Declaration of Unity of the OLF

June 28, 2014 (Oromo Liberation Front) — It is with great pleasure that we announce to our people and the supporters of our struggle for freedom the good news that, based on the accord they made in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2012, the two organizations of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) known as OLF Shanee Gumii (”OLF National Council”) and OLF Qaama Ce’umsaa (”OLF Transitional Authority”) have resolved our differences and agreed to combine our two leaderships, unify our members, merge our organizational structures and inaugurate a reunified OLF. Although OLF has encountered many obstacles during the last forty years, there was no time when it has stopped the struggle that it was established to lead. No one can deny the fact that the national struggle led by the OLF has scored many victories and made many significant achievements that have taken the Oromo people a long way toward the national goal of independence. Among these great achievements is the level of political awareness of our people.

At the same time, we witness that the Oromo people are being targeted for extinction more than any time before. Oppression has reached intolerable levels making our people to rise up in defiance of tyranny, protesting peacefully in all corners of Oromia. But, as witnessed in the killings of students and others in many places in Oromia, the TPLF regime is responding violently to their lawful demands. Defying enemy atrocities, imprisonment, and torture the young Oromo generation are making it known to the world that they will not tolerate humiliation and oppression anymore and that they will make the necessary sacrifices to liberate their people and homeland from alien oppressors. The OLF extends its condolences to families who lost their beloved sons daughters and expresses its admiration for the courage and bravery they have shown by the young Oromo generation to defend their people’s legitimate rights. As the vanguard of the Oromo struggle for freedom, we re-iterate our determination to continue the struggle until our people become masters of their destiny.

The re-unification of the two organizations of the OLF is a great step that will strengthen the Oromo struggle for freedom. United under one leadership, we are resolute to realize the principal objective of our struggle, namely the liberation of our people and the independence of our homeland Oromia. There is no question about the popularity of the goal of OLF-led liberation struggle among the Oromo people. Therefore, it is with determination that we pledge to make the necessary sacrifices, withstand the challenges ahead and carry through the Oromo national struggle to the ultimate goal of independence.

We are well aware that there are Oromo nationals who are organized separately under other names to advance our people’s legitimate rights. We will do all we can to coordinate our efforts with them to achieve the common goal. The OLF leadership states its decision and commitment to continue to work and conclude the ongoing talks with other forces committed to the same goal. Hence we call on all Oromo organizations that uphold our people’s right to self-determination and independence to join us in carrying out this sacred mission.

We also take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the oppressed nations, nationalities and peoples who are struggling for justice against the same tyrannical regime, and call upon them to join us in the common struggle for basic human and democratic rights.

The TPLF-led regime’s violence against the Oromo people is abetted by military, political and economic assistance from external powers. The OLF appeals again to governments, both in the West and East to strike a balance between their national interests and their international obligation of protecting human rights and stop giving economic, military and political support to a brutal regime that is evicting our people and others from their land and killing innocent civilian who are peacefully demanding their legitimate rights.

Victory to the Oromo People!

Oromo Liberation Front

June 28, 2014

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What “the government of Ethiopia doesn’t want the world to know”

#FreeOromoStudents Social Media Campaign to begin this weekend by the International Oromo Youth Association

Kulani Jalata

On April 25, 2014, a reported 47 peacefully protesting students were gunned down by federal security forces in Ambo, Oromia region, Ethiopia.

“The government of Ethiopia doesn’t want the world to know about what has been happening with the [Oromo] student protests, that federal forces have used violence against the students, that there have been mass arrests of students, that there are allegations of beatings and brutality. The government doesn’t have any incentive to have outside forces to do an investigation. So there are certain barriers to spreading the word.”

These are the words of Amy Bergquist, a human rights attorney at Advocates for Justice, in a newly produced documentary by the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA). During April and May of this year, Oromo[1]university studentsacross Oromia, Ethiopia, organized peaceful demonstrations against the “Integrated Development Master Plan”, a government plan to expand the capital into the state of Oromia. The capital city’s municipal expansion into Oromia would invariably result in mass evictions and the displacement of millions of poor farmers. When students decided to peacefully protest the expansion plan, they were met with bullets, as reported by BBC (video), Al Jazeera, and the Guardian. Leslie Lefkow, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Africa director stated, “Ethiopia’s heavy handed reaction to the Oromo protests is the latest example of the government’s ruthless response to any criticism of its policies. UN member countries should tell Ethiopia that responding with excessive force against protesters is unacceptable and needs to stop.” On May 6, 2014, Ethiopia was summarily grilled at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review regarding its human rights violations against Oromo student protestors.

