Jechoota Gamnaa

Amaan Tolaa Hamdaa (A.T.) irraa 

A. Seensa

Barreeffamni kun qorannaan dubbii Arsi’ii yookaan koottu-dhufeen maal akka fakkaatu ibsa. Barreeffamni kun gabaabaa ta’ullee jechoota gamnaa yeroo adda addaa bakka adda addaatti jedhaman irratti xiyyeeffachuun; gamni maal waliin jedhe gaafii jedhuuf deebii kennuuf yaala.

B. Koottu-Dhufee

Koottu-dhufeen aadaa haasawa Arsiiti; sirna mari’ii ka Arsiin bakka sirnaatti haasawu. Koottu dhufeen sirna haasawaa kan bakka cidhaa ykn du’aatitti haasawamu. Sirna haasawaa ka dubbiin bilchaataan ittiin dubbatamu. Arsiin jaarsummaa koottu-dhufeen yookaan  ilaaliin haasaya.

Namni bakka sirnaa jiru jaarsas ta’ee ka’ima kan dubbachuuf murtii qabu  kan sirni dubbachuu hin dhoorgine martuu koottu dhufee fudhatee haasayuu danda’a. Koottu dhufee fudhachuuf ijoo dubbii beekuu qabna yoo hin beeknee ta’e nama beekutti siqnee gurratti dubbii na barsiisi jenna. Jaarsonnillee yoo namni haarofti addabaabaayii  dhufe dubbii barsiisaa jedhan. Namni haaroftis erga dubbii baree  booda yaada ofii kenna.

Aadaa Arsii keessatti  ka’imti ykn dargaggeessi jaarsa jala taa’ee dubbii bara. Aadaa bareedaa Arsiin Oromoo gumaache keessaa sirni haasawa koottu-dhufee tokkoffa jechuu dandeenna. Gara biraatiin sirni haasawaa kan gosoota Oromoo biroo koottu-dhufee irraa garaa gartii guddaa hin qabu.  Sirna haasawa koottu-dhufee keessatti gaafiin ykn yaanni kallattii adda addaatii ka’ee  deebiin kallattii adda addaatii itti kennama. Koottu-dhufee dabaree eeggatanii namatti fudhatan koottaa kaa jedhan; namni hunduu dabaree eeggatee maarree abbaa ebaluu jedhee haasaya jalqaba. Namoonni adda addaa akkuma dandeettii fi muxannoo isaaniitti haasawa ofii fakkeenna dubbiitii fi maammaakaan gabbisanii dhiyeessu; kana booda yaada waliigalaa irra gayama. Dhimmi haasawamuufis erga hayyoonni adda addaa yaada ofii itti kennanii booda walii galteerra gayama.

Jechoonni gamnaa asii gaditti tarraayanis kan bakka, yeroo fi haala adda addaa keessatti jedhamaniidha. Akkanumas; jechoonni gamnaa koottu-dhufee haasawuuf gargaarantu asii gaditti dhiyaate.

C. Gamna

Hayyuu dubbii beeku; namoota walitti bu’an kan araarsu; ka dubbii qoru; koottu-dhufee fudhatee haasawa bilchaataa haasawuu ka danda’u. Gabaabamatti; haasawa mishaa fakkeenna dubbiitiin midhaage haasawuun ka nama amansiisu jechuu dandeenna.

D. JECHOOTA GAMNAA

“Malkataafis; qandhafaafis toltii adurreetti bilbila haa hiinuu” jedhe hantuunni.

***

Diintichi obbaafate;
Nagaan bobbaafate;
Gamnichi obbaafate;
Qorata malee taa’e;
Qora malee haasaye

(Diintichi ka hobbaafateef waan loon irraa oofataniif/yaafataniif; gamni ammo iddoo taa’ullee qoratee taa’a; qoratee haasaya;qoraan hojjata)

***

“Dullumti eessaan dhufti?” jennaan; “Dugdaa fi jilbaan” jedhe gamni tokko. “Kana qofaa miti” jedhe gamni duraa:”Ijaan- harka ijarra kaayatee laalaa; gurraan- yoo waa itti himan yeey maal jettan jedhaa; ilkaanin- ilkaan irraa cabuu jalqabaa; qalbiin dhufti waa dagataa.” jedhee deebise gamnichi duraa.

***

Dullumti duddaan dhufti; gadi caldhiin ilmaan dhufti; kankee kanumaan niitiin dhufti; keessa tareen lammiin dhufti.

***

Wallaalaan of jalatti
Gamni ammo baargamatti!

***

Gowwaan gorsan nama dida
Qabu nama dika
Malli gowwaa maali?

***

“Intala dayee;
Kolooban gayee
Koloobni maqaa itti haa baasu” jette namittiin.

***

“Gootni ka maal godhee dabeessi ka maal ta’e” jedhee gamni tokko kan biraa gafate. Gamni biraas; “Gootni ka ari’ee dabeessi kan dheesse” jedhe. “Kanuma qofaa ree jedhe gamni duraa?”; “Ee kanuma” Jedhe gamni lammataa. Jennaan miti jedhe gamni duraa “Kan dheessee deebi’ee ofirraa reebellee goota; kan ari’ee irraa hin hafnellee luynaa mitii?” jedhee gamnichi duraa deebise.

***

Tokko dubartiitti bayee qore; itti dhufee akkana jedheen:-

“Ijaarattee mana;
Keessa jirtaa namaa
Akkam oolte” jedheen.  Isiinis gamna waan taatef akkana jettee qaanessite:-

“Qabattee sibiila;
Falanni si dhiira
Ee ooltee” jetteen.

***

Waa sadi waa sadii injifatte:-

1. Bubbeen galaana injifatte
2. Namichi bubbee injifate
3. Namicha duuti injifatte

(Bubbeen galaana oliifi gadi dhooftee injifatte; namichi ammoo doonii galaana irratti ijaaree bubbee injifate; namicha ammo duuti injifatte.)

