Photo File: Irreechaa 2016 @ Wilson Botanical Gardens

An Australian legislator has warned that Ethiopia’s current political situation could have wider implications for the Horn of Africa region, for Africa and to an extent the world.

According to Anthony Byrne, a Federal Member for Holt in Victoria, Ethiopia was undergoing a period of political transition that has an uncertain end.

In a ten-minute address delivered in the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament, Byrne dispelled the idea that Africa was far from Australia and its business should be left to it to handle.

There is a fairly substantial transition that is occuring at the present period of time. We are not exactly sure where that will lead to, but that does have an impact on Africa, it does have an impact on the security of the country.

“Some, (deputy speaker), will say what happens in Africa does not affect our country, that is just not true, I mean, Africa is a growing – series of countries that will have an increasing say in world affairs.

“And so what does happen in Ethiopia regardless of how far away people think it is does have an impact and ultimately will have an impact on this country and what happens to the Ethiopian government.

“There is a fairly substantial transition that is occuring at the present period of time. We are not exactly sure where that will lead to, but that does have an impact on Africa, it does have an impact on the security of the country,” he said.

He continued that Ethiopian politics had an impact on the diaspora communities in Australia stressing that it could have, “depending on what the outcome is, quite a destabilizing impact on those countries within Africa.”

His February 26, 2018 address to the parliament was pinned on what he said were ‘ongoing persecution of the Oromo peoples in Ethiopia.’ He called on the Ethiopian regime to halt persecutions of the Oromos whiles pledging to represent their interests as best as possible.

“I’d urge the Ethiopian government and will continue to rise on behalf of the Oromo community in my constituency and elsewhere in Victoria in this country to cease the ongoing persecution of the Oromo peoples in Ethiopia.

“And I will continue to work with Oromo leaders in Victoria and overseas to continue to highlight their concerns.”

Anthony was elected as the Federal Member for Holt in a by-election in 1999, and re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013. He is known for his stands on human rights issues and inclusive societies.

Source: http://www.africanews.com/2018/02/28/ethiopia-political-uncertainty-and-oromo-persecution-disturbing-australian-mp/

You can watch his full address to parliament

COMMUNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM: ENGAGEMENT AND COLLABORATION IN THE SPOTLIGHT

(Melbourne, Australia – 15 January 2018) The annual Oromo community and human rights forum held from 4-7 January 2018 in Melbourne.

continued protests in Oromia affect community life

The three days Community Annual Forum headed by member of Oromo community from four states: from four states: Victoria-Melbourne, South Australia-Adelaide, Queensland-Brisbane and NSW-Sydney also discussed about community concerns, Oromo asylum seekers and refugees’ issues, Oromo prisoners and Oromia human rights issues.

The Forum was aimed at building understanding of the community issues and providing concrete examples of successful action, engagement and collaboration from which other organisations could draw information and inspiration.

Over three days, more than 100 participants and Oromo activists took part in panel discussions on Oromo refugee issues, Oromo prisoners in Oromia, Oromo community concerns and human rights issues.

The Forum was the foremost event to network, share experiences and learn about the many community-based initiatives from each state to promote community engagements and connections.

The OROMO Annual Forum is the biggest annual gathering on community concerns and human rights with more than 100 participants from Oromo community groups, Oromo activists, Oromo human rights and advocacy groups, Oromo women groups and Oromo media.

The Forum was kindly hosted by Oromo Association in Victoria, Advocacy for Oromia, Oromia Support group, Qeerroo Support Group and Oromo Relief Association Australia.

2017 has been a challenging year for Oromo community in Australia due continued protests and persecution in Oromia

(HRLHA, Immediate Release, Dec 13, 2017) The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) strongly condemns the brutality of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front / Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (TPLF/EPRDF) Government’s military force who massacred 15 Oromo farmers who were harvesting their crops on 10 Dec, 2017 in Chalanko district, EasternHararge zone.

