The murder of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda will not be a solution to the pressing problem of the Ethiopian Empire.

Press Release of the Qeerroo Movement

Finfinnee

The cold blood killing of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda while in custody is clear show of an utter disrespect the TPLF has for the Oromo people.

Since its fall under the Habesha colonial hegemony, there was no time when the Oromo stopped its struggle.  On the other hand, the TPLF/EPRDF leadership has sustained a protracted and targeted attack against the Oromo of all walks of life (Elders, Teachers, Students, Farmers, Public Servants, Merchants and others) and it appear that the only crime is their identity to be an Oromo. Countless number of Oromo’s has since been exiled, displaced, robbed, imprisoned under fabricated charges and exposed to other inhuman treatments.

While the trend of repression is accelerating, the senseless and inhuman act of the government continued unabated. On the same development, today August 24, 2013 we have received one of the saddest news that Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda was murdered in Kalitti prison after serving 7 years in dark room.  Nevertheless, we would like to remind the Woyane government that even if Engineer Tasfahun was killed; it is impossible to kill the struggle of the Oromo people.

Due to the severe torture and mistreatment he sustained, Tesfahun’s repeated request to the TPLF prison official for a medical attention has ended up on deaf ear and forced to live with his anguishing pains.  Even though it is very normal for the TPLF government to target and hunt-down highly qualified Oromo elites in Kaliti prison,  the death of student Alemayo Gerba, Gadisa Hiphasaa and now Tesfahun Chemeda while serving harsh prison terms will be remembered by the Oromo people with great pain and anguish.

The Ethiopian government is responding to the Oromo question in a brutal fashion and heavy handed measures, but these blind measures cannot save the regime from collapsing. Qeerroo strongly condemns this cowardly and brutal killing and its history of atrocity will be kept for the regime to answer, sooner of later.

In this case, we urge all Oromo in and outside of the country to denounce the ongoing atrocity and to bring the ordeal of your people to the International community.

The struggle shall continue!!!

Victory to the Oromo People

August 24, 2013.

=>qeerroo

Death in Ethiopian custody of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda, after refoulement from Kenya

Date: August 26th 2013

Open letter

Death in Ethiopian custody of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda, after refoulement from Kenya

To: Honourable Kevin Rudd,

Australian Prime Minister

It is with sadness and anger that Oromia Support Australia Inc. OSGA reports the death of a young Oromo in Kaliti prison, Ethiopia, on 24 August, 2013, yesterday. Tesfahun Chemeda was a student activist in Ethiopia and a political asylum seeker among refugees in Kenya, where he was granted refugee status by UNHCR. He was arrested with a colleague, Mesfin Abebe, by Kenyan ‘anti-terrorist police’ on 2 April 2007.

Although cleared by the anti-terrorist unit and by the FBI, the men were subject to refoulement to Ethiopia at the request of the Ethiopian authorities. UNHCR, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission were told in court, after their application for habeas corpus that the men had been returned to Ethiopia, whereas they remained in custody in Kenya for at least two more days after the court hearing.

Tesfahun and Mesfin disappeared in detention in Ethiopia until charged with terrorist offences in December 2008. They were sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010. [1] (Mesfin’s death sentence was later commuted.)

Tesfahun was transferred from Zeway prison to Kaliti, where he had been held in solitary confinement for nearly two years before he was killed.[2]

This is not the first time young Oromo men and women have been killed in detention. For example, Alemayehu Garba, partially paralysed with polio, was shot dead with 18 others in Kaliti prison in November 2005.[3]

Refoulement of UNHCR-recognised refugees from Sudan, Djibouti and Somaliland continues.[4]
How long must we wait for Australian Government and other western governments to stop maintaining the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in power? Over one third of Ethiopia’s budget is in foreign aid. Ethiopia receives more aid from the Australia than any other country in the Africa.

It is a shocking state of affairs and an appalling way to spend Australian taxpayers’ money. Oromia Support Group in Australia Inc. tired of hearing from officials that they take every opportunity to engage with representatives of the Ethiopian government at the highest level to express their serious concerns about human rights abuses and lack of democratic progress in Ethiopia.

We have been hearing this for years. When are we going to see an effective response by those who control Ethiopia’s purse strings?

If Australia is so committed to providing aid to Ethiopia, than at least we should insist on it being contingent on real, measurable benchmarks of human rights and democratisation and not the desk-based studies of government-controlled data which support the status quo in Ethiopia.

This should be backed by effective sanctions so that members of the Ethiopian government are prevented from travelling to Australia and other western countries and investing in property and businesses outside of Ethiopia.

Unless meaningful sanctions are applied, growing disaffection with the west, previously noted by former US Ambassador Yamamoto, is likely to mature further. Under the oppression of the Ethiopian regime, opposition voices are becoming more likely to find expression in the very movements which the support of Ethiopia, because of its cooperation in the ‘war on terror’, is meant to avoid.

The authoritarian regime in Ethiopia is a major cause of instability affecting the whole of the Horn of Africa. Supporting it and investing in it is a short-sighted policy.