***

Waa sadi haga waa sadiif jirraa beektutti hin dubbadhu jedhe gamni:-

1ffaa. Dabeessi haga gootaf jiraa beekutti
2ffaa. Dondhi haga arjaaf jiraa beekutti
3ffaa. Gowwaan haga gamnaaf jiraa beekutti

***

“Dhiisuuf dhalee; arraabuuf qoree malli maali?” jette dhaddeen dhaltee.

***

“Awliyaa rakko’oo dhaqan shantu du’a oolan shantamatu du’a” malli maali?

***

Akka hin nyaannee dangaaja marqite;
Akka hin dhiifnee itti carreessite

***

Lagni guuteen dhugaa simbirri irra hin barartuun soba; si soqee si dhabeen dhugaa lafti na jalatti hin hafneen soba; ebalu duroomee kiila lixeen dhugaa horii isaa laakkoftee itti hin baatun soba.

***

Qoricha jennaan harree qalle
Hin ta’u jenna harree ganne
Fidaa jennaan sondhee dhabne.

***

Bulee yaa bulee;
Buleen woyiinuu turee;
Worra bulee qaanyesse;
Rabbi raatesse.

(Arriin kabaja qabdi. Namni jaaree arrii bulee godhe hambisaa kabajuu qabna; yoo kabajuu baannee abaaree nu balleessa)

***

Kaamoo mana bulkaa;
Boosoo mana curgaa;
Kaamoon harka hallee;
Booson garaa halle.

(Kaamaya mana urgaa/bareedaa; boosaya mana busha’aa; kaamaya harka hallee boosaya garaa halle/baay’ee deetti)

***

Ilmi qe’ee hatu raaja; niitiin dhiirsa hamattu raaja; namni lammii ganu raajaa; jaarsi sigabaa galu raaja.

***

Dullumti ihii (ebelee) dabalatte waan falli hin baafne; deegni ceem’aa dabalate waan falli hin baafne.

***

Laafaa horii guddisii konkaa qoraafadhu;
Laafaa namaa guddisii bonjaa boraafadhu.

***

Kan lolu goota; kan hin lolle dabeessa; kan lolee hin araaramne sheexana.

***

Eerakkadhe jedhe gamnichi wallaalaa wajjiin cinaa (lakkuu) dhalate; eerakkadhe jedhe gootni dabeessa wajjiin cinaa dhalate.

***

Gamni gamnaan akkana jedhe;” Dhiira tahanii meeshaa waraanaa dhabuun fafa.” Jennaan; dogongorte jedheen gamni lammataa; “Meeshaa waraanaa dhabuu mitii meeshaa waraanaa qabaatanii onnee dhabutuuyyi fafaa” jedheen.

***

Waa sadi faayaa waa sadi faaya faayarraati:- 1. Amrii (qabeenna) qabaachuun faayaa arjummaan faaya faayarraati. 2. Arrii qabaachuun faayaa aqlii (gamnummaa) qabaachuun faaya faayarraati. 3. Gootummaan faayaa obsi faaya faayarraati.

***

Keessumaa waa sadiin simatan: lafee foon hin qabneen simatan;foon lafee hin qabneen simata; erbee coraa hin qabneen simatan. Lafeen foon hin qabne:-ilkaan kolfanii kolfisiisan. Foon lafee hin qabne-arrabaa haasayanii haasofsiisan. Erbeen coraa hin qabne-gurraa waan keessummaan jettu jalaa  dhagayan.

***

Gowwaaf galgalli dukkanatti
Gamnaa fi gamini ifatti
Waariin dukkana hammeesse
Ifa dhiyeesse!

***

Gamni gamnatti dhufee akkana jedhe ” Wonti erga deemee hin dhaabbatin maali? Wonti erga taa’ee hin socho’in maali? Wonti erga diigamee hin ijaaramin maali?” Jennaan gamni lammataallee akkas jedhee deebise. “Wonti erga deemee hin dhaabbatin laga; wonti erga taa’ee hin deemin dhagaa; wonti erga diigamee hin ijaaramin garaa:- garaa har’as borus ittuma nyaatanii inni sanuma”

***

Gamni gamnatti bayee qore:” Walqixxeen (handhuurri) lafaa eessa” jedheen. Gamni lammataallee “Achuma bakka ati jirtu san” jedheen. Gamni duraallee “Akkamitti ta’a?” jennaan “Dhundhumaan safartee walitti laaluu dandeetta” jedheen.

***

Wonti ganama guddoo; guyyaa xiqqoo; galgala guddoo maali? Deebii:-Gaaddidduu

***

Gamni gamnatti bayee akkana jedhe “Fardaa oliin boora kiyya; biyyaa oliin Fasasa tiyya; niitii oliin niitii tiyyya; “Jennaan; dogongorte jedheen gamni lammataa”Boorri kankee guulee dabe; biyyi tantee dheebisaan dabde; niitiin tantee kashalabboomtee dabde.”Jedheen

***

Gamni akkas jedhe:- fardaan haga farada jedhan dhaqqabo hin jedhanii; dubartiin haga dubarti jedhan ibso hin jedhanii; loonin haga loon jedhan qabbaneesso hin jedhanii; du’aan haga du’a jedhan woffifte hin jedhanii jedhe.

(Fardi dafee bakka hedan nama geessaa; dubartiin mana ibsitii (tolchitii); loon ammoo aannan isaa nama qabbaneessa; duuti ammoo hoffaa nama gootii)

***

Baddaaf gammoojjiin yeroo baay’ee wal  tuffatan dubbiinis wal tuqan wal agibu waliinis morku.Yeroo sirnaa; cidha ta’inna du’aa jaarsolii ciccimoo gamna ta’an filatanii ‘koottu-dhufee’ walitti fudhatan.  Jaarsoliin dubbii sirritti beekan dubbii mi’aayaa nama tuffachiifne haasawan.