This comes after two weeks of the TPLF/EPRDF  commanders restarting fresh attacks on Oromos living in border areas near Somali State in which over sixty Oromos were killed  in two weeks- since the last week of Nov 2017 to the present- in Arero district (Borana zone), Cinakseen (Easter Hararge zone) ,and Bordode(Western Hararge zone).  Currently the TPLF/EPRDF led Ethiopian government has deployed thousands of heavily armed military forces all over Oromia regional, state zones and committed extrajudicial killings, and detentions in Kelem and HoroGuduru, western Oromia zone, in Bale, Arsi, Guji and Borana in southern Oromia zones and in Ambo, Walisso,  and Yaya Gullale Central Oromia, Shewa zones.

Among the recent Victimsof  theTPLF/EPRDF military forces:

HRLHA has expressed its concerns several times to the world community in general, to Western donor governments (the USA, the UK, Canada, Norway, Sweden), governmental agencies (UN, EU & AU) in particular regarding the  systematic and planned killings targeting educated  Oromo men and women, outstanding university students, Oromo nationalists by the Ethiopian government killing squad, Agazi force which has been deployed by the government deep into community villages  of Oromia.

Advancing its plan of systematic killings of Oromos, the TPLF/EPRDF  government trained another group of killers,  the Liyu Police in Somali Regional State, Eastern neighbor state of Oromia  and deployed them along the border between Oromia and Somali State where they have killed thousands of innocent Oromo  farmers-since 2011 to the present- invading the border Oromo areas. The well trained and armed Liyu Police led by TPLF/EPRDF commanders entered into the OromiaState territory from East and West  Hararge, Bale, Borana, Guji Zones and killed, evicted, abducted Oromos and occupied some areas in Bale, Hararge, Borana and Guji areas permanently. Oromos and Somali are, respectively, the two largest regions in the country by area size, sharing a border of over 1,400 km (870 miles). The attacks of the Liyu Police on Oromos took place not only across the border, they also killed many Oromos living in Somali Regional State towns of Jigjiga, Wuchale, Gode, forcefully disappeared over two hundred Oromo business men and women and displaced over seven hundred  thousand (700,000) others including women, children and seniors.

The  700,000 evicted Oromos from the Somali Regional Statepushed out by the government of Somali state have been deported to Oromiaand are currently suffering in different concentration camps, including in Hamaressain Harar town, Dirredawa and other areas. They are mostly without shelter, and food and are in poor health.

Sadly enough, these displaced Oromos did not get the attention of the TPLF/EPRDF government and did not  receive any humanitarian aid from the federal government of Ethiopia and other sister federal states or from international donor governments and organizations in the past over six months. They depended only on their fellow Oromo brothers and sisters. The Federal Government of Ethiopia which highly depends on Oromia resources (about 70%) for its annual income has failed to provide even emergency  funding to Oromos who have been displaced and chased from Somali Regional State leaving behind their all belongings. The TPLF/EPRDF government and the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO),  the  member  of ruling party, the EPRDF deliberately hides the suffering of 700,000 displaced Oromos from the world society, a move equal to genocide.

Based on the violations against the Oromo nation by the Ethiopian government  over the past twenty-five tears, the HRLHAhas found that the serious gross human rights violations committed by the Ethiopia Government against the Oromo nation since 1991 to the present constitute  crimes against humanity under international law. Crimes against humanity are certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack or individual attacks directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population. The crimes against humanity act include: a) forced population transfers and deportation, b) murder, c) rape and other sexual violence, and d) persecution as defined by the Rome Statute  article 7 of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the ad hoc international criminal courts.

