Activist and ally exemplify the international solidarity and unwavering commitment that sustain the movement for Oromo self-determination

GLOBAL — Dinqinesh Dheressa and Dr. Trevor Trueman stand as figures who will forever be remembered with honor in the annals of the Oromo liberation struggle—one a devoted activist who gave voice to Oromo women’s oppression, the other a British physician who became one of the movement’s most effective international advocates.

Their contributions, though arising from vastly different backgrounds, together illustrate the multifaceted nature of the Oromo struggle: a fight carried forward not only by those who bear its identity but also by allies whose solidarity transcends ethnicity and origin. As the Oromo liberation struggle continues “as a shield of humanity strengthening humanity itself,” the legacies of Deressa and Trueman remind us that the quest for freedom draws strength from diverse sources of commitment and courage .

Dinqinesh Dheressa: A Voice for Oromo Women

Dinqinesh Dheressa Kitila is an Oromo woman whose activism emerged from personal experience of discrimination and grew into institutional leadership. As the founder of the International Oromo Women’s Organization, a non-profit registered in the United States, she has dedicated her life to standing against discrimination and bringing social change, with particular emphasis on women’s empowerment.

Born and raised in Oromia, Ethiopia, Dheressa’s commitment to justice was forged in childhood. During elementary school, when she ran for student council president, a boy was preferred over her despite her having the highest grades. This early experience of discrimination motivated her to lead a fight against discrimination against women—a fight she has continued throughout her life.

Dheressa’s analysis of Oromo women’s situation is stark and unflinching. “The state of oppression is very deep in general but Oromo women face even greater difficulty,” she has stated. “Abyssinians treat Oromo women poorly. If a woman proposes a constructive idea, it doesn’t get proper attention as women are discriminated against up to a level where they are not considered as human beings”.

For Dheressa, self-determination is not an abstract political concept but a deeply personal and practical matter. She describes it as “a process by which one can take control of her/his whole life, decide freely what is good for her/him or not, what is important to her/him.” Beyond self-determination, she sees independence as giving people “the power to act freely” .

The key to achieving self-determination, in her view, lies in empowering oppressed people and standing for their rights as human beings. She emphasizes that organization is vital—if one wants to stand for peace and especially for women and their rights, being organized is essential .

Dheressa has also consistently called upon the international community to act. “The international community and humanitarian organisations have to take appropriate action to stop the Ethiopian government’s brutality against the Oromos,” she has urged. Her work with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) has helped bring Oromo concerns before international audiences, ensuring that the struggle receives attention beyond Ethiopia’s borders.

Dr. Trevor Trueman: The Quiet Ally

If Dheressa represents the voice of Oromo womanhood speaking on behalf of her people, Dr. Trevor Trueman represents something equally: the outsider who becomes an essential insider through decades of faithful service.

Dr. Trueman—affectionately known by the Oromo name Galatoo, meaning “Thank You”—has woven himself so deeply into the narrative of the Oromo struggle that he has become inseparable from it, transcending geography, ethnicity, and origin .

His journey with the Oromo people began not in the halls of advocacy, but in the gritty, desperate reality of survival. In the late 1980s, as a family health physician, he was in Sudan training Oromo health workers in refugee camps. When the Derg fell in 1991, he moved into Wallagga, shifting his focus to training community health workers. This foundation is crucial: his alliance was born not of abstract political theory, but of humanitarian connection—of seeing, firsthand, the people behind the cause. He didn’t arrive as an activist; he became one through service .

It was from this ground-level view that his pivotal role emerged. Starting in 1992, he began the critical, dangerous work of documenting and internationalizing the Ethiopian government’s systematic human rights violations against the Oromo people. While the OLF and others fought on the political and military fronts, Dr. Trueman opened a vital front in the global arena of information. He understood that tyranny thrives in silence and that the world’s conscience must be awakened with evidence. His reports became the credible, external voice that the diaspora and activists within could amplify, forcing the “Oromo question” onto agendas where it was being ignored .

His strategic genius is perhaps best embodied in the Oromia Support Group (OSG) , which he co-founded in 1994. The OSG was not a protest group but a clearinghouse for truth. It methodically gathered testimony, verified atrocities, and funneled this information to UN bodies, foreign governments, NGOs, and media outlets. For decades, when the Ethiopian state dismissed accusations as rebel propaganda, the OSG’s meticulously documented reports stood as unassailable counter-evidence. Dr. Trueman became a bridge of credibility, translating the suffering of a distant people into a language the international system was compelled, at least, to acknowledge .