Yeroo woyii gammoojii irraayyi baddaa fuudhaaf osoo deeman worri isaan irraa fuudhan illee baddaa worra dureessa ture. Jaarsi gamnaa (abbaan gosaa) ka koottu dhufee  haa fudhatuuf qopheessan keessaa tokko akkana jedhe “Jarana maalif wol gattanii facaatanii deemtan worra eennuu akka deemaa jirru beettanii worra guddaa dhaqaa jirraa bar; mee dhaabadhaa hin mari’anna jedhe. Akkuma beettan baddaan dubbiif sirritti qophooftee nu eeddii. Kanaaf; teessumti akka qabaa akka itti teennu mari’anna; nyaannis akka qabaa akka itti nyaannu mari’anna dubbiinis akka qabdii akka itti dubbannu mari’anna.” jedhe. Achumaan jaarsi lammataa maarree jedhanii  attam taana maal jenna biyyana jedhe. Jaarsi biraa koottu dhufee erga fudhatee akkas jedhe maarree jarana ka jettan sadiinuu nu hin rakkisuu jedhe. Achumaa, jaarsi duraa attamitti jennaan jaarsi sadaffa  akkas jedhe ka teennu bakka isaan qopheessan kan nyaannu waan isaan nuu kennan ka dubbannu kallattii dubbii isaanii laalleeti jedhe.

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Yeroo woyii gamin baddaa gamna gammoojjiitti bayee akkas jedheen “Eessaa baate abboo?” Jennaan; gamnichi gammoojjii illee “Gammoojjii baye.” jedheen. Achii gamnichi baddaa “Gadii keessaa baatee!” Jennaan; achumaan gamnichi gammoojjillee “Gadii keessallee oli jira olii keessallee gadi jira.” jedheen.

***

Gamni gamnatti bayee gamna qore; gamni duraa gamna lammtaatin akkana jedhe” Ganni maalii gamni maal” Gamni lammataallee akkas jedhee deebise “Ganni ka fixeensayee gamni ka dubbii fixe” Jennaan; Gamni jalqabaa dogongorte jedheen “Birraan illee ima fixeensayaa; dubbii ammo bultu (turtu)  dhumattii; yerootu fixaa kanaaf ;ganni ka quufsee ciciiphise gamni ammoo ka waan dhufu (ofduraa) beekee.” jedheen.

***

Gamni gamnaan akkas jedhe “Namni ka du’eef ka jiru keessaa kamtu baay’inaan caala?” Jennaan gammi lammmataallee “Ka jiruu du’e wajjiin ka du’etu caala”jedheen.

***

Daamuu Ushuu gamni Arsii beekkamaan yeroo ta’e dubbiif ganda woyii dhaqee erga simatanii booda dubartiin woyii akkana jetteen”Daamuu Ushuu ka gurri Ambaa Diina gaye sun kanumaa?” jette gabaabbinna isaa laaltee; innillee baay’ee gabaabaa waan tureef. Achumaa; Daamuu Ushuullee jecha isii dhagayee akkana jedhe “Ol hin cinneen gafarsaa; gadi hin cinneen farraa teennaan teessuma gayee; dubbannaan higaa gayee mixiif na komattaa” jedheen.

***

Jaarsi gamni woyii yeroo ta’e Daamuu Ushuutiin akkana jedhe        “Daamuu silaa ati gamna beekkamaa ambaa diinni beekee ilma sitti baye qabdaa?” jennaan innillee akkana jedhee deebise ” Arse sadiin afaan qabee tiyya sadan afaan qabatte”jedhe. Ilmaan sadan uumate keessaa tokkichillee isatti waan hin bayiniif.

***

Gamni warra soddaa dhaqee erga waa nyaatee dhugee booda yeroon gannaa  akkana jedhe soddaatiin “Da’iyya marqi keessan xinnaatee dabe; gubee dabe; mi’aayee dabe” jennaan  Soddaatinis akkas jettee deebifteef “Xiqqeenni akka yeroo; gubaatin akka jarjaraa; mi’aan akka harkaa afuufadhaa keessaa fudhaa ” jetteen.

***

Korminee korma kaaye  kormarra dalluu kaaye; Haburaa goota kaaye Itayya gaamaa kaaye; Jiille jaamaa kaaye; Ajjeeftee mirga hin qabduu qollee dhara qandhaftu Abeetaa Dambal kaaye.

***

Ilmi ka abbaa fakkaate caala moo ka bara fakkaate caala? Jennaan ka bara fakkaate caala jedhe gamni.

***

Waa sadi waa sadi nyaatti:- 1/Aariin umrii nyaatti 2/Kijibni hiriyyaa nyaatti 3/Kolfi qalbii nyaatti

***

Waa lama nama xiqqeessiti:- 1ffaa Hanna 2ffaa Kijiba

***

Teessumti woyaa fixxi; deemsi kophee fixxi; hirribni yeroo fixxi; obsi muuxannoo fixxi; hawwiin jaalala fixxi.

Itti fufa …

=>gadaa

Vice chair of OFC to speak at OSA

Dear OSA members and friends:

Today, I feel honored to announce to you, Nagessa Oddo Dube is going to be one of the Keynote Speakers at OSA’s 2014 mid-year conference to be held in Chicago on March 29 and 30, 2014. BTW, the deadline for an article submission has been extended by two weeks until February 15 to submit an abstract. You can submit your abstracts to OSA's president at: ielemo@yahoo.com.

Nagessa Oddo Dube is a politician, attorney, academician, and human right activist who aspires to see the united and strong Oromo nation based on the democratic gadaa system. Born to a pastoral family in the Guji zone of the Oromia state, like any Oromo child, he helped his family with farming duties and looking after calves and goats. He was sent to school in 1988, and he diligently worked to become an outstanding student who considered standing first in his class and from whole classes his birthright. He joined Nagelle High School in 1996 and the Law Faculty of Addis Ababa University in 2000. Imbued with the Gadaa system egalitarian ethos, he has deep-rooted love for justice, democracy, and rule of law in Ethiopia. He began to work with the Oromo from different walks of life to expose and fight the systematic violations of human rights in Ethiopia. He actively participated in Oromo student’s movement and rose to the position of a chairperson of the Oromo Students Unity Association of Addis Ababa University in the year 2003-2004. In June 2004, he organized a protest against the decision of the government to move the capital of Oromia from Finfinne to Adama. Over four hundred students were arrested and tortured of which 25 of them, including Nagessa, were kept behind the bars till 2007.

