shane, the military splinter wing of the OLF, has been waging war against the government in the Kelem Wollega region.

Amnesty International has documented for decades government control over the judiciary. Mass mobilization is needed to ensure that the Ethiopian authorities allow independent monitoring of his trial to ensure that it is fair.

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The Rebels charging for election

 

By  | February 20, 2020

The guerrilla group Oromofolk’s Liberation Front (OLF) was allowed to return to Ethiopia 2018 as part of the newly-appointed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s reforms. Now its new chairman Dawud Ibsa Ayana believes in an upcoming election victory.

The receptionist at Scandic Hotell in Skärholmen looks stressed up from his paper. Around her, an entire wedding party dances past to beat-up claps and loud calls, while popping up for dinner and fixing up for tomorrow’s conference.

– A quiet place for an interview with one of our guests? It will probably be a little difficult, she replies.

After some deliberation, we are referred past the table tables into a room with a wallpaper with bookshelf motifs.

When Dawud Ibsa Ayana settles down, I apologize for the strut, but he is happy that we have room to sit. He has long wanted to tell.

For over 40 years, the Liberation Army’s liberation army was fought against the central government in Addis Ababa, and journalists then had to venture into the guerrilla-controlled areas to understand OLF’s positions on various issues, which meant that their struggle was either in practice misunderstood or remained completely unknown to outside world. Swedish journalist Martin Adler was one of the few who reported on the movement in the 2000s.

But in the wake of the political changes in the Horn of Africa, the Dawud Ibsa Ayana guerrilla group has for some time been a political party running for election.

– A few years ago I had not thought that we would prepare for such a situation. What a choice!

Blankspot’s Martin Schibbye interviews OLF’s chairman.

The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet collapsed. But in the wooded parts of southern Ethiopia, Dawud and his comrades fought a war that, for many of the rebels, was older than themselves.

The Ethiopian emperor of the 20th century, who was from the Amhara people group, had colonized the Oromo people’s wealthy home territories, while the European great powers colonized the rest of Africa.

The other countries had finally gained their independence but not the Oromo people – one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.

Continental Kurds.

The popular revolution that swept away the Mengistu dictatorship in 1991 also did not resolve the region’s fundamental conflict with the central power.

Dawud Ibsa Ayana’s own personal history is closely linked to the organization. He studied at Hailie Selassies University in the 1970s and then came into contact with the student movement for which he subsequently became leader. In the late 1970s he was elected to the OLF Central Committee and imprisoned shortly afterwards by the Ethiopian regime. After being released, he fled to Sudan and combined studies in statistics with participation in the rebel group’s military training.

Back in Ethiopia, he led the OLF platoon that started the armed struggle in Welega province. But after a while, he was arrested again, poisoned, tortured and imprisoned without a trial until 1986 when he rejoined the rebel army and resumed his work in the Central Committee.

In interviews with him from that time, he is always firmly convinced that the day free elections are allowed, OLF will win and form the backbone of the country’s next government.

But despite the fact that he is now preparing for just such a choice – it still did not turn out as he intended.

– The goal of our armed struggle was to dissolve the TPLF, I never thought they would survive. But now they are also running for election and since they now claim that they have opened up the political space and invited us to participate so, yes, then we have chosen to do so.

When Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize last fall, he was rewarded primarily for the peace with Eritrea. More forgotten, but all the more important for Ethiopia’s future was peace with the local rebel groups, including the OLF.

That the TPLF survived, Dawud Ibsa Ayanas believes, is because the regime understood that the protests that grew strong were directed at their own party and that they had to “reform” the country in order to continue to govern.

– I put “reforms” in quotes because they were forced to release prisoners. It was nothing they wanted to do. There was no amnesty. We are not completely happy about the situation, but we decided to “play the game”.

Was it a difficult decision?

– It was a tough decision absolutely, but we had no choice. The TPLF created confusion and the outside world thought this was a genuine change, so we were then forced to “play the game” because the government said they would invite exile organizations and remove the stamp of terror. If we had not taken the chance, we would have been branded as those who “destroyed the peace” or “nihilists”, says Dawud Ibsa Ayanas.

Dawud Ibsa was on a flash in Sweden before returning to Ethiopia. Blankspot received a unique interview with OLF’s chairman.

When the OLF and the Ethiopian government settled down after decades of armed conflict, one of the major stumbling blocks was the OLF members who disappeared over the years.

– We presented a list of 300-400 names and wanted answers: are these people living or are they dead?

They did not get a straight answer to that question, but they agreed that the criminals for human rights violations on both sides should be tried and OLF suggested that a commission be appointed. The idea was not rejected, but did not become a reality, but was postponed until after the election.

– If the choice goes well, this will be a priority for us. Whether we agree on a South African reconciliation model or a personal arrangement remains to be seen, says Dawud Ibsa Ayana.

The movement’s problematic relationship with the state powers also did not end because they laid down their weapons and withdrew from the armed struggle.

Even when they were to register their party, the process was delayed and delayed and it took over a year after the peace agreement to get the formal in place.

– Since we brought home our soldiers from Eritrea in September 2018, we have had a tough time. The government has obstructed and hampered our work, they have closed down our local offices which we have opened and over 20,000 of our members have been imprisoned for short or longer periods.

The areas where the movement has encountered most difficulties are in Ambo and the southwestern parts of the region.

– Here are the large garrisons of the Ethiopian army and in these, several members have been detained for months without a trial, often under torture-like conditions. Not only former soldiers, but also farmers, young people and teachers have been taken from the entire Oromo region to these places, says Dawud Ibsa Ayanas

He thinks the purpose is to weaken the party ahead of the August 2020 elections.

“Yes, our relationship with the government looks like,” he says, turning his arms out.

But despite the difficulties, he is as victorious today as before and OLF has formed electoral alliances with other organizations such as the Oromo Federalist Congress and the Oromo National Party prior to the election.

– We are confident that we will win a majority regionally and significantly with the seats in the national parliament, predicts Dawud Ibsa Ayanas.

But the party’s concern is now about the time leading up to the election in August, and it is now more than OLF itself that is concerned about the development in the region.

In mid-February, Amnesty issued a report showing that 75 members of OLF had been arrested at the beginning of the new year. The human rights organization said it was inadvertent that opposition politicians were so close to the impending election.

In addition, this was just how the previous regime operated and Amnesty warned that what was happening was a trend break that risked undermining both the newly won organizational and freedom of expression in the country.

Amnesty also noted that several local offices opened by OLF were stormed by police and in connection with this, several OLF members had been killed. Journalists who worked for the satellite TV channel Oromia News Network (OMN) had also broken their vehicles and equipment according to Amnesty.

