Category Archives: Oromia

Doctored Ethiopian PM,his wife’s image in bedroom published on state media”by mistake”

Mar 11

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(A4O, March 10, 2020) Ethiopian Press Agency said that it has suspended journalists who were are linked to the PM’s and his wife’s photoshopped image in a bedroom

 

Ethiopian Press Agency

Ethiopian Press Agency suspended journalists linked to it, but their identities and the number of journalists involved in it are undisclosed.

Ethiopian Press Agency, state-owned media outlet, published doctored images of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his wife Zenash Tayachew on Tuesday, and it said: “it was a mistake.”

In the image, Zenash Tayachew is seen lying on the side on the bed while Abiy Ahmed is on the floor.

The image was used for a story about Ethiopia’s Election Board map for the upcoming election in August of this year.

The Agency removed the image moments later and issued a brief statement on social media asking for an apology for what it called “mistake.”

The statement said, “The image that Ethiopian Press Agency used for the news ‘the board will announce polling station maps on Saturday’ is a wrong one, and we apologize for the ‘mistake.’”

It also announced that journalists linked to it are suspended from work and that it will make public the next step.

PM Abiy _ wife doctored image in the bedroom
Doctored image of Abiy Ahmed and Zenash Tayachew ( his wife)

Based on screenshot of Ethiopian Press Agency Facebook Timeline, the image with Ethiopian Election Board story was on social media at least for five minutes.

Screenshot from social media

In December 2019, a false story about the death of Debretsion Gebremichael (President of Tigray regional state and chairman of  Tigray People’s Liberation Front) was published on another state-owned media – Walta Information. The Agency terminated journalists linked to it. At the time, the Tigray regional state was very infuriated about it. To date, the public is not informed about the result of the investigation – especially what the motive was and what political entities were behind it.

Conspiratorial politics is, at times, noticeable on contents from state-owned media outlets. But it never was too graphic like the one published by Ethiopian Press Agency on Tuesday.

Today’s publication of Abiy Ahmed’s doctored image seems to have a sinister motive behind it.

Source:  borkena

Posted in News, Oromia

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The Reform, the Philosopher King, and the Oromo Struggle

Mar 10

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(By Najat Hamza)

Najat Hamza

Ethiopian political reform was the product of the youth movement that was able to shake the roots of the authoritarian regime. The Oromo youth movement or the Qeerroo movement championed this change with their blood, limbs and lives. The establishment who hijacked the fruit of this struggle will even go as far as discrediting and criminalizing the Oromo youth. This is not a new phenomenon, the successive Ethiopian regimes have perfected the art of denial of Oromo lived history, contribution and significance. The attempt to discredit and discredit Qeerroo movement validates our point of historical denials of past atrocities, injustices and our collective subjugation. They are trying to minimize, deny and put away the Qeerroo movement legacy while the world was witnessing it from the front seats. The revolution was televised, tweeted, shared and collectively documented by Oromos and Western world combined.

The question then becomes, if they can try to deny and discredit this movement that took the world by storm and shook one of the most notorious authoritarian regimes in Africa, how can we argue with them about what happened a hundred or more years ago? The answer is we do not. History is written with freedom; we must focus on liberation. Liberated people have the means and the power to write their own stories, create a to pass it down to future generations and so on. The Qeeroo movement was to bring lasting change for all justice loving people and the Oromo in particular. However, the desired change showed up as reform instead of dismantlement of the regime. This option was taken to avoid chaos and mayhem in Ethiopia but was it worth it to us? This is another example of how Ethiopia as a country was saved in the expense the Oromo question. We were all hopeful at the beginning of the reform, even though it was a system perpetuating harm trying to be the savior all at the same time. However, no one has anticipated the birth and the glorification of the philosopher king, Abiy Ahmed.

He shows up stroking the egos of the past regimes in a nostalgic sense and vowed to return us to those glorious days. That was the day most Oromos understood our aspiration and goals were under a threat non other than the philosopher king himself. What makes this complicated for our people was that he claims his identity as Oromo while every policy, ideology and practice run in the opposite direction. Today, Oromia is under a threat, violence the language of communication, prisons started to fill up with Oromo leaders again, harassment and war is ongoing. The philosophy of synergy (medemer) for Oromos is like trying to divide a number with 0, undefined.

The philosopher king is attempting to brainwash, indoctrinate and force this ideology on people. What he does not understand is that the philosophy of Oromo nationalism is written in blood and bones. Oromo nationalism will stay forever ingrained in our hearts, minds and every action we take. This thirst can only be quenched when our people have the right to choose their own leaders, make their own policies regarding identity, language, land and resources. The snake oil salesmen you have collected around you cannot and will not fool the Oromo people because they know what kind of life they are living. It is simple everyone on earth want the same thing, a good life. A good life is not possible if your safety, your identity, your resources and your livelihood is danger. That is what has guided us to continue the fight for equality and freedom, not a baseless and merit-less philosophy.