While it is true there have been “barriers” as Bergquist notes to documenting the protests and the Ethiopian government’s violent response because of the absence of free media in Ethiopia, diaspora Oromo communities organized worldwide protests in May and created a website to raise awareness about the Oromo student protests. Now, the International Oromo Youth Association is embarking on a social media campaign, starting this weekend, to continue advocating for the rights of the Oromo students that were not only gunned down and killed, but that were also imprisoned and are currently languishing in Ethiopian prisons known for torturing prisoners of conscience and their inhumane living conditions (BBC, U.S. Dept of State). Below is IOYA’s documentary on the Oromo protests, including eyewitness accounts from Peace Corps volunteers Jennifer Klein and Josh Cook. Jennifer and Josh had been working in Ambo on a health project when the protests began in Ambo and security forces responded: “Every few minutes, we were hearing gun shots. Sometimes we would hear what sounded like an explosion followed by a round of 30 or 40 gunshots. Sometimes there were gunshots within a block or two of our house…the gunshots were so close that it frightened both of us a lot.” Not only did Josh and Jennifer bear witness to the massacring of students that day as well as the loading up of buses and trucks of protesting students by police officers to be shipped to prisons, but they also witnessed Ethiopian police officers follow two of their neighbors into their home while the protests were taking place across town and shoot them to death. “That’s when Jen and I were very frightened,” Josh said. “We couldn’t believe that the police would enter somebody’s private home and shoot them in their home. It was awful.”

The Ethiopian government’s response to the Oromo student protestsis only the surface of the Ethiopian government’s repressive and violent approach to governance and politics. In 2005, unarmed Oromo students protesting against fraudulent election results were also met with violence and live ammunition, political imprisonment, and torture, and for years, Human Rights Watch has been reporting the government’s use of surveillance, arbitrary detention, and torture to severely restrict freedom of expression, association, and assembly.In the documentary, Josh notes that people in Ethiopia today are “not allowed to say anything” in critique of the government, otherwise risking imprisonment. “People have absolutely no voice at all.”

View Short Documentary Here 

Amane Badhasso, the current president of IOYA, says that the purpose of the IOYA campaign on the Oromo student protests is to raise global awareness and to ask for the immediate release of thousands of Oromo students currently being held in detention and very likely being tortured for simply protesting against the Integrated Development Master Plan. “We want to show the world that a government’s disregard for basic human and constitutional rights is unacceptable,” she says.

[1] The Oromo are the largest ethnonational group in Ethiopia, constituting almost 40% of the population.

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Egypt and Ethiopia agree that tripartite dam committee will resume its work

The Egyptian foreign minister along with his Ethiopian counterpart stressed that Ethiopia will understand the importance of the Nile River to Egypt and that Egypt will understand the Ethiopian need for development

Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi talks to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as they arrive to attend the 23rd African Union Summit (AUS) in Malabo June 26, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Egypt and Ethiopia will form a joint committee in the upcoming three months to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries, the foreign ministers of both countries announced in a joint statement on Friday.

The statement came after Egypt`s new president, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, met with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, after the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea's capital Malabo.

According to the statement, the Ethiopian government is committed to avoid any potential damage that could result from the Grand Renaissance dam currently being built on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.

Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, along with his Ethiopian counterpart Tedros Adhanom, stressed in the statement that Ethiopia will understand the importance of the Nile to Egypt; and that Egypt will understand the Ethiopian plans and need for development.  

The two ministers cited seven main points that El-Sisi and Desalegn discussed during the meeting, including respecting the dialogue and cooperation between the two countries, and the establishment of regional projects for the development of financial resources to meet the growing demand for water and to deal with water shortages.  

The Egyptian government is committed to constructive communication with Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian dam has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government since May last year, when images of the dam's construction stirred public anxiety about its possible effects on Egypt's share of the Nile's water.

However, Ethiopian officials insisted the dam would not harm Egypt.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan formed a tripartite technical committee to study the possible effects of the dam.

But the committee's discussions were halted last December when Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir announced his support for the dam during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Resuming the work of the tripartite technical committee and respecting international legal principles were also among the points on which both sides had reached common ground.