A recent tribute to Dr. Trueman highlights several profound truths about his work:

• The Outsider as Essential Insider: Dr. Trueman’s identity as a “foreign national” was not a barrier but a unique asset. It lent his documentation a perceived objectivity that was desperately needed to break through global apathy. He wielded his privilege as a tool for the voiceless .
• Advocacy as a Marathon, Not a Sprint: His commitment, spanning from 1988 to the present day, defines “umurii dheeradhaa” —a long life of dedication. While political fortunes and rebel movements evolved, his channel of advocacy remained constant, providing a thread of continuity through decades of struggle .
• The Strategic “Taphat” (Preparation) : The tribute notes he will be remembered for his “shoora taphataniif” —his strategic preparations. His work was the essential groundwork. By ensuring the world could not plead ignorance, he created the political space and pressure that empowered all other facets of the Oromo struggle .

Dr. Trevor Trueman’s legacy is a masterclass in effective international solidarity. He did not seek to lead the Oromo struggle; he sought to amplify it. He did not fight with weapons, but with words, facts, and an unwavering moral compass. In the grand symphony of the Oromo quest for freedom, if some voices are the roaring melodies and others the steady rhythm, Dr. Trueman’s has been the crucial, clear note of the witness—persistent, truthful, and cutting through the noise to make the world listen .

For this, the name Galatoo is not merely a token of thanks, but a title of honor, earned over a lifetime. His work ensures that the crimes committed in darkness are recorded in light, and that the struggle of the Oromo people has, indeed, been given an echo the world cannot un-hear .

The Struggle Continues

The Oromo liberation struggle, which both Dheressa and Trueman have served so faithfully, continues today against a backdrop of ongoing conflict and human rights concerns. Recent reports from Oromia describe a region marked by insecurity, with civilians caught between government forces and insurgent groups.

The Associated Press reported in February 2026 that Oromia remains “very insecure,” with armed banditry, kidnapping, and extortion affecting daily life. Humanitarian access is restricted, and the conflict remains largely underreported due to government restrictions on journalists and rights groups .

It is precisely in such circumstances that the work of advocates like Dheressa and Trueman proves most vital. Their documentation, their amplification of Oromo voices, and their insistence that the world pay attention create the conditions under which accountability becomes possible.

As one tribute to Trueman noted, “His work ensures that the crimes committed in darkness are recorded in light” . Dheressa, through her women’s organization and international advocacy, ensures that the particular suffering of Oromo women—too often ignored in broader narratives—receives the attention it demands.

A Shared Legacy

Dinqinesh Dheressa and Dr. Trevor Trueman represent different faces of the same commitment: Dheressa, the Oromo woman who transformed personal experience of discrimination into lifelong activism for her people; Trueman, the British physician who arrived as a humanitarian worker and became one of the movement’s most effective international advocates.

Both have demonstrated that the struggle for Oromo self-determination is not confined to Oromia’s borders, nor limited to those who share Oromo identity. It is a human rights struggle that calls upon all people of conscience to bear witness and to act.

As the Oromo liberation continues as “a shield of humanity strengthening humanity itself,” the contributions of these two figures will forever be remembered with honor. Their lives demonstrate that the fight for freedom draws strength from many sources—from the mother who organizes women in her community to the physician who documents atrocities for the United Nations. Each, in their own way, has helped ensure that the Oromo struggle for truth, justice, and self-determination continues to resonate across generations and around the world.

Oromo Studies Association Honors Legacy of Prof. Hamdessa Tuso with Mid-Year Conference on Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building

Scholars and researchers invited to explore indigenous peacemaking traditions at University of Minnesota gathering

MINNEAPOLIS — The Oromo Studies Association (OSA) has issued a call for papers and panels for its 2026 Mid-Year Conference, scheduled for April 11-12 at the University of Minnesota Medical Center’s West Bank campus. This year’s gathering carries special significance as it will honor the life and legacy of Professor Hamdessa Tuso, a founding member of OSA and a towering figure in the study of indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms .

Under the theme “Conflict Resolution & Peace-Building: Honoring the Life and Legacy of Prof. Hamdessa Tuso,” the conference invites scholars, researchers, and community leaders to submit abstracts exploring the rich traditions of peacemaking that have sustained Oromo society for generations. The event will take place at 2450 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

A Life Devoted to Indigenous Peacemaking

Professor Hamdessa Tuso, who passed away on November 22, 2025, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated his life to studying and teaching about African indigenous conflict resolution processes . His scholarly work emphasized that indigenous forms of peacemaking—long dismissed by Western academics as “irrelevant and backward tribal rituals”—contain sophisticated mechanisms for building lasting peace .

