Oromia Global Forum
6909 Laurel Ave, Suite 5219
Tacoma Park, MD20913
Email: oromiaglobalforum@gmail.com
Phone: 612-483-0161

To All Oromos Around The Globe,

Dear respected sisters and brothers,

We, the Oromia Global Forum (OGF), a global alliance of Oromo Civic, Professional and Faith-Based Organizations and individual proponents of Human Rights, residing in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa are writing this letter to you out of grave concern and fear for the future of the Oromo Nation. Our mission is to enhance Oromo unity, discuss, analyze and deliberate on man-made and natural disasters as well as human rights abuses plaguing the Oromo nation, and design strategies to mitigate the plights of our people.

OGF’s values are based on the egalitarian Gadaa System of the Oromo nation, in which the dignity of all human beings is equally respected and defended, irrespective of their color, culture and creed. OGF advocates for the protection and promotion of all human rights in Oromia and beyond. OGF upholds and defends the moral and ethical values of the Oromo nation, in which all human beings are equally treated, truth is defended and justice is served without discrimination. Furthermore, Oromia Global Forum (OGF) stands for, and defends Oromo national unity, integrity of Oromia, equality of its citizens, freedom of expression, social justice, self-determination and respect all forms of diversity in our society. We would like to kindly inform you that this letter of ours is based on these social, moral, ethical and human values of our Organization.

Dear respected sisters and brothers,

As you know, the Oromo nation has been impoverished and victimized since the occupation of Oromia by Abyssinian warlords. Despite uninterrupted resistance of the Oromo people to regain its liberty and dignity, the end goal has not yet been achieved. Thousands of Oromo youth paid heavy sacrifices to topple the TPLF government in a peaceful resistance between 2014-18. However, even though the resistance succeeded in removing the oppressive TPLF-led EPRDF regime, the group that took over did not make matters any better for the Oromo people. Conditions have become worse for the Oromo people. The Oromo people continued to be exploited, incarcerated, tortured, dehumanized and killed by the Abyssinian clique camouflaged as Oromo Government. Thousands are languishing in the prison chambers. West and South Oromia are under military rule for more than two years. The government has cut off communications: land lines, cell phones, the internet and other basic services to allow its soldiers free hand to torture and kill our people at will, and hide the crimes perpetrated.

Oromo students in colleges and universities are harassed, beaten and killed. Unspecified number of Oromo students are jailed in Amhara zones. More than 35,000 Oromo students are dismissed from colleges and universities around the country and languishing in cities and towns without any support. These students cannot even go back to their villages because of the war. Some of the villages are burnt down to the ground. Their parents are forcefully displaced and running away from their homes.

The Oromia Global Forum(OGF) is undertaking campaigns to expose the crimes committed by Ethiopian government, telling the international community the true Oromo stories, the sufferings of our people by writing letters to the heads of governments, parliamentarians, governmental and non-governmental officials, and by organizing media campaigns, public rallies (demonstrations) and issuing press releases from time to time.

Dear respected sisters and brothers,

As you know, the challenges facing our nation are intensifying daily. Daughters and mothers are raped. Young people are killed. Mothers are killed. Fathers are killed. Elders are killed. The dead bodies of our people are disposed into the bushes and eaten by hyena. To make the matters worse, the government of Ethiopia has illegally and forcefully extended its term in office for unlimited period to continue killing our people for unlimited time.

If we don’t not act collectively and promptly against these crimes, our nation is facing existential threat. The Oromia Global Forum believes, to avert the looming danger, all Oromos around the globe need to streamline and consolidate our efforts and resources; and act collectively and effectively.

To this effect, we respectfully and humbly invite you, the Oromo people: farmers, students, teachers, business women and men, pastors, pastoralists, sheks, activists, intellectuals, religious scholars and leaders, the media, Oromo youth (Qeerroo fi Qarree – the engine of Oromo national movement), etc. to join our hands and act together, so that we can collectively defend our nation, enhance our voices for our people and contribute to the creation of free, peaceful, and prosperous Oromia. Moreover, you are cordially invited to join us on the launching conference of Oromia Global Forum, on July 18, 2020.