The government itself believes that it is fighting the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an outbreak group from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) that did not accept the peace agreement but continued the armed struggle.

Dawud Ibsa Ayanas is worried about how local militias and “soldiers taking orders from political parties” will act during the upcoming election campaign.

– Will they continue to harass and arrest our members or will the government discipline them? he asks himself.

Another shock test is the upcoming staffing of the polling stations and the question of the voters’ sympathies. During the TPLF era, many organizations that called themselves “civil society” were in fact fronts for the ruling party.

– We will closely monitor the election authority’s staffing at village level so that they recruit independent administrators and volunteers?

If the situation continues to escalate, the question also arises as to whether it is possible to hold elections as the situation looks?

– No, today it is not possible to hold free elections in the areas that are under emergency conditions and are controlled by the military’s command post, says Dawud Ibsa Ayanas.

OLF’s concern is that the areas in the region where you are strongest, it is also in the areas where the military will create a situation that makes choices impossible to make.

– We await the election authority’s assessment of where elections can be held, we have a good dialogue with the authority and know that they also listen to us before they make a decision.

In his work on the formal elections, Dawud Ibsa Ayanas believes that countries such as Sweden have a big role to play.

Both with independent election observers and knowledge, he also points out that foreign states that have supported Abiy Ahmed’s reforms are responsible for the process and for pushing the government so that the military stays away during the electoral movement.

– We expect that Sweden does not accept that anyone abuses power, but ensures that it becomes a free, genuine choice in which the people can choose their representatives.

Dawud Ibsa Ayana’s continued reasoning is submerged in the sound of the wedding party, which is once again on its way through the lobby.

We go further into the room and find a new place where the base passage causes both tables and walls to vibrate.

I say that a few weeks ago I interviewed activist and journalist Eskinder Nega who said that there is an ethnic cleansing in the Oromo region with the aim of expelling non-Oromos.

At the bottom, Eskinder Nega argued that there was a vengeance for perceived historical injustices.

– It is not surprising that Eskinder exploits this and travels around the world, warning the UN that Oromo’s youth, querroos, are terrorists, but it must stand for him. But if you are going to talk about the matter: the situation of Amharas in the Oromo region he is wrong, that they would be forced to flee is nonsense, says Dawud Ibsa Ayana.

According to him, recent reports of attacks on civilian students are nothing for which his organization has no responsibility.

– OLF operated in the region for 40 years while tens of thousands of civilians from the Amharic region lived in the area, but they were not attacked by OLF. We fought against the Ethiopian army, never against the people of Amharas, their houses or homes.

He points out that in several of the region’s largest cities there have always been 100,000 Amharas and that there are also officers and generals from the Amharan region within OLF’s ranks.

– Why would any of us attack innocent young students? To say that is an attack on us.

So in a future Oromoregion, where you own a majority of the sites, will the rights of minorities be guaranteed?

– Undoubtedly! It has been black and white in our political program since 1976: OLF respects the rights of minorities. They have the right to choose and to candidate and run their own affairs in Parliament. Why would we have changed now after 27 years? We are crystal clear in this regard.

“Will the election be peaceful? Will the result be accepted? We don’t know that yet – but we want to show the outside world that we are for peace and for free elections, ”says the OLF chairman.

The indictment is also not new. Since the movement was formed, they have been fighting the term as a terrorist organization.

Prior to the 2005 elections, the country’s then prime minister Meles Zenawi called OLF the “country’s Interhamwe”, that is, he compared the movement with those responsible for the Rwanda genocide.

In interviews, OLF has always rejected the accusation, claiming that terrorism is a method of desperate groups and individuals, while they are an established mass organization that has the support of a majority of the population and that this type of method would only mean that they lost their popular support.

But what, according to OLF, can be done to stop the violence that is happening at the universities, both in the Oromo and the Amharic region?

– It is the government that has to take its responsibility. The government has a responsibility to protect the students and put an end to the abuse. The federal police must investigate whether local militia attacks students or whether it is the security service or other political organizations. The students who have been forced out must return and the families who have lost children must be compensated.

Although OLF now faces a roadmap, its struggle has always been about two things: firstly, to create a political consciousness of the population but also about independence.

After a long period of feudal oppression, according to OLF, a political culture had been created that led many to give up their belief in being able to influence their lives either financially or politically.

When the OLF was formed, the aim was therefore to fight against oppression in all its forms and to give the inhabitants of the region the political confidence to stand up for themselves.

But the main issues were also that the region and its inhabitants had the right to self-determination and to their own country.

So when the Ethiopian Constitution was written after Mengistu was overthrown in 1991, a section on the right to self-determination was enrolled. But the movement also chose, when the Constitution was drafted, to participate in the transitional government with the goal of creating a democratic Ethiopia and not pushing the issue of independence.

But shortly thereafter, the transitional government collapsed and OLF chose or forced, depending on how it looks, into the forest again.

So how does OLF today view the demand for an independent state? 

– It was OLF’s position previously to work for it. But at present we understand that it is not something we can demand from the Ethiopian state because it is not capable of giving it to us, ”replies Dawud Ibsa Ayana.

Just as in the years 1991-1992, people have been chosen to participate in the democratization process with the goal that they want to see a democratic Ethiopia.

– We have chosen to play down our own historic demand for independence and prioritized the democratization of Ethiopia as a federation, a country with several states, several nations, living in peace. We wanted to and then we want to give this a chance again, says Dawud Ibsa Ayana.

According to him, it is a “pragmatic move” based on the analysis that today’s Ethiopian state formation would not respect a fully independent Oromo.

– What happens in the future, it lies in the future, there are of course several Eritrea-like opportunities to jump off, if they were so rigid that they do not accept self-determination, under this Ethiopian umbrella.

If everything goes the way of the election then a priority issue will be a land reform in the region.

– Land ownership is the central political issue for us. Land that was formerly owned by feudal lords in the region is now owned by the government and because the people do not own the land they use, they also have no control over their lives.

The goal is a land reform where users take over ownership. But Dawud Ibsa Ayana emphasizes that previous owners should be compensated.

– Such a process is complex and in order for no one to be deceived by banks or investors, we also want to set up a control authority to monitor how land is sold and bought in the region.

Areas that are now agricultural areas may also be considered for future industrial areas.

– Industrialization will be a “game changer” for the area and mean that we are moving from an agrarian economy to a more mixed one. In this upcoming development, we welcome private companies and investors, but we have a social democratic view of society and want central functions such as communications, education, infrastructure, healthcare to be taken care of by the general public.

He can’t say more before the wedding party pulls up the music again and we go back to reception.

Political self-confidence is great and despite harassment and imprisoned party members, Dawud Ibsa Ayana believes that they will soon be the victors of the election.