Yours sincerely,

Marama F. Qufi

Chairperson,

Oromia Support Group in Australia Inc.
(For – Dr Trevor Trueman, Chair, Oromia Support Group).

[1] http://www.oromo.org/osg/Report_46.pdf, pp.43-44.
[2] http://www.opride.com/oromsis/news/horn-of-africa/3701-oromo-activist-tesfahun-chemeda-dies-in-prison-while-serving-life-sentence
[3] http://www.oromo.org/osg/Report_43.pdf, p.22
[4] For example, Badassa Geleta was among 18 refugees returned to Ethiopia from Djibouti on 31 December 2012 and detained in Dire Dawa. He was awaiting resettlement in Canada. Riyana Abdurahman, a 23 year-old teacher, was abducted from Hargeisa on 23 Novermber 2012 and imprisoned in Jigjiga, Somali Region, Ethiopia.

=>ayyaantuu

Ajjeechaa Mootummaan EPRDF Injiiner Tasfahun Camadaa Irratti Raawwate Rakkoo Empayera Itiyoophiyaa Qabee Jiruutiif Furmaata Hin Ta’u

Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa

Finfinnee | Hagayya 25, 2013

Ajjeechaa sukkanneessaa mootummaan wayyaanee Injineer Tasfaahun Camadaa irratti raawwate tuffii Uummata Oromoo maraaf qabu kan mul’isu dha.Uummatni Oromoo garbummaa mootummaa habashaa jalatti kufe jedhee guyyaan itti qabsoo irraa dhaabbate hin qabu. Sirni bulchiinsa TPLF/EPRDF Maanguddoota, Barsiisota, Baratoota, Qonaan bulaa, hojjetaa fi daldalaa akkasumas dhiiraa dhalaa fi xiqqaa guddaan Oromoo osoo nu hin hafiin baroota dheeraaf Oromummaa qofaan yakkamuun dhumaatii daangaa hin qabne saba Oromoo irraan gahaa yoonaan gahe. Qe’ee irraa arii’aa, saamaa fi darara daangaa hin qabnes saba Oromoo irratti hammaachuun itti fufee jira.

Haalli kun daran bifa gara jabina hamaan ittin fufuun yeroo ammaa dhiibbaan mootummaan EPRDF uummata Oromoo irraan gahaa jiru daran hammaachaa dhufuu irraan, Guyyaa har’aa Hagayya 24, 2013 Injineer Tasfaahun Camadaa waggoota toorbaaf mana dukkanaa keessatti erga ukkaamsuun dararaa gara garaan irraan gahaa har’a Hagayya 24,2013 mana hidhaa Qaallittii keessatti ajjeesuun yeroo dhagahamu Injiiner Tasfahun Camadaa ajjeefamus qabsoon Oromooo akka ajjeefamuu hin dandeenye mootummaa Wayyaaneef mirkaneessina.

Ammaan duras dararaa hidhaa keessatti irraan gahamaa ture irraa ka’uun Injineer Tasfaahun Camadaa dhukkubsatee akka waldhaanamuuf irra deddeebbiin bulchitoota mana hidhaa TPLF gaafatus deebiin argate diddaa ta’uu isaatiin irraan kan ka’e miidhaan akkaanii irra gahaa ture. diduun isaanii kan beekamu dha. Mana hidhaa Qaallittii keessatti Oromoota qaroo ta’an heddumminaa midhuu fi ajjeessuun aadaa Wayyaanotaa yoo ta’e iyyuu Barataa Alamaayyoo Garbaa, Gaaddisaa Hirphaasaa fi Tasfahun Camadaan hammeenya daangaa hin qabneen wareega kafaluun isaanii mooraa qabsoo Oromoo fi uummata Oromoo biratti godaannisa hin dhinne ta’ee muldhataa jira.

Mootummaan Wayyaanee gaaffii uumata Oromoo bifa laalaa hammeenya daangaa hin qabneen furuuf tattaafatus rakkoo biyyattii daran jabeessa malee sirnicha kufaatii fi seena dabaa galmeessuu isaa irraa isa hin oolchu. Godhchaa Wayyaanotaa kanas Qeerroon Bilisummaa jabeessee balaaleffataa mootummaan Wayyaanee fi sirni bulchiisi EPRDF itti gaafatamummaa jalaa akka hin bane gadi jabeessuun Qeerroon Bilisummaa beeksisa.

Oromoonni biyya keessaa fi ala jiran marti wareegama ilmaan Oromoo irraan gahaa jiru kana dura dhaabbachuuf bakka maratti sagalee keessan aduunyaan akka dhagahu taasisuun fadoomina isaa beeksifna.

Qabsaa’aan ni Kufa. Qabsoon itti fufa!!

Injifannoo Uummata Oromoof!!