The continent of Africa and especially Ethiopia cannot move towards Democracy as long as the strong man syndrome is in effect. The philosopher king, Abiy Ahmed is aspiring to be the next strong man of Ethiopia, the system of one man. Democracy requires checks and balances. Democracy requires respecting the voice and the aspiration of the people. The power belongs to the people. The strong man syndrome is antithesis to Democracy, they want to fluff their feathers and seem mightier than they are, smarter than everyone else, experts in every field and the judge and the jury. If Ethiopia can have a chance, building an institution and systems that can withstand any regime change is the way to go.

What do we do now? We must fight with everything we have got. We must make sure the sovereignty of Oromia is intact, and we must get ready for all possible outcomes. The opposition parties need to stand on their own, create their own agenda and execute than reacting to the frivolous regime non-agenda thrown their way. It is the job of the opposition to inform our people, to keep our people’s unity and chart a clear pathway. I understand it is a very dark time and it seems hopeless at time; however, we have faced worse. This is just a set back and something we can learn from as people. We cannot be discouraged or falter we owe it to our brothers and sisters who gave their lives for what they thought was the change we needed. We need to put our heads together and resist.

Posted in Finfinne, Information, News, Oromia

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TAKE ACTION: AN APPEAL LETTER

Mar 3

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(A4O, Appeal Letter, 3 March 2020) Advocacy for Oromia is deeply concerned by reports of the incommunicado detention of detention of Mr. Abdi Regassa, the leader of Oromo Liberation Front.

The letter sent to Ethiopian Prime Minster today, Advocacy for Oromia expresses its deep concern regarding Mr Abdi Regassa who detained without charges and with limited access to the outside world, his colleagues and his family, since 29 February 2020.

The letter demands PM administration to ensures Mr Abdi Regassa has immediate access to a lawyer of his choosing and can communicate with his family.

Advocacy for Oromia also asks all peace-loving people to take similar action to ensure that a prompt and impartial investigation is conducted regarding allegations of torture and ill-treatment against Abdi Regassa.

It added that this appeal letter is needed to ensure that the Ethiopian government presents charges against him or releases him, and refrains from potentially taking actions that may amount to ill-treatment against him.

For full appeal letter: Appeal Letter Abdi Regassa

Posted in Events, Finfinne, Information, News, Oromia

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Oromo Opposition leader at risk of torture

Mar 2

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(A4O, Press Release 2 March 2020) Ethiopian authorities detained the leader of the Oromo Liberation Front, Abdi Regassa, on 29 February 2020. He was held incommunicado for 72 hours and remains imprisoned without charges.

Advocacy for Oromia affirms Mr Abdi Regassa is a prisoner of conscience who was imprisoned solely for remains committed to the Oromo cause.

Mr Abdi Regassa has been held in detention for reasons that remain unknown. He has not been informed of the charges against him.

Advocacy for Oromia requests the government to unconditional release and access to legal counsel and family while in custody.

Call of Action: Show your SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT for him in every way you can: going to the police station, changing your social media profile, campaigning for justice, and doing everything that is orderly and peaceful.

When: From today, 2 March 2020

Where: Detention without access to the outside world 

For full press release: Press Release 2 March 2020

Posted in Events, Information, News, Oromia

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URGENT ACTION: OROMO OPPOSITION LEADERS AT RISK OF INTIMIDATION

Feb 29

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(A4O, Press Release 29 February 2020) Advocacy for Oromia, a non-profit advocacy organisation working to ensure that the Oromo people’s rights and wishes are respected, requests SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT for detained Oromo Liberation Front officials, members, advisers and supporters.

The organisation says in today’s press release, more than 10,000 Oromo individuals are imprisoned because of their bold stand against in justice in Oromia.

Issue: Five Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) officials including two EC members and two guards & two drivers have been arrested in Finfinne, Oromia.

Call of Action: Show your SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT for them in every way you can: going to the police station, changing your social media profile, campaigning for justice, and doing everything that is orderly and peaceful.

When: From today, 29 February 2020

Where :‘sostegna’ police station, Finfinne, Oromia

For full press release:Press Release 29 February 2020

Posted in Events, Finfinne, Information, News, Oromia

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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.

Posted in News, Oromia, Uncategorized

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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.

Posted in Information, News, Oromia

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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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Oromia’s spring festival in capital after 150 years

Ethiopia‘s Oromo community is celebrating its annual spring season festival of Irreecha.

But for the first time in 150 years, the celebration is being held in the capital, a city many Oromo leaders argue is part of their territory.

The move has raised concerns of reigniting ethnic tensions.

Al Jazeera’s Robyn Kriel reports from Addis Ababa.

The last few years of Irreecha celebrations, held outside Addis Ababa, have been marred by protests following a stampede at the festival in 2016 where the government says 50 people were killed.

Posted on | Video

Oromia’s capital hosts Oromo cultural event

Oct 8

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Oromia has celebrated the grand Irreecha festival with more than ten million people attending, making it one of the biggest outdoor cultural events in Africa.

The celebration of the Oromo people, which is UNESCO registered Gadaa system of the Oromo, is an event of peace, love and unity.

As CGTN’S GIRUM CHALA reports, this years Irreechaa festival is unique.

 

Posted in News, Oromia, Uncategorized

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