But the question he is pondering a lot is whether the ruling party will hand over power?

– Will the election be peaceful? Will the result be accepted? We don’t know that yet – but we want to show the outside world that we are for peace and for free elections. Then it becomes clear who is breaking this. We have our fears that the result will not be accepted, says Dawud Ibsa Ayana.

**

Blankspot has been closely following developments in Ethiopia for some time . Earlier reports in this series can be read here. If you want a daily update on the process, join our facebook group “Mission: Eritrea and Ethiopia” and contribute your knowledge.

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Oromo Solidarity rally to be held in Melbourne

Feb 9

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(A4O, 9 February 2020) The Australian Oromo Community is organizing a solidarity rally in Melbourne on Monday, 17th of February 2020.

According to the information received, the Oromo solidarity rally is organised to stand in solidarity with, and show support for, Oromos under a renewed attack and persecution in western and southern Oromia.

The organisers of the rally also aimed to appeal to the Government of Australia and the wider international community to put diplomatic, political, economic pressure on the Ethiopian regime that’s waging an undeclared war on Oromia.

“We’re not afraid to stand together, to be able to stand against violence and promote nonviolence,” said one of the members of Oromo community who planned to attend Monday’s rally.

The promotional flyer also indicate that the rally aimed to call for an urgent humanitarian support for the over five million displaced Oromos and the tens of thousands seeking refuge in the neighboring countries.

Similar solidarity rallies are underway in North America, and Europa to raise the awareness of the public about the atrocities, violent political repression, and massive violation of human rights in Oromia and the wider Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian regime are well known in massive violation of human rights in Oromia and the wider Ethiopia.

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5 Fascinating Facts About The Oromo Language and Culture

5 Fascinating Facts About The Oromo Language and Culture

Jan 19

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By Maia Nikitina

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromoo, and Oromiffa, is a language from the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and the third most widely spoken language in Africa, after Arabic and Hausa. The Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia. They are an indigenous African people who have maintained their cultural identity and language despite the Oromo language being forbidden for much of the 20th century. Most Oromos live in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia), Kenia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, as well as in the Oromo Diaspora abroad.

  1. The Oromo Written Language Is One Of The Youngest In The World

The Oromo language was banned in Ethiopia for many years, forbidden from being used in schools and in the public sphere. In 1991, the language was allowed again. In the early 1970s, the Oromo Liberation Front decided on the Latin alphabet as the official script for the Oromo language. It is also sometimes written with the Arabic script, as well as the Ge’ez script and the Shaykh Bakri Sapalo orthography. The Oromo writing system based on the Roman alphabet is called Qubee. Due to the political situation that affected the Oromo language for a long time, it is one of the youngest languages in the world to become a written language.

Speakers of all variations of Oromo can easily understand each other, although the relatively late development of the writing system means that there are some differences in written dialects as the writing system is not fully standardised across all of the Oromo language.

  1. Oromian Literature Was Mostly Oral Until 1970s

The Oromos have a rich oral literary tradition which is expressed through various songs for all life eventualities, as well as poems, proverbs, and storytelling.

Since being allowed again, the language has experienced a literary revival, with popular plays, novels, and short stories published in the Oromo language. Dhaabaa Wayyessaa’s play Dukanaan Duuba (Beyond the Darkness), propelled the playwright and novelist to national fame in the early 1990’s. Another good example of Oromo’s development as a literary language is Gaaddisaa Birru’s novel Kuusaa Gaddoo.

  1. The Oromo People Created One Of The Earliest Democracies

The traditional Oromo society is structured according to the Gadaa system, also spelled as Gada. The system is considered to be one of the earliest democratic societies in the world and is based on an 8-yearly election of all political, military, economic, religious, and social administration.

The society has five classes with one fulfilling the function of the ruling class; this changes every 8 years. Each class progresses through a number of grades before it can participate in authority.

A Gadaa election is preceded by a campaign. One of the basic rules of the Gadaa is that a father and his son are always exactly five grades apart, which is always forty years. This means that the Gadaa class incorporates people of various ages.

  1. Most Oromos Live In Rural Areas

Around 90 percent of Oromia’s population are employed in agriculture, producing coffee, pulses, oil, and animal products such as hides and skins.

  1. The Irreechaa Ceremony Is Oromo Thanksgiving

Each September, millions of the Oromo people gather on the shores of Hora Harsade (Lake Harsadi or Arsadi) for the Irreechea Ceremony. The meaning of the ceremony is to give thanks and to pray to Waaqa (God).

Many Oromo people practise monotheism, and the Irreechaa ritual ceremony is believed to be one of the oldest forms of monotheism in Africa.

There are two types of the Irreechaa ceremonies: Irreechaa Tulluu (Irreecha on a mountain) and Irreechaa Malkaa (Irreechaa on a river). Irreechaa Tulluu is practised on top of mountains and hills during dry season. It is usually performed in March. Irreechaa Malkaa is celebrated either near a local body of water or at Lake Arsadi in Bishoftu which is located about 45 km from the capital of Oromia, Finfinnee.

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“What did OLF do in the past several decades?”

“What did OLF do in the past several decades?”

Dec 29

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REFLECTION ON THE PAST 50 YEARS!

By Giftii Wako 

The question that is becoming popular these days. For some it is pure ignorance and for others it is a way of discrediting the accomplishments thus far. I felt it was necessary to reflect, assess, and share.

You know how modest some of us are in terms of explaining our professional/personal achievements and take them for granted? The same goes with OLF! Let’s not be modest with this one! Time to reflect and celebrate the successes including the major milestones of this great organization that most of us proudly associate ourselves with and is a symbol of our eenyummaa!

The information below was gathered though an informal chat and text exchanges with a few individuals.