PDFn:- Wareegamuu Injinera Tasfahun Camadaa ilaalchisee Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa

=>ayyaantuu

The battle over the Oromo Liberation Flag

By Rundaasaa Asheetee Hundee | August 25, 2013

The battle over the Oromo Liberation Flag between all those who claim to represent the Oromo people demonstrates how gross deception is employed with respect to representing the Oromo freedom.  For example, peaceful means of struggle requires disarming oneself and compromising with the ruling Tigre clan. That means, any group or individual that agrees with the ruling colonizing Tigre force must agree with the resettlement program that the Tigre rulers are undertaking in Oromia, and they must support the resource exploitation and degradation even if it ultimately leads to resource-based conflicts between the native people and the new Arab and Indian settlers.  Following this objective, one must stop calling one’s party or group “the FRONT”. 

This being the case however, groups such as the Oromo democratic FRONT play with words and with the Oromo Liberation Front flag to intentionally perpetuate confusion and to fuel conflicting messages. The objective of the so called ODF is      clear. The party’s goal is to start up conversation among the ethnic groups, especially the ruling Tigre/Amhara clans and convince them to recognize the Oromo people as equal political players and then change the constitution of the empire.  To do so requires not the Oromo liberation front flag and title “FRONT” but the creation of political party that could function like other so called parties in empire Ethiopia.

Most importantly, the group that is planing to integrate different ethnic groups under one flag should not promote the Oromo flag.  What is very clear that the Oromo Liberation Flag represents the Oromo people who continue to suffer until the inequities in resource distribution and access to decision making power is guaranteed. That means, the process through which ODF is planing to transform the empire is initiating and the strengthening the negotiation processes. As it is right now however, the ODF tries to be both. What should be appropriate  to be used as an organization name and flag for the so called ODF group is something that shows conflict resolution title such as rainbow coalition and empire Ethiopia’s flag. Otherwise, title ODF promotes the mission of dialogue and democracy among the Oromians and that obviously requires to oppose the colonial agenda that the Tigre clan is promoting in Oromia for 22 years, following the Amharas who are fighting very hard to promote the colonial legacies and socio-political dominance that their Nafxanya fore fathers have established for them.

Continues on part 2

=>bilisummaa

Death in Ethiopian custody of Tesfahun Chemeda, after refoulement from Kenya (Open letter of Dr Trevor Trueman of OSG to UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commenwealth Affairs)

                               Oromia support Group

Mark Simmonds MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Africa)

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

King Charles Street

London SW1A 2AH                                                                        25 August 2013

Open letter

Death in Ethiopian custody of Tesfahun Chemeda, after refoulement from Kenya

Dear Minister,

It is with sadness and anger that I report the death of a young Oromo in Kaliti prison, Ethiopia, on 24 August, yesterday. Tesfahun Chemeda was a student activist in Ethiopia and a political activist among refugees in Kenya, where he was granted refugee status by UNHCR. He was arrested with a colleague, Mesfin Abebe, by Kenyan anti-terrorist police on 2 April 2007.

Although cleared by the anti-terrorist unit and by the FBI, the men were subject to refoulement to Ethiopia at the request of the Ethiopian authorities. UNHCR, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission were told in court, after their application for habeas corpus, that the men had been returned to Ethiopia, whereas they remained in custody in Kenya for at least two more days after the court hearing.

Tesfahun and Mesfin disappeared in detention in Ethiopia until charged with terrorist offences in December 2008. They were sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010. [1] (Mesfin’s death sentence was later commuted.)

Tesfahun was transferred from Zeway prison to Kaliti, where he had been held in solitary confinement for nearly two years before he was killed.[2]

This is not the first time young Oromo men have been killed in detention. For example, Alemayehu Garba, partially paralysed with polio, was shot dead with 18 others in Kaliti prison in November 2005.[3]

Refoulement of UNHCR-recognised refugees from Djibouti and Somaliland continues.[4]

How long must we wait for Her Majesty’s Government and other western governments to stop maintaining the EPRDF in power? Over one third of Ethiopia’s budget is in foreign aid. Ethiopia receives more aid from the UK than any other country in the world.

It is a shocking state of affairs and an appalling way to spend UK taxpayers’ money. I am tired of hearing from Ministers and officials that they take every opportunity to engage with representatives of the Ethiopian government at the highest level to express their serious concerns about human rights abuses and lack of democratic progress in Ethiopia.

I have been hearing this for over twenty years. When are we going to see an effective response by those who control Ethiopia’s purse strings?

If the UK is so wedded to providing aid to Ethiopia, than at least we should insist on it being contingent on real, measurable benchmarks of human rights and democratisation and not the desk-based studies of government-controlled data which support the status quo in Ethiopia.

This should be backed by effective sanctions so that members of the Ethiopian government are prevented from travelling to the UK and America and investing in property and businesses outside of Ethiopia.

Unless meaningful sanctions are applied, growing disaffection with the west, previously noted by former US Ambassador Yamamoto, is likely to mature further. Under the oppression of the Ethiopian regime, opposition voices are becoming more likely to find expression in the very movements which the support of Ethiopia, because of its cooperation in the ‘war on terror’, is meant to avoid.

The authoritarian regime in Ethiopia is a major cause of instability affecting the whole of the Horn of Africa. Supporting it and investing in it is a short-sighted policy.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Trevor Trueman, Chair, Oromia Support Group.

=>oromiatimes