Background:

The World community has witnessed in the past four or more years, since the Oromo mass movement had begun in 2014 to the present,that the Ethiopian people in general and the Oromo people in particular have suffered or are still suffering  under the EPRDF government:

1. Over4500 Oromos, from young to old, have been brutalized, tens of thousands have been incarcerated and other thousands have been forcefully disappeared during the Oromo protests and over 700 hundred were massacred on October 2, 2016 at the Irrecha Oromo thanksgiving Festival
2. For the past 26 years, the world has seen that this Ethiopian government does not believe in finding peaceful and sustainable solutions through negotiations with opposition political organizations or in finding solutions for the grievances of the people.
3. The EPRDF government pretends in front of the world community it is practicing democracy, while the facts on the ground show that the Ethiopian government is committing a crime, a systematic campaign against Oromos that causes human suffering, or death on a large scale-a crime against humanity.

Therefore, the HRLHA urges the international community to act collectively in a timely and decisive manner – through the UN Security Council and in accordance with the UN charter on a case-by – case basis to stop the human tragedy in Oromia, Ethiopia.

The international communities and agencies (AU, EU & UN) can play a decisive role by doing the following:

• Provide humanitarian aid to the displaced 700,000Oromos immediately to save the life of the people before it is too late
• Put pressure on the TPLF/EPRDF government to allow neutral investigators to probe into the human rights crisis in the country as a precursor to international community intervention
• Put pressure on the Ethiopian government to release all political prisoners in the country
• Intervene to stop crimes against humanity by the Ethiopian military force using the principles of R2P adopted in 2005 by the UN General Assembly
• Demand thatthe Ethiopian government return its military forces back to their camps from Oromia villages and towns

Copied To:

• UN Security Council
  Office of the Ombudsperson
  Room DC2 2206
  United Nations
  New York, NY 10017
  United States of America
  Tel: +1 212 963 2671
  E-mail: ombudsperson@un.org

• UN Human Rights Council
  OHCHR address: 
  Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
  Palais Wilson
  52 rue des Pâquis
  CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland.

• Africa Union (AU)
  African Union Headquarters
  P.O. Box 3243 | Roosevelt Street (Old Airport Area) | W21K19 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44Webmaster: webmaster@africa-union.org

• African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
  31 Bijilo Annex Layout, Kombo North District
  Western Region, P.O. Box 673 Banjul
  Gambia
  Tel: (220) 441 05, 05, 441 05 06

• The US Department of State
  WASHINGTON, D.C. HEADQUARTERS
  (202) 895-3500
  OFMInfo@state.gov
  Office of Foreign Missions
  2201 C Street NW
  Room 2236
  Washington, D.C. 20520
  Customer Service Center
  3507 International Place NW
  Washington, D.C. 20522-3303

• UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
  Parliamentary
  House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
  Tel: 020 7219 4055
  Fax: 020 7219 5851
  Email: hammondp@parliament.ukDepartmentalStreet,(DepartmentalStreet???)
  London, SW1A 2AH
  Tel: 020 7008 1500
  Email: fcocorrespondence@fco.gov.uk

• Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)
  Write to:
  Enquiries Service (BCI)
  Global Affairs Canada
  125 Sussex Drive
  Ottawa, ON
  K1A 0G2
  Email: Enquiry Service – Online form
  Canada

• Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)
  Her Excellency Margot Wallström
  Switchboard: +46 8 405 10 00
  Street address: Rosenbad 4
  Postal address: SE 103 33 Stockhol

• Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)
  His Excellency BørgeBrende
  Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  E-mail: post@mfa.no
  Phone: + 47 23 95 00 00
  Address: 7. juniplassen 1, N-0032 Oslo

(Advocacy4Oromia, 13 December 2017) Oromia Support Group Australia extremely shocked about the killings of innocent Oromo civilians at the  gross civilian killings in Chalanko of Eastern Oromia by the ‘Agazi’, the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) dominated Ethiopian Federal militant forces.

According to Oromia Support Group Australia (OSGA) statement of 13 December 2017,  the Ethiopian Federal forces violently opened fire and killed more than 50 and wounded hundreds of people including kids on Monday, 11 December 2017  in Chalanko of Eastern Oromia.