  • The people who created OLF were the ones who led the movement that toppled Haile Selassie (1974). These same people drafted the historical land reform declaration that gave the land back to Oromo farmers.
  • Before OLF was created, Oromo people were referred to as Gallas. It was through undying devotion and the sacrifice OLF paid that our people proudly started calling themselves Oromo or Oromoota (plural). It took years to educate them self-determination and convince Oromos to call themselves Oromo rather than Galla, an abusive slur used mostly by Amharas. Galla was a derogatory term used to refer to pagan, savage, uncivilized, uncultured, enemy, slave or inherently inferior (Melbaa,1999).
  • OLF created the current federal system and the constitution that gave the Oromiyaa statehood that we are all proud of today. The map of Oromiyaa that we see today was possible through this constitution.
  • OLF enabled the Oromo language to become one of the widely spoken languages in the horn of Africa.
  • Qubee became an Oromo alphabet and is widely and effectively used today. The new generation can speak in Afaan Oromoo in Oromiyaa regions and can read and write in Qubee.
  • Our flag, the symbol of our identity and the emblem of our struggle, became extremely popular and the people proudly associate themselves to it. OLF played a significant role in making this happen regardless of all the resistance from every corner in the country.
  • It is by the sacrifice of our OLF heroes and heroines that the name Oromo became known on the world stage.
  • OLF played pivotal role in reviving Oromo culture/heritage including Oromo music and art.
  • OLF made Oromos to be known to the rest of the world via Oromo study journals and OSA, “The Oromo Studies Association is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary organization established to promote and foster scholarly studies in all fields pertaining to the Oromo people.” (OSA, 2019)
  • OLF challenged fake Ethiopiawinet narratives which were built for decades.
  • OLF drafted education curriculum in Afaan Oromoo in Oromiyaa region.
  • Oromiyaa National Anthem was created by OLF.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress”

#OLF_last_50_years_milestones

 

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Maal Nuu Wayya

Maal Nuu Wayya

Dec 16

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Kumkumme sirbaatiin

Baatii Sadaasa 2019 keessa Oromiyaa deemee baatii tokko tureen deebi’e. Bara 2018 yeroo hogganni ABO biyyatti deebi’u waliin eemalee, Dhiha Oromiyaa naannoo tokko tokko daawwadheen ture. Deemsa koo yeroo ammaa fi isa bara dabree wal bira qabee haala jiru xiinxaluu yaaleen jira. Wanneen gurguddaan shan argeen jira:
1. Mirqaannii fi abdiin bara 2018 ture sun bakkaa ka’ee jira.
2. Oromoon yaadaan burjaaja’ee (confused) ta’ee jira.
3. Gartuun Lammaa ykn Lammaa Team jedhamu diigameera.
4. Mootummaan aangoo irra jiru farra Oromoo taheera.
5. Dr Abiyi Ahmed ifaa ifatti ilmaan Nafxanyaan dhuunfatamee jira. Mee isaan kana tokko tokkon haa ilaallu.

Akka mootummaan Wayyaanee bakkaa ka’een abdii fi hawwiin ture mootummaa miidhaa fi cunqursaa ture akka hin deebinetti kaasuu tu dhalata, dimokraasii dhugaatu bakka qabata, Oromoon lammata hin miidhamu kan jedhu hawwii ture. Karaa nagaan siyaasaa gaggeessuun ni danda’ama kan jedhutu abdatamaa ture. Sun waggaa tokko keessatti dhabamee jira. Abdiin duraan ture amma hin jiru. Sirna bulchiinsa biyyichaa isa bara Wayyaanee otoo hin taane kan bara mootii moototaa Hayile Sillaasee fi Miniliktti deebisuun MM Dr Abiy marxifatee hojjataa jira. Oromoo kan ati hawwaa turte bakka hin jiru, buttuun ykn cululleen fudhateetti. Mudhii kee jabeeffadhu.

Oromoon yaadaan burjaaja’uun hubadhee jira. Mootummaan aangoo irra jiru kan Oromoo ti warri jedhan amma iyyu jiru. Oromoo inni kaan ammoo mootummaan kun miidhaa nurraa gahaa jira keenya miti jedhaa jira. Akka sabaatti mootummaa kana irratti Oromoon ejjennoo tokko irra gahee hin jiru. Dhaaboti siyaasaa Oromoos mootummaa farra Oromoo tahe kana irratti ejjennoo cimaan gad bahanii dubbachuu haala isaan dandeessisu keessa hin jiran. Waraana Bilisummaa Oromoo didee bosonatti hafe iyyuu galchuu dhaaf tattaaffiin godhamu hin dhaabbanne. Dhaaboti siyaasaa Oromoo filmaata tarii godhamu maluuf of qopheessuu irratti humnaa fi qabeenya isaanii dhangalaasaa jiru. Kanaaf yaadi Oromoo burjaaja’ee jira

Sochiin diddaa gabrummaa ummatni Oromoo, Qeerroo fi Qarreen durfamee mootummaa Wayyaanee irratti gaggeese, wareegama ulfaataa booda, mooraa EPRDF keessaa gartuu Lammaa jedhamu as baase. Gartuun kunis akka as baheen gooftaan keenya ummata keenya jedhee aantummaa ummataa qabaachuu isaa labse. Ummatni Oromoo shakkii qabuu wajjin Team Lammaa kanatti imaanaa kenne. Gartuun kun gaaffii siyaasaa ummatni Oromoo qabu fiixa baasee injifannoon xumura jedhamee abdatame. Gartuun Lammaa kun yeroo jalqabaa waan aantummaa ummata Oromoo qabu of fakkeessuun yaalii godheen yaada ummata Oromoo hatuu danda’ee ture. Akka buleen garuu mootummaan maqaa Oromoo qabu jedhamu farra ummata Oromoo tahuu isaa of saaxilaa dhufe. Garee Lammaa keessa sabboontota jiran Obbo Lammaa dabalatee bakkaa kaasuu dhaan moggeessee tapha siyaasaa ala godhuun garee ykn Team Lammaa kana diige. Kan kana godhe ammoo Dr Abiy dha. Har’a gareen Lammaa kan ummatni Oromoo imaanaa itti kennate hin jiru, diigameera.

Mootummaan Itophiyaa har’a jiru farra ummata Oromoo ti. Kun mootummaa Federaalaa fi Naannoo Oromiyaa dabalata. Waan gara biraa dhiifnee kan barattoota Oromoo university naannoo Amaaraa keessa jiran irratti raawatamaa jiru ilaaluun ni gaha. Barattooti Oromoo naannoo Amaaraatti ramadaman guyyuu du’aa yeroo jiran mootummaa Federaalaa seeraa fi sirna eegisuu irra jiru, mootummaan naannoo Oromiyaa ammoo lammii isaa miidhaman bira dhaabbatee nageenya isaaniif wabii ta’uun irra eegamu homaa godhaa hin jiran. Mootummaan Naannoo Amaaraa barattoota isaa Oromiyaa keessa jiran fe’atee yeroo fudhatu, kan Oromiyaa garuu homaa godhaa hin jiru. Tarkaanfii fudhachuu dhiisuun MNO kun akka Oromoon mootummaa isaaf dhaabbatu, falmu, wabii tahuuf hin qabne mirkaneessa.