Dr. Tuso earned his Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding from Michigan State University in 1981 and served in distinguished academic roles across North America, including as Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba and as a faculty member at Nova Southeastern University . His landmark work, “Creating the Third Force: Indigenous Processes of Peacemaking,” which he co-edited with Maureen P. Flaherty, presented the Oromo Gadaa system as a global model for conflict resolution .

In that seminal volume, Tuso contributed chapters including “Indigenous processes of conflict resolution: neglected methods of peacemaking by the new field of conflict resolution” and “Ararra: Oromo indigenous processes of peacemaking,” establishing a scholarly foundation for understanding how Oromo traditional institutions can address contemporary conflicts .

Conference Theme and Significance

The conference announcement highlights the Oromo people’s historical role as “the anchoring population that cemented the coexistence of peoples of various creeds” and “guarantors of peace, stability and justice everywhere its rule prevailed.” According to the call for papers, historical accounts indicate that before the precolonial era, the Oromo managed to create alliances with neighboring tribes, transforming former rivals into partners.

The announcement also addresses historical challenges to Oromo recognition: “Since the formation of Ethiopia as an empire State, the Oromo people were brutally oppressed, marginalized, dehumanized and the contributions of the Oromo to maintaining peace and stability in the horn of Africa were denied the due recognition they deserved in history.”

It was not until the early 1970s that organized scholarly attention began to reveal “the hidden truth that the Oromo in fact are custodians of indigenous institutions of governance that guarantees equality of all its citizens, rule of law, justice and fairness for all living things and the environment.”

The conference draws on core Oromo values of Nagaa (peace) and Araara (reconciliation)—traditional principles that guide conflict resolution when disputes arise between groups and individuals. As the call for papers notes, “The Oromo Land is therefore rightly described as the sea of blessings, where elders call for peace to prevail over everything living and the environment.”

Call for Submissions

OSA invites abstracts for individual paper presentations, posters, panels, and roundtables addressing the conference theme and the following sub-themes:

1. Indigenous Oromo institutions: exploring the mechanisms of peacebuilding and conflict resolution
2. Mitigating intra-ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere globally: lessons learned from other settings
3. Building peace and resolving conflicts among the Oromo and neighboring nations and nationalities (such as Somali, Afar, Sidama) past, present, and future
4. Federalization and exclusion of Oromo cities Harar, Dire Dawa, Jigjiga: case studies of the impact of forced division on Oromo approaches to peacebuilding and stability
5. Dedicated Panel: Remembering the Life and Legacy of Prof. Hamdesa Tuso — welcoming reflections on how he approached the study of conflict resolution
6. Examining women’s leadership in traditional Oromo peacebuilding and conflict resolution
7. Transmitting the wisdom of peacebuilding to the younger generation in a time of intense war, violence and undermining of culture

Other topics will be considered, but priority will be given to abstracts relevant to the theme and sub-themes.

Submission Guidelines

Individual Papers or Posters: Submissions should include a 200-300 word abstract providing 1) title, 2) specific contribution to the theme, 3) evidence on which the presentation is based, and 4) brief findings or conclusions. Authors must include names, country of residence, affiliation, field of specialization, and contact information (email and WhatsApp).

Panels: Panels consist of four members of a pre-assembled group. Proposals should include the panel title and brief biographies of each panel member with academic credentials or community roles.

Roundtables: Roundtables bring together qualified scholars and prominent personalities moderated to discuss a specific topic, book, or research finding. Submissions should include the roundtable title, relevance to the conference theme, moderator information, and speakers’ names with contact details.

The deadline for submission is March 10, 2026, at midnight. Acceptances will be notified on a rolling basis, with final notices made by March 21. All submissions should be sent to: oromostudiesassociation@gmail.com

A Legacy of Scholarship and Advocacy

Professor Tuso’s contributions extended far beyond academia. He was among the earliest pioneers of the Arsi Basic School movement, helping ignite a culture of learning across Arsi in Oromia at a time when education itself was considered a revolutionary act . He championed Tokkumaa Oromoo (Oromo unity) and stood firmly against what he termed “the colonization of the Oromo mind.”

His service included organizing the Oromo Committee for Immigration and Refugees (OCIR) in the 1980s, helping secure asylum for thousands of Oromos in the United States at a time when the U.S. government had restricted asylum for Ethiopians . He also participated in the 1991 London Peace Conference, advocating for a just political reordering of Ethiopia .

As a founding force behind the Oromo Studies Association and its first president, Tuso nurtured generations of scholars committed to researching and preserving Oromo history and culture . The upcoming conference represents a continuation of that mission, bringing together researchers to explore how indigenous wisdom can address contemporary challenges.

For scholars of peace and conflict studies, African studies, and indigenous governance systems, the April conference offers a unique opportunity to engage with Oromo intellectual traditions at a moment of both remembrance and renewal.