He was released from Qaliti prison in March, 2007. Despite these challenges, he has always been an optimist. He decided not to give up on the struggle for respect of fundamental human rights for which he convinced that acquiring quality education was necessary. He rejoined the Law Faculty of Addis Ababa University and graduated with an LLB degree in 2009. Sooner, he joined an opposition political party, the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC) in 2009. He ran for a parliamentary seat in the May 2010 general election representing the Guji zone of Oromia. During his campaign, he survived numerous assassination attempts, but many of his campaign staffs were put in a jail for simply voting and campaigning for him. In January 2012, he was elevated to the position of vice-chairman of the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC). He diligently worked to unite the OPC and Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and form the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC). After the merger, he became a public relations head of OFC until he came to the U.S. for education. He is still strongly engaged in the Oromo struggle and trying to expose the ordeals of the Oromo political prisoners in the hellish Ethiopian prison cells.

=>oromowiki

Sudan: pregnant gang rape victim remains in police custody

February 6, 2014 (KHARTOUM) - An 18-year-old pregnant Ethiopian woman who was the victim of a brutal gang-rape last August in Omdurman has been sleeping on the concrete floor of a police cell since her arrest on 17 January, advocacy group, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), said in a public statement on Tuesday.

Women advocates say serious shortcomings in Sudanese laws contribute to the lack of protection for victims of sexual violence in Sudan (UN)

It’s alleged the woman was lured to an empty property while searching for a rental home in Omdurman, which neighbours the capital, Khartoum, where she was pinned down and raped by seven men.

The attack was filmed by one of the participants and later circulated on social media.

SIHA said the woman, who is married and was about three months pregnant at the time of the attack, decided not to report the rape out of fear after her attackers threatened further violence.

The woman was detained last month under Articles 153 and 154 of Sudan’s criminal code, pertaining to the making and distribution of indecent material and indecent behaviour. All seven of the alleged perpetrators have since been arrested by police.

Now nine months pregnant, SIHA said the victim, who has been sleeping on the bare floor of her cell without a mattress, was in urgent need of psychological support and medical attention.

BAIL DENIED

However, repeated attempts by legal representatives to have her bail application heard have been refused on the grounds that the investigation is still ongoing.

An application to the attorney-general submitted on behalf of the victim in order to arrange a meeting to file a rape case against the perpetrators has also been declined.

“By preventing the victim from making a formal complaint of rape, she is denied the opportunity for a formal legal investigation into the crime and could render the perpetrators immune from justice”, SIHA said in the statement.

The advocacy group said footage of the attack, which has been seen by SIHA staff, clearly shows that the woman was pinned down against her will while her attackers took turns to violate her.

It has called on police and judicial authorities to uphold their obligations under local, regional and international law, and launch an immediate criminal investigation.

CASE HIGHLIGHTS PREJUDICE

The case has highlighted the racial prejudices that exist in Sudan against Ethiopian migrants, with the victim publicly portrayed as a promiscuous woman and willing participant in her attack.

SIHA said the case also raised serious questions about the way survivors of rape are treated by police in Sudan.

“The speed with which the general public and media have been willing to condemn the female victim as opposed to denounce the perpetrators reflects the deep-seated prejudices and assumptions that culpability for sexual violence lies with a woman and her behaviour,”“ SIHA said in an earlier statement.

A December 2013 report detailed rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence confronting the women of Sudan.

The report, produced by Canada’s Nobel Women’s Initiative in partnership with the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, described the situation faced by survivors of rape and sexual violence in Sudan as “dire”, with victims routinely threatened, jailed and denied medical treatment.

According to the report, one of the most daunting challenges facing rape survivors in Sudan is the fact that the burden of proof often rests with the victim.

Those that do come forward to report their rape risk being accused of adultery, an offence punishable by flogging or death by stoning if the woman is married.

=>sudantribune

Egypt and Ethiopia spar over the Nile

by Hassen Hussein @HusseinHxhuss10

Egypt’™s colonial-era veto power over the river’s bounties is untenable

The Blue Nile in Guba, Ethiopia. 

William Lloyd-George/AFP/Getty Images

On Jan. 8, Ethiopia turned down Egypt’s demand that it suspend construction of its mega-dam on the Nile, further escalating tensions between the two states. Fearing that Ethiopia’s $4.2 billion project would reduce the river’s flow, Egypt calls for a halt in construction until the dam’s downstream impact is determined. Otherwise, it has vowed to protect its “historical rights” to the Nile at “any cost.”

While scoffing at Egyptian threats, Ethiopia has called for Cairo’s collaboration in negotiations and claims that the dam will have no adverse effect on Egypt. It would, in fact, decrease evaporation and improve water flow. Ethiopia hopes that the ambitious hydroelectric project, slated to be completed in 2017, would catapult the country out of poverty. Frustrated by what it described as Ethiopia’s stubborn stance, Cairo is threatening to take the issue to the United Nations Security Council.

Is this just standard diplomatic brinkmanship before an inevitable compromise, or a harbinger of a looming water war? Regardless, the lack of progress on the diplomatic front bodes ill for a quick end to a stalemate that has long gripped the region. Home to 600 million people, more than half of Africa’s total population, the Nile Basin is already traumatized by endless internal political strife and mounting pressures to feed a population growing at Malthusian proportions.

However, as ominous as it sounds, the collapse of the talks does not necessarily mean Egypt and Ethiopia will soon be locking horns. Despite suggestions to the contrary, this is simply the waning phase of a protracted diplomatic dance before an inevitable conciliation.