“Particularly, since 16 September 2017 every day we are seeing and hearing heartbreaking images and videos of hundreds of Oromo civilians (including children) being beaten to death and killed by shooting in Eastern Oromia by the Somali regional state of Ethiopia’s special military in collaboration with the Ethiopian Federal Forces.”

Oromia Support Group Australia (OSGA) express its grave concern that if the wave of killings and mass execution in Oromia is ignored it fuels further catastrophic in the region.

“It is critical that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urgently act on the severity and scope of the Ethiopian Government Federal military’s ethnic cleansing campaign with effective action.”

Please read full press release from the following link: http://www.osgaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Oromia-Support-Group-Australia-Statement-in-the-relation-to-Chalanko-killings.pdf

(Press Release (Gambella), December 13, 2017) In commemoration to the 14^th year Anniversary of the Anuaks’ Genocide of December 13/2003, GNUM would like to rekindle the memory of all the entire Anuak community and the sympathizers in all over the world, the causes behind the genocide which include racist conspiracy, hate speeches, isolations, and ethnic architect campaigns launched against the tribe by the TPLF/EPRDF government, that resulted in the massacre of 424 of civilian Anuak men (as official confirms), but in reality more than 1500 civilians Anuaks were massacred in three days’ time in the Gambella soil.

While we are commemorating this day, we should remind ourselves the causes are still growing active against our people, and the massacres as we have experienced in the past, as many they were, will still continue until our people are wiped away systematically from their ancestral land. Our brothers and sisters of whom some were buried alive in mass grave, were gunned down and mutilated by the civilian highlanders who were supported by the TPLF/EPRDF soldiers in uniform, chanted “today is the day of Anuaks massacre, there will be no Anuaks to be left in this land”. These civilian highlanders and soldiers who carried out the massacre should be reminded that, they were the very settlers of 1984/5, of whom we warmly welcomed and embraced with our arms during the famine that hit the Northern part of the country, and we gave them safe haven in our land to share our resources as human. Should they recuperate and picked up machetes, pangas, and guns against our people and killed them in massive, brutally? This should make us rethink of what sociopolitical and economic environment we are going to construct as far our freedom and prosperity are concerned for our struggle.

We don’t revenge and we should not be discouraged to show our God gifted hospitality to our neighbors, but we ought to confirm our right to choose for better future that will ensure peaceful and secured livelihood for our peoples throughout the current political struggle. It must be known that December 13, 2003 Anuaks’ genocide give us a turning point to choose for our destiny between slavery and freedom, poverty and prosperity, lies and honesty/truth, dehumanization and humanity, colonization and self-respect/honor, for the Anuaks and the entire indigenous communities in the region. It marks the climax of the Ethiopian brutality and cruelty against our people not to allow them to leave in peace, freedom, and prosperity in their homeland. For this reason, we need to take strong political vision for our future, and GNUM as unifying political party embraces the values that preach out unity, equality, and solidarity to ensure freedom for our peoples.

As we commemorate this horrific episode we remind ourselves the responsibility taken by our ancestors and heroes to control and manage our land. We therefore, need to give due attention to unite our efforts toward unity with purpose to protect the oppressed indigenous peoples. It should be known that the event of genocides in Gambella has changed its color into land grabs, refugee settlement and forced villagization to eliminate systematically the indigenous populations from their ancestral lands. The Ethiopian government has engaged itself in ditching our land to foreign multinational and Ethiopian highlander companies, to allow the highlanders influx into our regions to occupy our land indirectly and to extinct our peoples. The resettlement programmes and land grab policies of TPLF/EPRDF government being implemented throughout the southwestern regions are totally against the will and interest of our indigenous peoples.