We value your commitment, your cooperation and contribution, sacrificing your time, energy and other resources.

Respectfully,

Oromia Global Forum: a global alliance of Oromo Civic, Professional and Faith-Based Organizations

Signatories

1. Advocacy4Oromia
2. Bilal Oromo Dawa Center
3. Canaan Oromo Evangelical Church
4. Charismatic International Fellowship Church
5. Gaadisa Sabboontottaa KP
6. Global Gumii Oromia
7. Global Oromo Advocacy Group
8. Global Waaqeffannaa Council
9. Horn of Africa Genocide Watch
10. Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa
11. International Oromo Women’s Organization
12. International Qeerroo Support Group
13. Mana Kiristaanaa Fayyisaa Addunyaa
14. Oromo Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church
15. Oromo Communities’ Association of North America
16. Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church of Washington DC Metropolitan Area
17. Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society
18. Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organization
19. Oromo Legacy, Leadership and Advocacy Association
20. Oromo Lutheran Church of Baltimore
21. Oromo Parliamentarians Council
22. Oromo Political Prisoners Association
23. Oromia Support Group
24. Oromo Studies Association
25. Tawfiq Islamic Center
26. Union of Oromo Communities in Canada
27. United Oromo Evangelical Church
28. Washington DC Metropolitan Oromo SDA Church

Melbourne, 19 June 2020

At the threshold of the historic moment when the official transfer of power was conducted, on behalf of the Advocacy for Oromia (A4O), I take this opportunity to convey our congratulations and profound good wishes to the Sidama nation who have been struggling for freedom and equality over the past several decades. Indeed, it is a matter of great joy that at last the great day has come, the day of freedom for which the Sidama nation has yearned.

In 2002, our heart bled with you when the late dictator, Meles Zenawi, unleashed his local surrogate on you who indiscriminately mowed you down with machine guns at Loqe. In July 2019, our heart bled with you when government forces mowed you down simply to deny you what you earned today. Your peaceful resistance, endurance and finally your success is an exemplary model for other peoples in Ethiopia who struggle to freely exercise the rights granted to them by the constitution but denied by the very government that claims to protect its people. At this moment of your freedom, the A4O is thankful for all those who have paid heavy sacrifice and is proud to stand with all those who have supported the struggle of Sidama nation.

As Sidama state is entering into the first years of National Self-Rule, we are aware that the new nation will be confronted with the daunting problems of painful political oppression and economic exploitation, healing of people traumatized by conflict, reconstructing a battered infrastructure, restoring its economy, ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law and improving the people’s standard of living. While the new Regional State of Sidama will have to face enormous challenges as it seeks to find its place as a free nation, it is also imperative that the people of Sidama who struggled for freedom and equality should not be denied the historic opportunity to start a new chapter in their nation’s history, marked by peace with justice. It is our hope that the leaders and people of Sidama will make every effort to ensure peace and stability in the new era.

Advocacy for Oromia is aware that the continuing role of the camaraderie movement is to accompany the people of Sidama in solidarity as they take up the many challenges and tasks of nation-building. It is also our sincere hope that the Sidama nation, with the support of the regional and international community, will take immediate steps to resolve the outstanding issues and to lay the foundation for a viable Sidama Regional state at peace.

Please accept our very best wishes for the bright and peaceful future of your state and nation.

Yours sincerely,

Dabessa Gemelal

Director

Advocacy for Oromia

Oromia Global Forum
6909 Laurel Ave, Suite 5219
Tacoma Park, MD20913
Email: oromiaglobalforum@gmail.com
Phone: 612-483-0161

Congratulations: To Our Sidama Brothers and Sisters

Friday, June 19, 2020

We, the Global Oromia Forum, a global alliance of Oromo Civic, Professional and Faith-Based Organizations and individual proponents of Human Rights, residing in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa extend our heartfelt congratulations to our brothers and sisters of the Sidama nation.

