Advocacy for Oromia

By Yaadasaa Badhaasaa Kutuu*

Folks it’s clear the oppression and suffering of our people back in Oromia has completely changed its phase from from the traditional one by one extrajudicial killings to a complete ethnic cleansing phase. We have seen and always lived with low scale killings here and there under this dictatorship regime. But now it’s different it’s entirely different phase, the game is transformed in to an Ethnic cleansing on general Oromo and particularly the youth who are at the risk of extermination.

The amount of energy and initiation to look for solution has to match the level of danger we are in as a nation.Tough moments always call for tougher measures. Albert Anstien said, “You can’t expect different result, by doing the same thing over and over and over again.”  “Badiisa hamaa keessa jira, walgahii fi TV fi radio irraa bookkisuu qofaan Ajjeechaa Hamaa fi sukkanneessaa Tigreen Oromo irraan gahaa jirtu dhaabu hin dandeenyu.” Let stop fake and superficial solutions and start looking for real answers. Adios!

Source: Tough moments always call for tougher measures

(Advocacy for Oromia, 7 November 2016) On the 6th of November 2016, Oromia Support Group Australia, Advocacy for Oromia and other refugee communities met with the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Migrants.

The aim of the meeting was to raise concerns and suggestions on Australia’s refugee policies at Refugee Council of Australia.

The Special Rapporteur is the head UN individual who is responsible for investigating, monitoring and advocating for specific human rights problems for migrants (including refugees and asylum seekers).

Oromia Support Group Australia, Advocacy for Oromia and other refugee communities met with the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Migrants, Photo Credit-Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA)

(A4O, 5 November 2016) What started as a holiday celebration for Ethiopia’s Oromo people turned into a deadly protest as demonstrators tried to flee police firing tear gas and warning shots into the crowd.

It triggered a stamped that killed dozens.

(Advocacy4Oromia, 4 November 2016) Until recently, Ethiopia has been hailed as an African success story. After a decade of strong economic growth, the country has begun to shed its image as a famine-struck wasteland.

But repression by Ethiopia’s authoritarian government has sparked demonstrations that have led to the deaths of hundreds of protesters this year.

The movement gained worldwide attention at the Rio Olympics when the country’s silver medal-winning marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa crossed his wrists above his head at the finish line in a symbol of the protest movement.

On this edition of Global Journalist, we explore the dangerous ethnic tensions fueling the unrest and the government’s effort to silence its critics after declaring a state of emergency.

Joining the program:

*Tsedale Lemma, editor of the Addis Standard magazine, an Ethiopian magazine forced to stop publication in October

*William Davison, Ethiopia correspondent for Bloomberg News

*Birhanu Lenjiso, an Oromo rights activist and former lecturer at Ambo University in Ethiopia

*Felix Horne, a senior researcher on Ethiopia and Eritrea for Human Rights Watch

(A4O, 31 October 2016)-A solidarity campaign calling on the Ethiopian Government to step down in light of the second wave of protests that began in November 2015, now a movement that has engulfed most of Ethiopia.

The Oromo people have been leading this call for national reform and as a result, have been met by unimaginable state sanctioned violence. In joining the movement, Amhara regions and Southern Nations have also been subject to extreme violence by Ethiopian security forces. Now a full blown revolution that will only end when the Ethiopian Government is no longer in power, we stand with the people in their call to make this a reality.

The Ethiopian government needs to #StepDown. We will release one video a week for four weeks, each video telling a specific story from the revolution, each story giving you clear insight into why it is time for the Ethiopian Government to #StepDown. Week one, we bring you the story of the people of Konso.

Bishoftu, Oromia, October 2.

By RYAN DE LAUREAL

(Monday, October 24, 2016)-The struggles of Ethiopians protesting repression and government-sponsored development programs have gone virtually unreported over the past year — and so has the murder of hundreds of people by the state for taking part in the resistance.

The struggles are centred among the Oromo people — the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, but who have suffered marginalisation and oppression.

Bloomberg reported on October 3 that at least 100 people were killed when security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd at a cultural festival in Oromia, causing a stampede.

Source: Oromia:Popular resistance takes on corporate destruction and repression

Statement of the Central Leadership of Oromian Youth Movement (a.k.a. Qeerroo Bilisummaa)

(A4O, 12 October 2016) Our freedom depends on the totality of the contributions we all make for the struggle.

The end of the existence the TPLF in Finfinne (Addis Ababa) is not far. Qeerroo Bilisummaa would like to affirm that it will intensify the struggle until our people gain their freedom.