A dam for development

Although known as northeast Africa’s water tower, Ethiopia until recently had not bothered to utilize its many rivers. The inability to make use of the Nile has been Ethiopia’s age-old national lament. That changed in 2011, when the country announced plans for the construction of its so-called Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), designed to generate a staggering 6,000 megawatts of electricity. By situating the project only 19 miles from the Sudanese border on the vast Blue Nile gorge, where the land is unsuitable for agriculture, Ethiopia sought to reassure Egypt but ended up stoking its fears.

The design and impacts of the GERD are shrouded in secrecy. Observers cast doubts on its timely completion. In a flawed bidding process, Ethiopia granted the project to a Milan-based engineering company, Salini Costruttori, circumventing its own contract procedures and international standards on procurement. The construction is reportedly lagging behind schedule and faces several unresolved technical problems, one of which is how long it takes to fill the dam. Ethiopia claims the project is on course and dismisses facing any technical hurdles.

One of Africa’s fastest-growing non-oil economies, Ethiopia has embarked on a state-led development fashioned after the economic miracles in South Korea and the rest of the so-called Asian tigers. Ignoring warnings from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that such a massive publicly funded infrastructure project would starve private investments, Ethiopia is forging ahead. To wit, when Egypt used its influence with international financiers to choke off funding, Ethiopia declared it would finance the project with domestic resources.

Gift of the Nile

The founding myths of many ancient civilizations center on famous rivers — the Euphrates and the Tigris (Babylon), the Yangtze (China) and the Ganges (India), to name a few. However, not many are as inextricably dependent on a single river for their livelihood as Egypt is on the Nile. Egypt’s history is defined as much by the flooding and drying beds of the Nile as by the pyramids. For a country described by Herodotus as “the gift of the Nile,” control over the majestic river has been an existential Egyptian preoccupation since antiquity.

The world’s longest river is made up of a maze of tributaries. Nineteenth-century explorers went on a wild goose chase to locate the mysterious river’s murky origin before tracing it to Lake Tana in Ethiopia and the Great Lakes in Central Africa. Two of the river’s main tributaries are the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The Blue Nile, accounting for upwards of 80 percent of the Nile waters, originates in northern Ethiopia. It makes a steep descent from Ethiopian highlands — carrying brown silt — before it joins the White Nile in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, augmented by several large rivers from southwestern Ethiopia. The White Nile originates in Burundi and flows northward from the Great Lakes region, crossing Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan.

Who owns the Nile?

The Nile’s origin being outside its borders did not prevent Egypt from getting the lion’s share of its waters. The claim for exclusive ownership of the Nile waters is premised on a 1929 treaty between Egypt and Britain’s East African colonies, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. These colonies gained independence from Britain in the 1960s. The treaty awarded 57 percent of the waters to Egypt while also requiring other nations to clear with Cairo before launching any major water project on the river. Another treaty, signed in 1959 between Egypt and Sudan, raised Egypt’s share to 66 percent. The two signatories, divvying up virtually all of the Nile waters, did not even consult Ethiopia, the main source of the river. After the 1959 accord, both Egypt and Sudan built mega-dams to exploit the water for irrigation.  

For years, upstream Nile Basin countries — Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda — nursed misgivings about the colonial-era accord, in which they had no say. However, they grudgingly acquiesced mainly because, unlike Egypt and Sudan, whose arid lands are watered by the lone river, they are not wholly reliant on the Nile. But, finding the challenge of feeding their growing populations on rain-fed subsistence farming unbearable, upstream countries initiated negotiations in 1999 to find an equitable and reasonable way to share the Nile waters. The decade-long negotiations resulted in the 2010 Cooperative Framework Agreement, known as the Entebbe Agreement. The landmark accord, signed by the six upstream countries, was rejected outright by both Egypt and Sudan. Touted as “an African solution for an African problem,” the agreement calls for the creation of a commission to oversee development projects on the Nile. It needed ratification by the legislatures of each of the signatory countries. But its implementation is in limbo until another Nile Basin country — for example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is now sitting on the fence — signs it.

Ethiopia’s diplomatic coup

The High Aswan Dam in Egypt. 

AFP/Getty Images

In a further blow to Egypt, its alliance with Sudan faltered in 2012 when Sudan, which gets 35 percent of the Nile water according to the 1959 treaty, rescinded its initial opposition to Ethiopia’s renaissance dam. Khartoum’s change of heart is attributed to a still-secret report by a panel of international experts that concluded the dam would neither significantly affect downstream countries nor fundamentally alter the flow of the river. But Sudan’s internal vulnerabilities presumably played a crucial role.

In 2011, Sudan saw a huge chunk of its land mass secede to form Africa’s newest state, South Sudan. Ethiopia’s support for the former rebels of South Sudan (currently embroiled in a power struggle of their own) was instrumental in forcing Sudan — Egypt’s loyal ally — to accept the divorce. An international warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in connection with the conflict in Darfur has made the country an international pariah. Sudan could not afford to alienate its increasingly assertive neighbor to the south and eventually threw its weight behind Ethiopia’s colossal undertaking. Although it has yet to sign the Entebbe Agreement, which loosens Egyptian and Sudanese dominion over use of the Nile waters, Sudan’s new stance hands Ethiopia a diplomatic coup.

‘Egypt’s ill designs’

The most recent Egyptian president to threaten war to protect Egypt’s “inviolable” rights over the Nile was the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi. Last June, in a secret all-party discussion chaired by then-President Morsi, which was “mistakenly” broadcast live on state TV, Egyptian lawmakers suggested arming Ethiopia’s political opponents to obstruct the construction. The tension subsided with the military takeover in Cairo. However, after a brief interlude in which it appeared that diplomacy was to replace the menace of war, the military regime is now raising the ante. The high brass knows full well that a food shortage resulting from a significant reduction in water volumes means riots in Egyptian cities.