For millennia, the Sidama and the Oromo peoples share common border, history, culture, religious world views and mutually intelligible languages. We shared a long history of living together and learned the benefits of peaceful coexistence. We developed a strong sense of brotherhood and stood shoulder to shoulder during our happiest and saddest moments. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, we both bled together when a brutal conqueror struck us and took our lands, enslaved our people and subjected survivors to painful political oppression and economic exploitation that continued unabated under successive Ethiopian regimes. You have staged peaceful resistance since the very first day of the conquest but Ethiopian rulers responded brutally at every instance.

In 2002, our heart bled with you when the late dictator, Meles Zenawi, unleashed his local surrogate on you who indiscriminately mowed you down with machine guns at Loqe. In July 2019, our heart bled with you when government forces mowed you down simply to deny you what your earned today. Your peaceful resistance, endurance and finally your success is an exemplary model for other peoples in Ethiopia who struggle to freely exercise the rights granted to them by the constitution but denied by the very government that claims to protect its people.

Once again we congratulate you in your success and we are confident that you will convert your political victory into an economic one by tapping into your resources and raise your people from poverty to which they were subjected for over one hundred years. You are now in control of your fate that espouses greater responsibility and now is your opportunity to develop your brand new state, lay democratic institutions and become a model democracy in the region engulfed with conflicts. We at the Global Oromia Forum are strongly confident that with this remarkable victory you will prove the doubters wrong and become a role model for the rest of us.

Once again, Congratulations for the hard-won victory.

Oromia Global Forum: a global alliance of Oromo Civic, Professional and Faith-Based Organizations

Signatories

1. Advocacy4Oromia

2. Bilal Oromo Dawa Center

3. Canaan Oromo Evangelical Church

4. Charismatic International Fellowship Church

5. Gaadisa Sabboontottaa KP

6. Global Gumii Oromia

7. Global Oromo Advocacy Group

8. Global Waaqeffannaa Council

9. Horn of Africa Genocide Watch

10. Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa

11. International Oromo Women’s Organization

12. International Qeerroo Support Group

13. Mana Kiristaanaa Fayyisaa Addunyaa

14. Oromo Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church

15. Oromo Communities’ Association of North America

16. Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church of Washington DC Metropolitan Area

17. Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society

18. Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organization

19. Oromo Legacy, Leadership and Advocacy Association

20. Oromo Lutheran Church of Baltimore

21. Oromo Parliamentarians Council

22. Oromo Political Prisoners Association

23. Oromia Support Group

24. Oromo Studies Association

25. Tawfiq Islamic Center

26. Union of Oromo Communities in Canada

27. United Oromo Evangelical Church

28. Washington DC Metropolitan Oromo SDA Church

We, the undersigned Oromo Scholars and Professionals, have been carefully monitoring the COVID-19 situation and associated government activities to combat the spread of the disease in Ethiopia. We recognize fighting this pandemic is extremely challenging everywhere. Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on April 10, 2020, following the official acknowledgement of the spread of the disease to that country. While the initial reluctance of the government to start taking preventive actions (for example, allowing the country’s national carrier, the Ethiopian Airlines, maintain regular flights to global COVID 19 hotspots) was deplorable, we support every effort to contain the pandemic and prevent its potentially devastating impact. At the same time, we are also deeply concerned with the simultaneous war that the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been waging on the Oromo people along the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time when all efforts and resources ought to be devoted to controlling the spread of this disease, the Prime Minister is deploying the federal defense forces and the Oromia State special police force to several parts of Oromia under the pretext of flushing out “shifta” (bandits/insurgents). Until mid-March, 2020, areas where the government alleges the insurgent group is operating—all four zones in Wallaga, and Gujii and Borana zones—are closed off and placed under unofficial and illegal military Command Posts.