Bulchitoota biyya Itophiyaa qabatan keessaa kan akka Dr. Abiyi Oromoo afaanfajjeessee fi dogoggorse jira hin fakkaatu. Bara Dargii Tafarii Bantii yeroo aangoo irra ture Oromoo nama keenya jedhee of hin daganne. Bara Wayyaanee Dr. Nagaasoon Prezidaantii dha jedhee of hin daganne. Bara ammaa kana garuu Oromoon gareen aangoo of harkaa qabu kan keenya jedhee garaa hiruun mul’atee jira. Dogoggora guddaa dha. Dr. Abiy nama gaararraa, gamaa fi gamana fakkaatu dha. Yeroo Oromoo bira dhaqu, “isin naaf hin hubannee, an malaan Oromoof hojjadhaan jira” jedha. Warra habashaa bira dhaqee ammoo an “ Itophiyaa ishee durii deebisuuf hojjadha” jedha. Gidduu lamaan fiigaa turee ‘Andinati Park’ waan jedhamu oggaa tolchu Minilik nama Oromoon farda isaa Goorgis biratti arguu jibbu, bifa haaraan tolche gad nuu baase. Nafxanyaan dhuunfatamuu isaa mallattoo isa jalqabaa ture.

Otooo kun sammuu ummata Oromoo jeeqaa jiruu, paartii haaraa PP jedhamu tolche jedhee labse. Dhibdee fi shakkii kan uume Partii haaraa tolchuu osoo hin taane akeekaa fi sagantaa paartiin kun lafa kaawwatee dha. PP n kan dhaabbatee maqaa sabootaan dhaabbileen ijaaraman diigamanii, sabaan of ijaaruu, naannoon sabaan of bulchan hafee Itophiyaan ishee dullatti durii deebisanii lubbuu itti horuuf kan akeekkatee dha. Akeeki kun ammaa hawwii fi fedhii ilmaan Nafxanyootaa ti. Oromoo! nama siidaa Minilik ijaaruu irraa waanti ati eegdu hin jiru. Kanaaf Dr. Abiyi ilmaan Nafxanyaan dhuunfatameera, Oromoo abdii kutadhu kan jennuuf.

Ganama Warra Amaaraan Maaltu Deemaa jira?

Warri Amaaraa ifaa ifatti Itophiyaa nutu bulchuu qaba, olaantummaan Amaaraa deebi’uu qaba jedhanii labsaa jiru. As irratti Itophiyummaa fi Amaarummaan wal maka. Nafxanyooti Oromiyaa fi kibba keessa jiran maqaa EZMA fi ABN jedhamuun of haa gurmeessan malee akeeki isaanii Itophiyaa ishee durii deebisuu dha. Isheen durii sun ammoo kan Amaarri olaantummaa itti qabu, kan Afaan Amaaraa kan mootummaa fi barnootaa tahu, amantiin ammoo Ortodoksii duwwaa tahu dha. Sochiin sabooti mirga isaanii kabajchiifachuuf godhan waan isaan yaaddesseef, biyyuma Amaaraa keessatti sochiin saba Agawu fi Qimaant waan itti dhoheef dhabamuu keenya waan jedhu irraa sochii ijibbaataa godhaa jiru. Amaara bakka jirutti hidhachiisaa fi ijaaraa jiru. Meeshaan lolaa hagana hin jedhamne Oromiyaa seenee fi seenaa jira. Oromoo humnaan cabsinee of jelatti bulchina jedhanii abjootaa jiru. Sagantaa bal’aa yeroo dheeraa fi gabaabaa baafatanii sochii eegalanii jiru. Oromootti haablee qarataa jiru. Yoo sagantaa isaanii milkaaweef Oromo fi Oromiyaa irratti balaa guddaatu as deemaa jira. Waan eessa geessi jedhanii tuffatanii bira dabran utuu hin taane Oromoon of ittisuuf ammaa irraa marii jalqabuu qaba.

Egaa Oromoof Maaltu Wayya?

Mee dhugaa tokko waliif haa himnu. Oromoon yeroo ammaa dhaaba balaa isatti gaggaammatame irraa ittisuuf ifa bahee qabsoo godhu, hoggana kennu hin qabu. Maaliif kana jetta jechuu dandeessu. Mootummaan amma aangoo irra jiru dhaabota mormitoota tahan hundaa kottaa galaa karaa nagaa qabsoo siyaasaa gaggeessaa jedhee biyyatti galchee tohannoo isaa jalatti dhuunfatee jira. Sochiin dhaaboti maqaa Oromoo godhan mootummaa Itophiyaan tohatamaa jira. Akka isaan achi hin fagaanne horii haga tokko itti kennee, garii ammoo boordii filannoo beekumsa kenneefii akka haala jiru irratti hin xiyyeeffanne godhee jira. Akkasumas Qeerroo fi Qarreen burjaajii fi dawwaawu keessa jiran. Mootummaan Dr. Abiy qabsoo Oromoo qabbaneessuuf shaaxira hojjataa ture amma harkatti dhumataa jira. Garuu Qeerroo fi Qarreen kanati bayyanatii haga qabsoo isaanii fininsatti yeroo haga tokko ni fudhata taha. Oromoon balaa isatti aggaamamee jiru hubatee dafee maarshii isaa geeddaruu, afaan mi’aawuu MM sobamuu dhiisee qabsoo isaa hatattamaan itti fufun furmaata ni fida.

Dhaaboti siyaasaa Oromoo filannoo ni godhama jedhamutti of dagatanii qabsoo gosa kaan dagachuu hin qaban. Filannoon ni godhama jedhamaa jirus walabaa fi haqa ni taha jedhanii eeguun of gowwomsuu dha. Filannoof of qopheessuun itti fufu illee shira mootummaan godhuuf malu yaadaan qabuun barbaachisaa dha. Shira paartii haaraa PP jedhamu dura dhaabbachuuf dhaaboti siyaasaa Oromoo walii isaanii giddutti tokkummaa qabaachuun filmaata kan hin qabnee dha. Mata mataatti dorgomnee mo’anna kan jedhu tasa kan hin baafne tahuun hubatamee akkaataa waloon dura dorgomamu irratti hatattamaan wal hubannoo irra gahuun barbaachisaa dha. Balaa humnaan Oromoo miidhuuf warri Amaaraa sagantaa qopheeffataa jiran dura dhaabbachuuf akka Oromummaatti, akka qaama tokkootti, of gurmeessuu, wal hidhachiisuu, wal leenjisuu fi hoggana sadarkaa sadarkaan tolchuun fardii dha.