The last time Egypt staked its claim militarily over the Nile and the Red Sea was in 1876, when it invaded Ethiopia. The two armies met at Gura, now an Eritrean territory. Egypt’s army was nearly wiped out by an ill-equipped and ragtag Ethiopian side that would, two decades later, go on to hand Italy a humiliating defeat at the battle of Adwa. Although it never ruled out direct military confrontation with Ethiopia, Egypt has since reverted to proxy wars.

For centuries, Muslim Egypt supplied the head of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church, a state religion until the 1974 revolution. The imperial regime of Haile Selassie found itself under political pressure to leave the centuries-old arrangement intact following the 1959 Nile accord that excluded Ethiopia. Despite this historical relationship, Ethiopia’s official historiography is replete with Egypt’s ill designs over it. In the 1970s, Ethiopia blamed Egypt for fanning the Republic of Somalia’s irredentist claims over the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia. The two countries went to war twice over the Ogaden.

Egypt is also faulted for its role, with Sudan as its accomplice, in precipitating Ethiopia’s loss of access to the Red Sea with Eritrea’s independence. Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 after 30 years of civil war.

Internal fragility

Official rhetoric notwithstanding, both Egypt and Ethiopia are represented by shaky regimes presiding over brittle states and divided societies. Given their internal vulnerabilities, neither country can afford to go to war — a war whose outcome is uncertain.

While Ethiopia saw its economic fortunes rise over the last decade, its internal cohesion has not kept pace. Ethnic and religious cleavages as well as a border dispute with Eritrea (over which the two states fought a bloody war from 1998 to 2000) are constant reminders of its enduring fragility. Ethnic Tigreans, estimated at 6 percent of the population, have been in power since 1991. They dominate the country’s politics, military, security and economy. This is resented by both the Oromo, Ethiopia’s majority population, and the Amhara, its traditional rulers. Over the last two years, the country’s otherwise docile Muslim population, long marginalized despite accounting for a sizable portion of the population, has been increasingly restive. Ethiopia’s single-party leadership has not fully recovered from the death in 2012 of its strongman of two decades, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, a Protestant and from another minority group, does not hold as much clout as his predecessor and is seen as a temporary figure.

The opening of a Sudanese hydroelectric dam on the Nile at Merowe, north of Khartoum.

 Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

Khartoum’s woes did not end with the secession of South Sudan, either. Its army is struggling to contain rebels in the Nuba Mountains. Muffled though they appear, Sudan’s troubles in Darfur are far from over. Alienated by former allies, his capital rocked by Arab Spring–inspired unrest over the last two years, Bashir’s three-decade hold on power is tenuous. He also has to dodge the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Egypt is facing far more serious calamities. It fired the imagination of the world’s youth with its peaceful 2011 revolution. With the military wresting the reins of power back from its nemesis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and clamping down on dissent, the country has clearly slid backward.  Pursuant to the overthrow of Morsi, its first democratically elected president, Muslim-Christian relations have soured. The elevation of a trigger-happy general to the presidency would heighten Egyptian vulnerabilities. In short, with Sudan now squarely in Ethiopia’s camp, Egypt could not stage a ground attack on the dam. War by proxy has run its course. An airstrike is still possible but fraught with risks.

The dam’s long-term effect on the ecosystem upon which hundreds of millions depend for their livelihood is the greatest unknown. 

The tensions over the Nile, however, are not simply an old-fashioned competition for a scarce resource. They are rather symptomatic of deeper underlying schisms. The Nile marks the divide between black sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab Maghreb, and forms the fault line between Christian, Muslim, and indigenous Africa.

Moreover, the rhetoric of water wars over the Nile misses the crucial voice of marginalized indigenous populations — whose lives are altered by these state-sponsored megaprojects. While the construction of the Aswan Dam in Egypt and a smaller one in Sudan have enabled the two countries to develop thriving agro-industries, they caused wanton destruction to the Nubian people’s ancient way of life.  As a result of the secrecy surrounding the Nile discussions and the lack of tolerance for political dissent in all three countries, there is little discussion of the dam’s impact on indigenous communities and the horrendous environmental consequences.

The dam’s long-term effect on the ecosystem upon which hundreds of millions depend for their livelihood is the greatest unknown. There is a widespread charge that studies of the dam’s environmental impact are as faulty as they are insufficient. It is unclear whether the justifications for such megaprojects are even grounded in economic rationality, let alone environmental sensitivity. And why not multiple smaller dams with sound economic, technical and environmental rationales rather than one humongous project? Ethiopia has not yet answered.

The way forward

A satellite image of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2012.

DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

While the specter of a global water shortage is real, talk of the Nile Basin becoming the first battlefield in the coming water wars is a bit of a distraction. This does not mean that war over the Nile is to be ruled out. In fact, despite rampant vulnerability, indeed because of it, the countries may find it impossible to compromise on their maximum demands. To Egypt, water security equals national security. To Ethiopia, the dam has become a matter of national pride. As much as the Aswan High Dam stood as a monument to Gamal Abdel Nasser’s quest for grandeur, the GERD symbolizes Zenawi’s shot for a place in the history books as well as a ploy to spruce up the ruling party’s patriotic credentials. By casting the project as Ethiopia’s renaissance, Ethiopia risked that Egypt would see the project as its relapse. Facing water shortages amid a growing population, Egypt has actually been asking to increase its share of the Nile waters to 95 percent.

With positions so widely apart, the risk of conflagration is not entirely rhetorical. However, one thing is clear: The greatest sources of danger staring down at each of Africa’s oldest states — Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan — are internal rather than external.

While realizing that the old status quo that left it with a veto over the Nile’s bounties is untenable, Egypt’s future lies not in saber rattling but in returning to the aborted revolution’s democratic path. Owing to the increasing volatility of the rains, Ethiopia would inevitably need to use its rivers to feed 94 million hungry souls. Devoid of democratization, Ethiopia’s regime needs to realize that economic development alone won’t resolve the country’s woes. At the same time, antagonizing as important a player as Egypt is not in Ethiopia’s long-term interest. An Egyptian airstrike can turn the clock back on the dam. Although Ethiopia lacks the means to respond to such an attack in kind, Egypt risks earning the international community’s wrath and seeing its relationships with sub-Saharan Africa strained.