The live of our peoples in Gambella and to Southwestern Nilotic and Omotic peoples at a large is at high risk. Many of genocidal massacres carried out by the TPLF/EPRDF soldiers against our peoples are being reported: in Lower Omo Valley of SNNPR and Gambella for instance people are being killed and tortured. Other regions including Ogaden, Oromiya, Afar, Amhara and Benishangul Gumuz are experiencing the same atrocities. Many of our peoples are fleeing the country to find refuge in east Africa countries, to escape the ongoing atrocities and killings inside the country. As of today Anuaks are entering into refugee camps every year since then. Majority of our youths, children, elders, children, mothers, fathers, and elite groups are now finding themselves in the refugee camps of South Sudan, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and some fled to unknown places of Africa in a trouble life condition. As we grieve today we also remember our fellow brothers and sisters who are also in the field struggling for our freedom. We are calling upon all people of Gambella again that, the best way to achieve our goal toward freedom and victory is only through unity and we should stand as one.

The Gambella Nilotes United Movement will continue its struggle to ensure freedom and justice for the oppressed Gambella people and the Southwest Nilotic-Omotic people. Finally, we are calling the TPLF/EPRDF to stop harassing the indigenous people, detention, tortures, and killing of the civilians inside the country. Our indigenous members and the communities, who are suffering in the hands of the TPLF/EPRDF soldiers including prisons, should be released without conditions. May God Bless all people of Gambella and neighboring the Southwest Nilotic-Omotic people.

United We Stand Together to Mourn and Commemorate the Fourteenth Years Memorial Day of Anuaks Genocide December 13th 2017

Gambella Nilotes United Movement/Army
Central committee

(Advocacy4Oromia, 2 Dec 2017) A champion marathon runner who fled Oromia , East Africa, six years ago for a better life in Europe has been beaten to death by another refugee on a housing estate near Paris.

Victim: Zenash Gezmu raced in France

The Oromo marathon runner Zenash Gezmu’s body was found by police called to her flat in Neuilly-sur-Marne early yesterday after neighbours heard screaming.

Officers arrested a 28-year-old Eritrean man who admitted murdering Ms Gezmu, 27. She was 4ft 9in and weighed less than six stone.

Police are now attempting to contact her next-of-kin, who include a brother said to have settled in London.

They are also trying to establish Ms Gezmu’s links to the suspect, with one friend telling Le Parisian newspaper she was thought to have been single. He said: “She always told me that if she started a relationship, it would be to start a family, and I have never been aware of anyone.” The suspect provided no details of the attack to police, apart from admitting through an interpreter that he carried out the murder.

Ms Gezmu trained every morning and evening but also took hotel cleaning jobs, earning less than £200 a week.

Her body was found surrounded by her trophies and medals, including one for the 16th annual marathon in nearby Senart, which Ms Gezmu won for the second time in May.

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/champion-marathon-runner-who-fled-ethiopia-found-beaten-to-death-by-refugee-in-paris-a3706076.html

(Advocacy for Oromia, 2 October 2017) On the night of September 30, 2017, however, members of the Oromo community in the Greater Melbourne region gathered there for a different reason: for a solemn remembrance of the more than 600 fellow Oromo men and women, young and old, who lost their lives back home in Oromia during the Oromo Thanksgiving (Irreecha) celebration in the town of Bishoftu on October 2, 2016.

The celebration in Bishoftu attracts millions of Oromos and tourists to the epicenter of the holiday by the lakeside of Hora/Lake Arsadi.

On October 2, 2016, hundreds of the celebrants lost their lives as the Ethiopian Federal Government, which is dominated by Tigrean People’s Liberation Front, moved in to crash a peaceful protest through teargases and live ammunition inside the crowded civilian zone, thereby causing panic and stampedes – while some died in ditches around the lakeside, others were gunned down.

It was with this dark memory of October 2, 2016, that members of the Oromo community in Melbourne held the candlelight vigil at Federation Square on the evening of September 30, 2017; the event also included a commemorative message. Here are some pictures from the event.

Melbourne’s Federation Square in Australia has become synonymous among the Oromo in the Diaspora as the venue of the yearly celebration of Oromo culture and heritage during the region’s Summer season in December.