Source: Declaring ‘State of Emergency’ will Only Facilitate the Demise of the Minority TPLF Regime in Ethiopia

(Advocacy4Oromia, 12 October 2016)- A solidarity campaign calling on the Ethiopian Government to step down in light of the second wave of protests that began in November 2015, now a movement that has engulfed most of Ethiopia.

The Oromo people have been leading this call for national reform and as a result, have been met by unimaginable state sanctioned violence. In joining the movement, Amhara regions and Southern Nations have also been subject to extreme violence by Ethiopian security forces. Now a full blown revolution that will only end when the Ethiopian Government is no longer in power, we stand with the people in their call to make this a reality.

The Ethiopian government needs to #StepDown. We will release one video a week for four weeks, each video telling a specific story from the revolution, each story giving you clear insight into why it is time for the Ethiopian Government to #StepDown. Week one, we bring you the story of the Qilinto Prison massacre.

(Advocacy4Oromia, 12 October 2016)-It’s been hailed as an oasis of political stability and a model of growth in Africa. But for the past year, Ethiopia has been in the news not because of its economic successes, but because of insecurity on its streets.

Ethiopians – mostly from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups – are angry about what they describe as decades of marginalisation.They’re also upset about government plans to build factories on land they consider their own. The protests have frequently grown violent, and police are accused of responding with unnecessary force.Activists say at least 450 people have been killed.

For the first time in 25 years, ruling party leaders have declared a six month state of emergency.It gives the government power to ban protests – and troops can be deployed to maintain calm.So what now for Ethiopian unity?

Presenter: Hazem Sika

Guests:Getachew Reda: Ethiopian communication minister

Awol Allo: Fellow at the London School of Economics

Nagessa Oddo: Chairman of Oromo People’s Congress.

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BY Henok G. Gabisa*

1- Arrests, brutal crackdown has been taking place already. What will this state of emergency change ?

The country has already been under the same exact situation of state of emergency. Since the first protest broke out in Ginchi town, the people have endured all kinds of governmental brutality with impunity. For all purposes and intentions, Oromia fell under the rule of the command post as of December of 2015 (see EBC report on December 15 or 16 where Getachew Reda and the PM HMD vowed for “merciless and definitive” action/measure against the protesters). The same statement was made by HMD in regard to the Amhara protest a month ago. So, that means, the country is already in exact similar situation with state of emergency. No official of the regime has ever been investigated and prosecuted for the killings of hundreds and thousands of mass arrests in the past months.

If there is anything the declaration of the state of emergency tells us, it is a sinister move thought to be used as a legal cover by the regime to continue to exculpate or exonerate itself from mass murders, mass arrests, media blackout and all other vengeful actions it is taking against the public. It is just a final attempt to legalize and legitimize all that is to come.

It has to be noted that it is just legal and constitutional under Ethiopian legal system (Article 93 of the Constitution ) to kill during state of emergency. In Ethiopia, right to life is among lists of derogable rights contrary to the international human rights treaty obligations where observance of right to life should remain intact in any kind of emergency situation. Not that Ethiopia has ever observed its international duty, now we are witnessing an all-out war situation declared against the citizens.

It has to be noted that the declaration of emergency is yet to be published. This means, the regime will have an unaccountably and extremely broad margin of military actions to engage in a war-like battles against the public. That will be another self-caused recipe for the end of the regime.

2 – Do you see it more like a domestic or foreign oriented message?

I see it like a message desired to be conveyed to the foreigners that the regime is still in control, while in fact, the irony of the declaration is a deep cut that demystified the country is in fact unstable, volatile and more likely to explode contrary to the invented narrative built over the last decades.

3 – Do you see any room for dialogue in this crisis ?

I think the room for dialogue is closed. That ship has already sailed with the#OromoMassacre at #Irreechaa last week that was caused by military’s firing at the crowed at the sacred event and stampede that followed as a result. Nobody expected the regime goes that low. It proved to the people that the regime’s political psychology is hell bent on winning the battle by deploying the military at any expense, even though we can’t find an example anywhere in the world where people lost a battle to tyranny and dictatorship despite the journey it takes to see freedom and democracy desired in life.

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*Henok G. Gabisa is a visiting academic fellow at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia.

He is also legal counsel for victims of widespread human rights violation in Ethiopia. He writes on justice system reform in post-conflict nations and tweets at @henokgabisa