Compromise offers the only way out for both. Yet it is likely to be years before a durable peace built on a win-win replaces rancor over the Nile. While the latest collapse of talks is a diplomatic circus, it should be noted that dueling regimes, lacking democratic mandates, may indeed overreact to external threats, real or imagined, to win domestic legitimacy. Since a conflagration in the Nile Basin bears global repercussions, the international community must not be oblivious to the inherent dangers.

Hassen Hussein is an assistant professor at St. Mary's University of Minnesota, a longtime democracy activist and a leader of Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, the Oromo.

=>aljazeera

Mormii Ispoonsera Biiraa Baddallee Irratti Kaasaniin Wal Qabatee Barattooti Oromoo Yuuniversitii Mattuu 13 Oromummaan Yakkamuun Barnoota Irraa Arhihaman.

Gabaasa Qeerroo Mattuu Gurraandhala 5,2014

Mootummaan Abba Irree TPLF/EPRDF/ Engineerota Baratoota Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Mattuu balleessa tookko malee barmoota irraa ari’e.
Gabaasi Qeerroo yYuuniversitii  Mattuu Guraandhala 4,2014 akka beeksisutti  mootummaan abbaa irree Wayyaanee EPRDF akkuma amala isa baratoota Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Mattuu Mummee barmoota Engineering waggaa 1ffaa hanga waggaa 3ffaa barachaa jiranifi kan baratootni mummee garaagara keessatti argaman baratoota 11 barmoota idilee isaanii irraa Waggaa tokkoo hanga waggaa sadii barnoota irraa yeroo adabu, barata tokko immoo guutummaatti barmoota irraa arii’uun,Baratoota lamaa immoo akeekkachiisa dhumaa itti kennuun ilmaan Oromoo abdii biyya fi gaachana uummataa ta’an kun badii tokko malee barmoota irraa arii’amaniiru.

Mootummaan Wayyaanee beeksisa baaseen barattooti Oromoo kun akka mooraa Yuuniversitii Mattuu gadhiisan ibsa baasuun isaa beekamee jira.

Haala kanaan baratootaa Waggaa tokkooffa hanga waggaa 3ffaa badii isanii malee barmoota irraa arii’ataman:

1. Barataa Dachaasaa Gammadaaa civili Engineering waggaa 2ffaa Waggaa lamaaf barnotaa irra adabame. bakki dhalotaa godina wallaggaa Bahaa.
2. Barataa Biqilaa Lammii Civil Engineering waggaa 1ffaa waggaa tokkof barnota irra adabame, bakki dhalootaa godina wallaagga bahaa
3. Barataa Shifarraa Guddisaa Mechanical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa
   waggaa tokkoof barnotaa irraa adabame; bakki dhalootaa godina shawaa lixaa.
4. Barataa Takkaa Asaffaa Mechanical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa wagga tokkoof barnota irraa kan adabame; bakki dhalootaa godina Shawaa
   lixaa.
5. Barataa Iyaasuu Qannoo Mechanical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa wagga tokkoof barnoota irraa
   kan adabame; bakki dhalootaa godina wallaagga lixaa.
6. Barataa Gammaachis Badhaasaa mummee Herreegaa waggaa 3ffaa wagga tokkoof barnota irra adabame; bakki dhalootaa godina wallagga lixaa .
7. Barataa Jarraa Gemmuu barataa Civil Engineering waggaa 2ffaa, Guutummaatti barnootaa isa irraa kan arii’atame, bakki dhaloota Godina shawaa Lixaa.
8. Barataa Badhaasaa Dhufeera Electrical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa, waggaa tokkoof barnota isaa irra kan adabame, bakki dhalota godina wallagga bahaa.
9. Barataa Kaasahuun Mammuyyee Mechanical Engineering waggaa 3ffaa;waggaa tokkoof barnoota isa irraa kan adabame, bakki dhalotaa godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa.
10. Barataa Geetaa Nugusee Electrical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa, wagga tokkoof barnoota isa irraa adabame.
11. Barataa Abduul Karim Abdullahi Electrical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa, waggaa tokkoof barnota isa irra adabame jira.
12. Barataa Namoomsaa Electrical Engineering waggaa 2ffaa,
    akeekkachisa dhumaa itti kennuun kan doorsifamaa jiru, bakki dhalotaa godina wallaagga bahaa.
13. Barataa Bilisummaa Mul’ifnaa barataa fayyaa(HO) waggaa 2ffaa, akeekkachisaa dhumaa itti kennuun dorsifama kan jiru, bakki dhalotaa godina Shawaa Lixaa.

Baratootni Oromoo armaan olitti maqaan isaani caqafame kun balleessa tokko malee ta’ee jedhamee mootummaan abbaa irree ofiin arrabsoo maqaa balleessi jechoota dhiiga nama danfisanitti fayyadamuun baatii Amajjii 2014  keessa baratoota Oromoo arrabsuun ni yaadatama,Baddalleen Biiraas mooticha Habshaa kan faarsu ispoonsera wallisaa Habshaaf taasise. Wayita kanatti baratootni Oromoo jecha maqaa xureessii fi Ispoonsera biiraa Baddallee mormuun  hiriira nagaa bahan,gaaffii mirgaas bulchiinsa mooraa Yuuniversitichaa gaafatan kun dhageettii dhabuun loltooti Wayyaanee meeshaa waraanaan guutaman mooraa seenuun barattoota reebuu fi hidhuu itti fufee ture.Haala kanaan wal qabatee barattooti Oromoo 13 badiin tokko malee barnoota irraa arihamuu gabaafame.

=>qeerroo

Kenyan officers deny abducting Ethiopian ONLF rebels

ONLF fighters, some pictured here in Somalia in 2006, want independence for Ethiopia's Ogaden region

Two Kenyan police officers have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping two Ethiopian rebels in the capital, Nairobi.