Xumuruuf

Garrii mootummaan Dr. Abiy itti deemaa jiru faallaa waan Oromoon qabsoo godhee kumaan itti wareegamee ti. Daran iyyuu isa bara Wayyaanee fi Dargii bira taree kan bulchiinsa Minilik fi Hayile Sillaasee deebisuuf mallattoo agarsiisaa jira. Dr. Abiy sabboonummaa Oromummaa copha tokko illee hin qabu. Inni nafxanyaan dhuunfatamee farra Oromoo ta’ee jira. Isa inni gad bahee afaan Oromoon jechoota tokko tokko darbatuun gowwomuu hin qabnu. Oromoon waan irraa eeggatu hin jiru. Qabsoon Bilisummaa Oromoo hoggansa dhabee afaanfajjii keessa jira. Har’a ifa bahee dhaaba mootummaa Dr. Abiy irratti kan qabsoo godhu Oromoo barbaachisa. Dhaaboti siyaasaa Oromoo biyya keessatti karaa nagaa siyaasaa irraa hirmaataa jiran kana godhuu hin danda’an. Kana beekuun Oromoo akkuma mootummaa Wayyaanee diddaa isaan hundeedhaan buqqise, mootummaa kanas bakkaa kaasuuf har’a-bor osoo hin jenne qabsoo isaa finiinsuun irraa eegama.

Horaa Bulaa
Injifannoon Ummata Oromoof
Kumkummee Sirbaa

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OSG Report 51: Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia: return to 1992

Dec 13

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The killings and detention of OLF supporters since December 2018 is similar to 1992-3 when thousands were killed and scores of thousands detained and tortured.

The current silence about killings and other abuses is eerily reminiscent of that time, when foreign powers propped up the regime of Meles Zenawi and ignored widespread atrocities.

This report is a summary of information received by OSG since June 2019.

OSG’s reporter in Norway has forwarded social media and other reports, including a report from Gadado, an organisation of human rights defenders in Ethiopia, prominent in sending information in the 1990s.

This report includes information about 64 extra-judicial killings and the arbitrary detention of over 1400 Oromo.

Most were suspected supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front, which officially returned to Ethiopia in September 2018 and is now a legal political party, registered for the 2020 election. Another 150 were reported killed in Sidama zone, SNNPR.

Once again, an Ethiopian leader is awarded international recognition while troops under his control are committing atrocities which contravene human rights law and would be classed as war crimes in a state of conflict.

Attached is the latest report – it makes very sad reading.

OSG Report 51- Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia

 

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OLF – The indivisible and the only OLF has reached a political milestone.

By Raggasaa Oljirra

The once banned, deemed terrorist and persecuted OLF for the last 28 years has emerged victorious when the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) certified it as a legal National Party in Ethiopia today. It is historic in a way because the Ethiopian political landscape that has incessantly been portraying the Oromo People’s struggle spearheaded by the OLF as a monster finally succumbed to the Country’s realty for the first time in its history. This is the right way forward: Any smear campaign, defamation, acts of marginalization/exclusion and hate propaganda against anyone did not work, never works and is not going to work.

What works best in the interest of the country and its people is reckoning with the realty and searching for a common ground. OLF is not a monster, nor it had been anything of the image its enemies had been characterizing it since its inception.

OLF was born out of the Ethiopian reality, a popular force that has clearly identified its just cause that no one was able to deny and bent on a goal that no one was able to argue against. All futile attempts to annihilate it for the last 45 years were in vain, as any similar attempt in the future is going to be as futile as the past ones. OLF is an Oromo political spirit that needs to be reckoned with. The unprecedented persistence and resilience of the man at the helm of the organization deserves a monumental recognition of the highest order, not only in the Oromo society but also in the Country’s history.

There were major organizations that were contemporaries of the OLF with even stronger and aggressive stature at the time. The EPRP, MEISON, and even the DERG that managed to be the only totalitarian ruling party for 17 years and that once presided over a mighty army by African standard, all vanished into the dust bins of history. DERG’s successor, the EPRDF is also almost dead after 28 years of a bumpy course full of treachery.

What kept OLF alive for the last 45 or so years is its just cause and the persistence of its leaders coupled with the unwavering popular support from the Oromo people at large. Compatriots who paid the ultimate price deserve the utmost respect. I feel sorry for those who abandoned the organization, declared it dead and lured the gullible into submission. They have to absorb today’s humiliating defeat once and for all as they have no time nor the moral value to remedy their dirty deeds. Certification is a mile stone indicative of a brighter future.

We will have more celebratory moments when OLF undoubtedly becomes a ruling party in Oromia and a partner in whatever national Coalition government Ethiopia is going to assemble together. I have to congratulate NEBE for signs of a new beginning in Ethiopia, i.e, signs of integrity free of political influence that had hitherto been the norm in the country.

Again, congratulations to all those who feel stake holders in this matter!!

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Why the recognition of the OLF by Ethiopia’s election board matters?

Why the recognition of the OLF by Ethiopia’s election board matters?

Nov 16

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The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) issued a certificate of registration for Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Under normal circumstances, getting the certificate of registration to participate in an election should not be a big deal. However, the case of the OLF is different.

Why the recognition of the OLF by Ethiopia’s election board matters?

By Bedassa Tadesse

Under normal circumstances, getting the certificate of registration to participate in an election should not be a big deal. It doesn’t require jubilant celebrations. It would have come and gone, with little or no fanfare.

However, the case of the OLF is different. For many reasons. Here are some big ones.

First, it is the OLF. The onlybparty that has been, by many people, declared dead, buried, disintegrated, decayed, debilitated, ebbed, and every word you can think of in negative terms. Well, the certificate simply proves that the party, contrary to everything that is said about it, is well and alive.

Seond, the OLF represents the Oromos and Oromia, the ethnic group that has the largest population in Ethiopia; the region that makes Ethiopia, Ethiopia. Well, when an election board recognizes a party of such significance, it is a huge deal for we are effectively talking about the spinal cord if the subject is human anatomy.

Third, the fact that the OLF is recognized by Ethiopia’s election board paves the way for the party to participate in the upcoming elections. Regardless of how the party will perform in the election, this decision alone is likely to send many many people in Ethiopia to sleepless nights and headaches. That is a big deal for it has health implications.

Fourth, the decision speaks volumes about one man, Dawud Ibsa- the charismatic and incessant leader of the organization; the man that many, ( e.g., Leenco Lata, Dima Nago, Galaassa Dilbo) had ganged upon and tried their best to push him aside. It is, if not humiliating, an embarrassment for them.

Fifth, just by issuing this certificate, the board has established its own integrity and ushered a new era in Ethiopia.

Finally, the decision awkwardly proves that the actions of OPDOs, even when they do what they ought to do backfires on them. Just imagine, if they had issued this certificate as quickly as possible and with no suspense as they did for other political organizations, no one would have cared. By holding onto issuing the certificate for so long, they elevated the organization they hate to see on a mountain top. I call it a self inflicted wound by a PM who wants to act like a king. Hence, why it is a big deal.

Well, using a mathematical presentation, I can say that it is a big deal because, we just proved the following maths, if you know it.