Egypt has demanded that Ethiopia submit the dam's construction plans for assessment by international experts.

Ethiopian Irrigation Minister Alamayo Tegno said his country was already committed to the recommendations of an international committee of experts.

=>ahram

Mootummaan Wayyaanee Gaazexeessitoota STVO 16 Oduu fi Dokumentarii Dharaa Dubbisuu,Dhiyeessuu Dhabuu Irraa Kan Ka’e Qorannaa Hamaan Booda Hojii Irraa Dhorke

Waxabajjii 26, 2014, Finfinnee (Qeerroo) — Mootummaan Wayyaanee bara dhufaa darbu mara Olola dharaa keessumaa ammo Raadiyoo fi Television mataa isaaf dhaabbateen dhimma bahuun ilmaan Oromoo afaanfaajjessaa, Ololaa fi Dokumentarii dharaa qopheessuudhaan bittaa Umrii isaa dheeressuuf hojjechaa ture. Gaazexeessitootni Raadiyoo fi Televiizyinii Itoophiyaas tahe Oromiyaa dhugaa argan Uummataaf himuu irra dhugaa irraa dabsuun oduu dharaa Uummataaf gabaasuu dirqamu. Sagantaan Raadiyoo fi Televiizyinii Oromiyaa dhimma Uummata Oromoo, aadaa fi duudhaa Oromoo guddisuuf dhaabbate jedhamee lallabamaa ture dhugaa Uummataa dhaloota isaa irraa kaasee osoo hin baasiin as gahe.Hojjettootni Dhaabbata kanaa yeroo mara oduu dharaa dubbisuun seenaa xuraawaa dibachuu hin barbaadne, Kan seenaan uummata Oromoo akka ukkaamamu hin barbaadne gaazexeessitootni STVO hedduumminaan Mormii dhageessisuu fi oduu dharaa hin dubbisnu jechuun wayita gaafatanitti mootummaan Wayyaanee dirqama isinitti kenname hojjettu malee kaan dubbachuu mirga hin qabdan jechuun gaazexeessitoota ilmaan Oromoo qorannaan rakkisaa turuu irraan darbee hojii irraa arii’ee jira. Gaazexeessitootni kunneen Fincila keessatti hirmaannaa qabdu, Uffata gaddaa uffattanii jirtan, dirqama keessan seeraan bahaa hin jirtan jedhamuun kan hojii irraa dhorkaman yoommuu tahu isaanis

1. Gaazexeessaa Abdiisaa Fufaa
2. Gaazexeessaa Yusuuf Warqeessaa
3. Gaazexeessaa Abdii Gadaa
4. Gaazexeessaa Darajjee Gonfaa
5. Gaazexeessaa Olaansaa Waaqumaa
6. Gaazexeessaa Baqqalaa Atoomaa
7. Gaazexeessaa Isqaa’el Aragaaw
8. Gaazexeessaa Bosonaa Dheeressaa
9. Gaazexeessaa Margaa Angaasoo
10. Gaazexeessaa Anuwaar Sirriisaa
11. Gaazexeessaa Xilahuun Magarsaa
12. Gaazexeessaa Birraa Laggasaa
13. Gaazexeessaa Zallaqaa oljirraa
14. Gaazexeessaa Abdiisaa Taganyii
15. Gaazexeessaa Ayyaanaa Cimdeessaa
16. Gaazexeessaa Kibabaw Obsaa

Yoommuu tahan Gaazexeessitootni kunneen Oduu dharaa fi olola sobaa Uummata Oromoo irratti gaggeeffamu akkasumas Dokumentarii dharaa Uummata Oromoo fi Qabsoo Oromoo irratti gaggeeffamu keessatti akkaataa dirqamni kennameen bahachuu diddan jedhamuun kan qorannoo hamaan booda hojii irraa kan arii’aman yoommuu tahu Uummata Oromoof dhugaa dubbachuuf kutannaan diina dura dhaabbachuun dirqama Oromummaa bahachuun gahee hundaa tahuu Qeerroon Bilisummaa waamicha dabarsa!