The Command Posts were later extended to other areas in Oromia, including Western Shawa zone. At a time when citizens are terrified by the potentially devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has intensified arbitrary arrests and extra judicial killings. Even after some detained individuals were released in mid-March 2020, there are still thousands of political prisoners throughout Oromia’s overcrowded jails. For example, pictures recently taken by concerned citizens and released on social media show that the notorious Jaatoo state prison in Nekemte city, Eastern Wallaga, is holding extremely large number of inmates, including many unjustly detained youth, teachers, mothers and civil servants suspected to be supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and other opposition Oromo political parties. Under the cover of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, the Ethiopian Federal Government and the Regional State of Oromia are engaged in widespread arrests further bulging the already crowded prison population, an act that defeats the very purpose of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the government does not allow independent journalists to freely report on human rights violations and COVID-19 cases, it is difficult to collect and disseminate information to the public in a timely manner. For instance, until mid-March, the government severed all basic communication services, such as telephone and internet, in all four zones of Wallaga and in Gujii zone, condemning the citizens to information blackout and, under its cover, unleashing its brutal army to terrorize ordinary citizens and leaders and members/supporters of opposition political parties away from the eyes and ears of national and international communities. According to the latest report by the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA), “gross human rights violations, and government sponsored killings, forced disappearances, rapes, detentions, property destructions” are taking place daily in Oromia regional state both during and after the communication blackout (HRLHA, May 2, 2020). This report indicates at least the detention of 264, and death of 169 persons since January 2020. Many more have been imprisoned and/or killed since the release of the KRLHA report.

The Ethiopian regime has never provided a shred of evidence to establish these victims are indeed members of any illegal group or committed any crime. Most of these victims are ordinary citizens caught up in government’s hysterical political campaign of weakening opposition parties that are considered to be a threat to its stay in power. Members of legally registered opposition political parties were not spared from the indiscriminate acts of harassments and intimidations by government military and security apparatus. For example, on February 29, 2020, the regime’s security forces raided the homes of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) leaders and illegally arrested and detained five senior party officials and four supporters. While most were released after public humiliation and mistreatment for 24 hours, Mr. Abdi Regassa, a senior OLF official, still remains in detention (Amnesty International, March 3, 2020). On March 7, 2020, government police arrested two journalists, Dessu Dula and Waqo Nole. According to the statement by Committee to Protest Journalists released on March 18, 2010, these journalists also remain in jail. Earlier, Col, Gemechu Ayana, a high-ranking member of the OLF, who was arrested on January 17, 2019 spent almost a year in prison on bogus charges of terrorism and was released on December 24, 2019.

All these arrests, detentions, and intimidations are taking place under the watch of the Prime Minister, whose promises following his accession to power on the back of Oromo People’s bitter struggle for freedom and democracy some two years ago was hailed as the mark of the dawn of democracy in Ethiopia. However, that optimism was short lived and the prospect of political freedom and the rule of law in the country is squashed once again. During his early weeks and months in power, the Prime Minster had repeatedly condemned the gross violations of human rights perpetrated by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government, which he served as a high ranking official (e.g. as a security and military officer, a federal agency head, a minister, to name a few). He also confessed that the EPRDF government itself was a terrorist when it detained thousands of people on fake charges and went on to promise a thorough reform and transition to genuine democracy. Such pronouncements and promises, and the normalization of relations with the neighboring Eritrea quickly earned him credit from near and a far including the 2019 Noble Peace Prize. The Prime Minster continues to present himself to the outside world as a reformist, and his government as democratic. But the true color of Abiy Ahmed and his government has become crystal clear to millions of people, at least to thousands of innocent victims and families of the victims who were made to disappear, openly killed or remanded on trumped up charges and thus languishing in overcrowded prisons.

Nothing can be more disappointing than learning that a government that is supposed to protect the wellbeing of its citizens from emergencies such as COVID-19 is using it as a weapon to eliminate its political adversaries. The recently declared COVID-19 State of Emergency, for example, is being implemented illegally and without accountability. Article 93 of the Ethiopian constitution that allows the government to declare state of emergency also requires the House of Peoples’ Representatives (Parliament) to establish the State of Emergency Inquiry Board consisting of seven persons representing the house and legal experts. This inquiry body is supposed to have legal power to obtain identity of people detained under the terms of the state of emergency and announce their names and reasons for their detentions. The law also authorizes the investigation of any inhumane treatment and recommend corrective actions to the Prime Minister to ensure prosecution of violators. Ironically, the Prime Minister himself recently brushed aside concerns raised by opposition party leaders about gross human rights violations by his military in a public setting and justified that the alleged measures were taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The fact of the matter, however, is that the vast majority of people detained or killed are members and supporters of opposition parties, and it is hard to believe that only opposition party members break the state of emergency.