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“Ethiopianism,” The “Neo-Official-Nationalism,” and the “Oromia First!” Trend

by Assefa Tefera Dibaba | 5

This paper is in response to a request made repeatedly to give my personal accounts on and observation of the political culture and the current uncertainty looming in Ethiopia. Toward this goal, the paper aims, in the current Ethiopia’s context a) to critique the historical and contemporary factors that led to the ongoing mythologizing (myth-making) of PM Dr Abiy Ahmed as a political hero and ideologizing of his rhetoric (narrative) glorified as “medemer” (unity in diversity) and the promises he is making to reverse the recent unhappy past under the EPDRF authoritarian rule of which he has been a part for the last 27 years, to avoid the exclusionary old rule with its ethnic undertones, and to reconstruct a new Ethiopia on the basis of “Ethiopianism” (a new-official-nationalism), b) to assess the Oromo political ambiguity in spite of the mass struggle intensified over the last four years led by Qeerroo, the Oromo Youth League, to enable the Oromo determine their own future, to bring about a systemic change, not a simple reform, I argue, as the ruling party’s (EPRDF) effort has amounted so far to little more than a window dressing. The paper concludes by reconsidering the ongoing euphoric fervor of “MEDEMER” (Ethiopian-ness) more as “patriotic” sentiment than “nationalistic” stand and sketches a Roadmap for the divided Oromo political voices to rejoin the common goal (kaawoo) of the nationalistic “OROMIA FIRST!” trend, and to start to engage in an OPEN DIALOGUE at grassroots level around WHAT THE OROMO PEOPLE WANT (not just what party leaders want), and to move toward a NATIONAL CONSENSUS on Oromo political question.

Ethiopianism and the Neo-Official-Nationalism

Before assessing the “neo-official-nationalism” which is evolving out of the current euphoric move, “MEDEMER” (unity in diversity), the terminological problems “Ethiopia,” “Ethiopianness,” and “Ethiopianism” must be sorted out. Those terms are elusive concepts and difficult to pin down and to define in the wider range of Ethiopian and Oromo Studies. In what follows, to avoid pitfalls of a misnomer, I make an attempt to elucidate the concepts from historical and religious perspectives.

Historically, “Ethiopianism,” is considered a cultural production of a black messiah among sub Saharan Africans and in the Caribbean, and has been a Pan-African religious-cum-political string used to advocate for a political and religious freedom in the colonial era and after (Shepperson, 1953). Ethiopianism conveyed the African notion of independence against “all forms of racial discrimination as practiced by Europeans,” (Lahouel 1986: 681) and against the “Christian principles of justice and equality and the hard reality of the color bar within the European-led churches in the South African societies”. Consequently, disillusioned by the European prejudices, Africans established their own churches of both “Ethiopian” and “Zionist” tenet before 1937 based on African aspirations: while the “Ethiopian” worship maintained the Christian liturgy, the Zionist churches included traditional healing rituals and drum-beatings (p681). Graham Duncan shares this politico-religious view of “Ethiopianism” as a wider network of African nationalism, which is “the result of long-standing resentment of and resistance to white domination, a direct challenge to the ecclesiastical status quo by promoting ‘Africa for the Africans’” (Duncan 2010:199).

From a religious perspective, the widely acclaimed quote from the Bible is “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God,” which is a Christian expression of Pan-Africanism based on the text of Psalm 68:31. This perspective can be explicated from two angles. First, some rightly argue, “Ethiopianism” is considered as a Christian “sense of cultural and political identity amongst black people throughout the African continent” (Duncan 2015: 199). Second, from this view of Christian Ethiopianism, “Ethiopian roots can be traced to biblical times and the then known regions of northern Africa”, generally including the regions traditionally known as Meroe, Napata, Nubia, and later, Axum. Hence, “Ethiopianism” derives from the biblical term “Ethiopia,” also referred to as Kush or Cush. Peter Gill (2010) claims “The Greeks gave Ethiopians their modern name— ‘burnt faces’—and applied it to anyone living south of Egypt”. That is, in classic documents, Aethiopia appears as a geographical term which derives from the Greek name “Αἰθιοπία,” meaning people of a “burnt face,” hence, the Kushitic stock. We should not also forget that, in European chronicles and tradition from the 12th to the 17th centuries, there was an imaginary powerful Christian kingdom called Ethiopia located between India and the Middle East of which a legendary patriarch called Prestor John was a king.

Built around the slogan “Africa for the Africans!” “Ethiopianism” was a politico-religious ideology of a more African and relevant Christianity which advocated for the restoration of traditional way of life and for political and cultural autonomy. Ethiopianism influenced PanAfricanism and Afrocentrism as it helped to disseminate the nativist and nationalist dimensions led by the “back to Africa” ideology with the emergence of the Jamaican black activist Marcus Garvey who promoted the idea of “African Diaspora”.

“Official Nationalism”: the Ethiopian Practice

The colonial thesis states that, “Ethiopia was created by the Abyssinian state colonizing its neighboring nations during the scramble for Africa” (Alemayehu Kumsa 2013, 1112; Asafa Jalata 1993). That is, as widely documented by European travelers and missionaries (Bruce, Krapf, Harris, de Salviac), the Amhara & Tigre Semitic stock migrated from the southern Yemeni tribe called Al-Habashat, hence, “Habasha” (Abyssinia,) and founded the highland Abyssinian state, a premise yet to be proved further and which Abyssinian elites to date refute as saying the migration was cultural (religious and linguistic), not a human relocation. Abyssinians annexed gradually the southern surrounding lowlands (Oromoland/Oromia and other ethnicities) in a classic pattern of empire-building under the reign of Menilik II (1989-1913). In spite of fierce resistances, the empire was consolidated and renamed “Ethiopia” in the 1931 first imperial Constitution replacing Fetha Negest and revised in 1955, and proclaimed again in the 1932 imperial coronation (Perham 1969). Through an exclusionary system of land management, military mobilization, and political loyalty, the centralized government administered the empire by strengthening the ethnic dimension of minority rule and chanting “Ethioipiawinat” / “Ethiopianness” guided by a motto temelket alamahin / teketel aleqahn!, which engraved a unitary and centralized governance.

Given the country’s ethnic diversity, however, it is not by accident that the Ethiopian state did not survive the centrifugal dynamics, which gave ethnicity more prominence as a future source of political dissention and arising nationalism. This rising ethnic-based political instability against the backdrop of the imperial “official nationalism” (“we the people”) and the glamorous “Ethiopia First!” mantra of the Derg regime was re-enforced by the 1995 Constitution which turned Ethiopia from a melting-pot of cultures into a federation of nine ethno-nations without real decentralization and equal distribution of power/authority and resources. John Markakis (2013) discusses in more detail these center-periphery discrepancies in the historical and contemporary Ethiopia as “two frontiers” that need to be crossed to guarantee peace, democracy, equity, and sustainable development in the country.