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Ethiopian Security Forces Arrest Dozens of Civilians in Degahbur

By Ahmed Abdi
Ethiopian Security Forces arrested dozens of civilians in Dehehbur, about 135 kilometers southeast of the regional Capital city of Jigjiga on Wednesday, following after ONLF insurgency killed 10 Ethiopian Security forces and regional administrators on Monday. Local sources said that the Ethiopian-appointed regional President Abdi Mohamoud Omar better known as Abdi Iley ordered the arrest and killing of anyone suspected of aiding ONLF in part of security swoop.
Abdi Iley reappointed infamous Omar Gamble as the Police commissioner immediately after the administration had been sustained heavy assaults by the ONLF in a bid to strike the town residents with an iron fist.
"I have seen at least 50 people that the security forces arrested and loaded on pickup trucks," said an eyewitness who asked not to be identified.
The source added that 20 civilians that have been transferred to Guna'gado another town near Degehbur, went missing since yesterday and their fate remains unknown.'

ONLF has been fighting against Ethiopian regimes since 1984 and wants its oil and gas-rich Ogaden region to gain full Independence from Ethiopian highlanders. Peace-talk between ONLF and Ethiopia stalled in Oct 17,2012 ,after the ONLF refused to accept Ethiopian constitution which it says it says the Ethiopian constitution does not concern the Somalis in Ogaden.

=>ogadentoday

Aid donors announce investigation into tribal evictions in Ethiopia

Bulldozers clearing Mursi land in Mago National Park, where communities are being evicted from their land to make way for sugar plantations.

© E. Lafforgue/Survival

Representatives of some of Ethiopia’s biggest aid donors have announced that they will send a team to the southwest of the country to investigate persistent reports of human rights abuses amongst the tribes living there.

Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, has exposed how thetribal people of the Lower Omo Valley are being persecuted and harassed to force them off their land to make way for cotton, oil palm and sugar cane plantations.

Many other organizations have published similar reports.

The plantations are made possible by the Gibe III hydroelectric dam, which is itself the subject of huge controversy.

The dam, which is nearing completion, will have a serious impact on the livelihoods of 500,000 tribal people, including those living around Kenya’s Lake Turkana.

It is also projected to have catastrophic environmental consequences for the region, which is home to renowned UNESCO World Heritage sites on both sides of the border.

Survival and other NGOs have repeatedly denounced the eviction of hundreds of Bodi and Kwegu and continue to receive reports that people are being intimidated into leaving their lands for resettlement camps.

Daasanach are being forced off their land to make way for infrastructure development such as this giant pump at Omorate, which will facilitate irrigation of the plantations.

© E. Lafforgue/Survival

The Ethiopian government has not sought or obtained the indigenous peoples’ free, prior and informed consent to move from their lands, in breach of the guidelines for resettlement drawn up by the Development Assistance Group (DAG), a consortium of the largest donors to Ethiopia, including the US, the UK, Germany and the World Bank.

DAG provides significant financial assistance to the local administration responsible for the forced evictions.

DAG has decided to return to the Lower Omo later this year to investigate the situation, even though the evictions continue regardless of past donor visits, the findings of which have often not been published.

This decision follows mounting worldwide concerns. European parliamentarians from Italy,Germany and the UK have asked questions in the European Parliament, and MPs in the UK and Germany have raised their concerns with various ministries. Parliamentary questions have also been tabled in the UK.

In February the US Congress ruled that US taxpayers’ money not be used to fund forced resettlements in Lower Omo.

Following a lawsuit brought by Friends of Lake Turkana, the Kenyan courts have ruled that the Kenyan government must release all information about the deals it has made with Ethiopia about buying electricity generated by the Gibe III dam.

Earlier this year, a UNESCO report recommended that Lake Turkana be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

=>survivalinternational

TPLF’s Sidama Messenger Ambassador ‘Markos Tekle Riqqe’ Embarrasses our Nation!

Lagide Dikkale, Harbagoonna district, Sidama, Ethiopia

Human beings are created greedy. In particular when it comes to a personal gain, peoples can take unimaginable step to benefit from the sufferings of others. Even brothers barbarically assassinate own bothers for the sake of personal benefit such as fighting for throne (royal family). Such greedy individuals wash their hands with bloods of their immediate family members by assassinating their own children, husband/wife, father/mother, brothers/sisters and others. Doing so is known to be psychotic disorder as psycho-behavioural Science puts it; however it is extremely difficult to comprehend how mothers/fathers can kill their own children? As human beings are very important to one another, peoples have equally proved that they can actually become diabolic to their likes. When such tragic realities unfold among humanity, it will be hardly possible to distinguish wild animals (Hyena cannibalising each other’s) from human being apart from the fact of having moral code which socially obliges groups of peoples to behave in such a manner that is socially acceptable, adverse actions are punishable.