At the time of this writing, it is not clear if the State of Emergency Inquiry Board has been created when the state of emergency was declared, and no announcement of the identities of people detained and the state of their wellbeing while in detention have been made. But we have credible information that hundreds of people have been rounded since the declaration of the state of emergency suffering in various detention centers. The declaration of a state of emergency without the creation of the constitutionally mandated inquiry body and the glairing absence of transparency in the implementation of the state of emergency is colossal violation of the law and the rights of citizens.

We end this piece by calling upon:

1. The Ethiopian government to refrain from using the state of emergency as a disguise to harass, intimidate, imprison, and kill innocent Oromo people, and to unconditionally release all political prisoners.
2. International community to use their political and financial leverage to pressure the Ethiopian government into respecting basic human rights of its citizens.
3. The Oromo people to be cognizant of the fact that the struggle you sustained for over a century and the sacrifices you made along the way has been hijacked before it reached its final destination. You have no other choice but to rise up in unison, once again, and push it across the goal line.
4. The Ethiopian people to understand that Oromo people’s struggle is not against any specific group but against the oppressive system that marginalizes some sectors of the Ethiopian population. As such, all peace-loving Ethiopians should support the Oromo people’s struggle for freedom, justice, and democracy.

Signatories (in alphabetical order)

Adugna Birhanu (Ph.D)	Galaana Balcha (MD)	Namara Garbaba (Ph.D)
Alemayehu Biru (Ph.D)	Gizachew Tesso (Ph.D)	Oli Bachie (Ph.D)
Alemayehu Kumsa (Ph.D	Gobena Huluka	Samuel Geleta (Ph.D)
Amanuel Gobena (Ph.D)	Guluma Gemeda (Ph.D)	Rundassa Eshete (Ph.D)
Asefa Jalata (Ph.D)	Habtalem Kenea (Ph.D)	Solomon Geleta (Ph.D)
Asfaw Beyene (Ph.D)	Haile Hirpa (Ph.D)	Teferi Margo (Ph.D)
Ayana Gobena (Ph.D)	Hambisa Belina (Ph.D)	Tekleab Shibru (Ph.D)
Bahiru Duguma (Ph.D)	Ibrahim Elemo (Ph.D)	Tesfaye Negeri (Ph.D)
Baro Deressa (MD)	Iddoosaa Ejeta (Ph.D)	Tesfaye Tesso (Ph.D)
Bedassa Tadesse (Ph.D)	Ismael Abdullahi (Ph.D)	Thomas Baisa (MD)
Begna Dugassa (Ph.D)	Jamal Ebrahim (MD)	Tolawak Beyene (MD)
Bekele Temesgen (Ph.D)	Jemal Hebano (PharmD)	Workineh Torben (Ph.D)
Benti Getahun (Ph.D)	Jenberu Feyisa (Ph.D)	Worku Burayu (Ph.D)
Berhanu Kedida (MD)	Junaidi Ahmed (MD)
Bersisa Berri (Ph.D)	Koste Abdissa (Ph.D)
Bichaka Fayissa (Ph.D)	Mekbib Gebeyehu (Ph.D)
Daniel Ayana (Ph.D)	Mekuria Bulcha (Ph.D)
Degefa Abdissa (MD)	Moa Apagodu (Ph.D)
Dessalegn Negeri (Ph.D)	Mohammed Hassan (Ph.D)
Desta Yebassa (Ph.D}	Mosisa Aga (Ph.D)

(OHCHR, 27-Mar-2020) A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the Office is very concerned by the continued communications shutdown in parts of Ethiopia, and more broadly the Office called on all countries to ensure that everyone has ready and unhindered access to the internet and phone services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/asset/2542/2542136/?jwsource=cl&fbclid=IwAR00kTLQLSDThWYrLRo8imturJLkbJA–nypWS9C0PdBNFPw2A_hDUFG8So