Some may argue that both the Amhara and the Tigrayan ruling classes marginalized the rural population of their own ethnic groups as the oppressed classes of other ethnic groups (CRU Report, 2016). In fact, it should be noted that there are collective shared experiences of violence, famine, and war that peoples in Ethiopia suffered indiscriminately in the continued process of control and coercion to ensure political stability and peace by force. However, among some serious disparities of oppressions and economic exploitations in the south that have been overlooked include, the marginalizing rural land tenure system of rist (inheritance) in the highland (north) Orthodox Christian population and gabbar (serf) in the south, the cultural domination (religious and linguistic), the discriminatory educational policies, and unfair court system.

Soon after the WWII and the end of the Italian invasion, Haile Selassie engaged in what Benedict Anderson (1983:80ff) calls “official nationalism” (Hultin 2003:404; Markakis, 1974). That is, he introduced some cosmetic changes in reaction to the nationalist movements of the time and a modernization of traditional polity, the project which coincided in time with the era of territorial nationalism, decolonization and nation building in Africa. From the view of “official nationalist” discourse, Jan Hultin shares Walelegne Mekonnen’s critique that “state and history were associated with the culture and society of Amharic and Tigrinya speakers, whilst other ethnic groups were disparaged and marginalized,” which had a profound influence on many Oromo students “to start a search for roots in the history of their own people” (Bulcha 1996: 63; Hultin 2003). In the 1960’s, as the university activist students’ protest took momentum, the question of “Ethiopian-ness” became apparent in the student’s literary club and the movement’s organ, “Tagel,” (“Struggle”). For example, the poem titled “Ethiopiawiw Mannew?” (“Who is the Ethiopian?”) written by the former education minister, Ibsa Gutema, was one such dissident writing. Although the Oromo question, and that of other ethnicities’, was belittled to mere “ethnocentrism” and “provincial narrow mindedness,” the agenda was one of cultural, economic, and political freedom (Asafa Jalata, 1998).

Writing of nationalism, Benedict Anderson (1992) recounts, “the great polyglot empires that ruled the earth for hundreds of years from Lisbon, London, Moscow, Vienna, Paris, Istanbul, Madrid, even Addis Ababa (emphasis mine), have disintegrated leaving behind only the residue of the Celestial Empire still more or less standing”. As this long process of disintegration is also a process of liberation, however, Anderson is right to question this double-faced nature of the process, namely, integration and designation of nations around the world.

“Medemer” (We are One People): A Future Oriented History?

Chanting “Medemer,” like the “Ethiopia First!” motto of the Derg regime, the task is to reintegrate the culturally and socio-politically divided ethnicities and ethno-nations in Ethiopia over the last 27 years and more. To continue to survive as a nation, in this view, Ethiopian-ness is unavoidable and forceful again. Official nationalism evokes an emotional power in the people, one that is initiated from a top down, from the same emphasis on ethnic identity, especially when people become territorial and defensive of what they consider theirs and who they are as a people.

In its modern history, Ethiopia has been presented as an independent modern nation-state and second most populous in Africa. The modern Ethiopia evolved in 1991 out of the history of oppression and decades of rebellion and liberation struggles. In its contemporary history (after 1991), Ethiopia has been set in a volatile and insecure context of sociopolitical instability which, among other factors, has been exacerbated by border and resource-based conflicts, and quest for the disregarded democratic rights, on the one hand, and demand for loyalty and legitimacy on the other. The impoverished peoples and the disillusioned members of the political parties, OPDO (Oromia), ANDM (Amhara), and SEPDF (the Southern Region) in the ruling party EPRDF led by the Tigrayan TPLF, have been dissatisfied with the dominant role of the TPLF, the ever-growing human rights violations, and the uneven distribution of power and resources. Added to its history of violence, militarism, and its controlling approach to dissent instead of dialogue, Ethiopia’s political culture does not guarantee EPRDF to be democratic. Historically, liberation fronts which evolved into governments claim it a privilege to rule for a life-time than submit to a peaceful power transfer through a fair and free election (as to be discussed below). Instead of a democratic process of “election,” by “selection” and political appointment, officials assume power in Ethiopia, including the incumbent Prime Minister and his predecessors; and as a result, the government changes and the oppressive system remains in power. As centralization, control, and coercion continues to perpetuate the rule, public dissent rises and recurs.

According to one report on historical and contemporary political settlement in Ethiopia, three factors influence the whole power transaction: historically, the legacy of centralization, exclusion, and recurrent conflict, the contemporary TPLF single-party monopoly, the strong party government interlace and the state-led economy which opened ways for crony capitalism and corruption (CRU Report, 2016). The resulting resentment and the growing distrust fueled the “identity-based mobilization, despite a generally shared sense of ‘Ethiopian-ness’” (CRU Report, 2016).

Nationalism is more than mere sentiment and grows out of a self-articulated expression of national consciousness which is in the process of rebirth and intensification among the Oromo people (Asafa Jalata, 1995). In this context, it would be interesting but beyond the scope of the present paper to analyze Oromo politicians’ attitude toward this new Ethiopianism and their agenda in light of the neo-official-nationalism (“we the people”) being orchestrated around Dr Abiy’s “Medemer”.

It is not by accident or simply by historical coincidence that Dr. Abiy Ahmed came to cherish the new light of history to shine on him. It remains mysterious though how he rose above the crowd when dozens of other perhaps more notorious figures could stick to power from the TPLF. Today, in Ethiopia, as an outcome of the upsurge of Oromo nationalism, which has been intensified over the last four years led by Qeerroo, some neo-official-nationalist feelings are also at the origin of new Ethiopianism, mainly among the Amhara and other ethnic groups, which is confused with patriotism. Rather, it is a politico-religious movement aimed at introducing a subtle way of occupation and spreading cultural domination in Oromia and other regions. For instance, the increasing number of construction of new Orthodox Christian churches in Oromia on every dominant space and sacred sites (hilltops, ritual places, and ancestral grave sites) and flying high on each spot the plain imperial flag with the three pennants (red, yellow, and green) or with a crowned lion in the middle holding a staff topped by a cross with ribbons symbolizing the “Conquering Lion of Judah” are some of the subtle ways of occupation and cultural domination. In fact, it is when political liberation is possible that the end of subjugation translates into cultural and socioeconomic freedom for the oppressed. Next, I will consider with a special attention measures that need to be taken as a first step to end subjugation and cultural domination in Oromia.

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