Painito Bera Ng'ang'ai and James Ngaparini are alleged to have driven to the Ethiopian border and handed them over to Ethiopian officials.

The abducted men are from a splinter group of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), fighting for independence for the Somali-speaking Ogaden region.

They were in Kenya to facilitate peace talks with the Ethiopian government.

Correspondents say their abduction on 26 January is threatening to scupper the next round of talks.

Sulub Abdi Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein are senior negotiators for the ONLF in the talks being brokered by the Kenyan government.

The ONLF told the BBC Somali Service that it believed the Ethiopian government was behind their kidnapping.

But Abdinur Abdullahi Farah, a security adviser to the president of the Somali region, as the Ogaden is officially known, told US VOA radio that the men had given themselves up voluntarily.

Rebels in the Ogaden region have been fighting for independence since the 1970s and the ONLF has been at the forefront of the fight since it was founded in 1984.

The Ogaden is an ethnic Somali part of Ethiopia.

One ONLF faction has signed a peace deal with the government, but another has continued to fight the army.

=>bbc

Kenya: Arrest and Disappearance of Ethiopian Oromo Refugees

HRLHA: Urgent Action

February 4, 2014

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern regarding the safety of four Oromo refugees from Ethiopia who were arbitrarily arrested by Kenyan anti-terrorist squad from Isili  area in Nairobi  on different dates of operations  and taken to unknown destinations.

               According to information obtained through HRLHA correspondent in Nairobi, Mr. Tumsa Roba Katiso, (UNHCR attestation File#: NETH033036/1) was arrested by members of Kenyan anti-terrorist squad, who arrived at the scene in two vehicles, on February 1, 2014 at around 10:00 AM from 2^nd Street in the Isili locality in Nairobi on his way home from shopping. The other three refugees, Mr.Chala Abdalla, Mr. Namme Abdalla, and the third person whose name is not known yet were picked up from their home which is located in the same Isli area in Nairobi, Kenya on February 3, 2014 by members of the same anti-terrorist squad of Kenyan. The whereabouts of those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees is unknown until the time of compilation of this urgent action.

The HRLHA is highly suspicious that those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees might have been deported to Ethiopia. And, in case those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees have been deported, the Ethiopian Government has a well-documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens who were involuntarily returned to the country. The government of Ethiopia routinely imprisons such persons and sentences them to up to life in prison, and often impose death penalty. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopian official prisons and other unofficial or secret detention centres. Under Article 33 (1) of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (189 U.N.T.S. 150), to which Kenya is a party, “[n]o contracting state shall expel or forcibly return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his . . . political opinion.” This obligation, which is also a principle of customary international law, applies to both asylum seekers and refugees, as affirmed by UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the United Nations General Assembly. By deporting the four refugees and others, the Kenyan Government will be breaching its obligations under international treaties as well as customary law.

1. Under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1465 U.N.T.S. 185) to which Kenya acceded in 1997, Kenya has an obligation not to return a person to a place where they face torture or ill-treatment. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture provides:No state party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. We strongly urge the government of Kenya to respect the international treaties and obligations it has signed

Background Information:

The Kenyan Government is well known for handing over refugees to the Ethiopian Government by violating the above mentioned international obligations. It is very disheartening to recall that Engneer Tesfahun Chemeda, who died on August 24, 2013 in Ethiopia’s grand jail of Kaliti due[1] to torture that was inflicted on him in that jail, was handed over to the Ethiopian Government Security Agents in 2007 by the Kenyan Government.

               Tesfahun Chemeda was arrested by the Kenyan anti-terrorist forces, along with his close friend called Mesfin Abebe, in 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, where both were living as refugees since 2005; and later deported to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Government detained them in an underground jail in a military camp for over one year, during which time they were subjected to severe torture and other types of inhuman treatments until when they were taken to court and changed with terrorism offences in December 2008. They were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010.  (Mesfin’s death sentence was later commuted.)

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the safety and security of the above listed refugees who were recently arrested by the Kenyan anti-terrorist forces; and for those who are still living in Kenya. It urges the government of Kenya to respect the international treaties and obligations, and unconditionally release the arrested refugees, and refrain from handing over to the government of Ethiopia where they would definitely face torture and maximum punishments. It also urges all human rights agencies (local, regional and international) to join the HRLHA and condemn these illegal and inhuman acts of the Kenyan Government against defenseless refugees. HRLHA requests the governments of the Western countries as well as international organizations to interfere in this matter so that the safety and security of the arrested refugees and those refugees currently staying in Kenya could be ensured.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send appeals to the President and Deputy President of the republic Kenya and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English,  or your own language expressing:

• concern at the  apprehension and fear of deportation of the refugees who are being held in unknown detention since they were arrested, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;
• Urging the authorities of Kenya to ensure that these detainees are treated in accordance with regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners.

To:

1.                  His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of  the Republic of Kenya

P o. Box 74434-00200 Nairobi, Kenya , Tel: 254 203 247000

2.                  His Excellency William Ruto , Deputy president of the Republic of Kenya

Email: The Deputy president@ODP-Kenya OR dp@deputypresident.go.ke

Copied to:

v  UNHCR main office Geneva, Switzerland.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse.  telephone number: +41 22 739 8111

v  Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais Wilson , 52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland Telephone: +41 22 917 9656
Mail: civilsocietyunit@ohchr.org

v  African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)

48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia.

Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23

Fax: (220) 4390 764

E-mail: achpr@achpr.org

v  Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights Council of Europe

F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE

Tel:    + 33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
Fax: + 33 (0)3 90 21 50 53

v  U.S. Department of State

Laura Hruby

Ethiopia Desk Officer

U.S. State Department

HrubyLP@state.gov

Tel: (202) 647-6473

v  Amnesty International – London

Clairy Beston

Telephone: +44-20-74135500

Fax number: +44-20-79561157

v  Human Rights Watch

Leslie Lefkow

Tel: +1-212-290-4700

Fax:+1-212-736-1300 Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org

=>humanrightsleague