When we come to todays’ Ethiopian regime’s inhumane actions to its subjects, it’s impossible to believe that regime’s messengers at various levels condone the massacre of innocent civilians blatantly denying the truth. It also becomes serious when a person once who has appeared to be the Champion of justices and equality prefers to stifle justice by agreeing with the system that dehumanises his own people. Although such realities of individual’s being inhumane to their likes is known phenomenon since time immemorial, besides, it will be very difficult to take in what once who has appeared to be genuinely defending human rights is seen defending an indefensible inhumane actions of the regime once he’s unequivocally condemned for its brutal actions towards its subjects including his own people. 

'Markos Tekle Riqqe' once who has been a staunch supporter of Sidama’s national cause has taken U-turn. He has suddenly decided to follow the misguided ideology of TPLF’s authoritarian regime by agreeing to stifle the just cause of his own nation. Since he has been recruited by the regime (no one for sure knows to date how Markos Tekle Riqqe has decided to sell the interest of the Sidama nation), he has been given his current fake Japan’s Ethiopian Ambassadorial position by the name of the Sidama nation. Even since he has been awarded this fake position, he has appeared to be believing that the regime is seriously violating the rights of Sidama nation differently. He has been in constant underground contacts with Sidama Diaspora groups advocating for the rights of Sidama nation and others subjugated nations of the country. His interview with (Kassahun of? Media June 2014) in particular obliged me to say something from the heart of Sidama land, Harbagoonna district from where the above traitor has be born and brought up.

It’s utterly embarrassing to the Sidama nation to have a person like Markos Tekle who trades by the bloods of primarily his own Sidama nation and secondly with bloods of others nations of the country. While individuals who have demanded their constitutional rights to be respected in a civilised and peaceful manner are killed in broad day lights by the regime’s army and security forces, mindful peoples can hardly believe that Markos Tekle can defend the regime’s erroneous claim on the fact that it’s implementing its constitution and respecting peoples’ individual & collective rights to freedom of expression and assembly. It’s hardly believable to learn that this very young man who has travelled to entire Sidama villages therefore has known the level of injustices the regime has deliberately caused to the Sidama nation by whose name this traitor and others trade; defends the concept of federalism whilst his nation’s civilians are massacred demanding these very rights denied to them for the past 23 years.

He has also emphasised the Ethiopian peoples have happily elected TPLF’s authoritarian regime in the past elections therefore the regime received over 99% of the vote because of its policy; yet the reality on the ground speaks otherwise. In reality however, TPLF regime won’t be able to get 20% if the election was fair and free which has been proved during May 15, 2005's elections. His claim about the fairness of the play field for various opposition groups, in his interview with his unpalatable Abyssinian (Amharic language) says that the opposition members are freely exercising their rights without the involvements of the regime, while the opposition members are hunted down like antelopes and prisons of the country and full of these. He also claims that the economy is booming, poverty is eradicated and equality of opportunity being achieved despite the fact that Ethiopia is growing most unequal and the second from the bottom last in the world in poverty measurement. Over 36,000, 000 Ethiopians don’t have proper one meal a day and others 75-80% of the population don’t have enough to eat and potable water to drink. Unemployment if rocketing while Ethiopian is the second highly corrupt country in Africa. Human rights record is extremely poor and becoming poorer from day to day.

The urge for the fact is in order. Markos Tekle Riqqe, once who has appeared to be the Champion of Sidama nation’s rights claims that ethnic federalism is the best policy on which the current TPLF’s regime is working on- therefore prospering. Such blatant denial of the fact for which the Sidama traitor, Markos Tekle Riqqe has previously claimed fighting for- as TPLF’s regime denied his own nation the very ethnic federalism rights, puts him in the bottom of Sidama nation’s history. History never forgive such traitors when the rights time comes. The Sidama nation with others oppressed nations of the country will undoubtedly be victorious. The sons and daughters of the Sidama nation must be able to distinguish friends from foes and traitors from genuine Sidama human rights defenders. The true sons and daughters of the nation must know Markos Tekle Riqqe is one of the Sidama nation’s enemies not less than the others such as criminal Shiferaw Shigute and the rest. Thus, utmost vigilance is paramount at this very critical moment of the history.

Lagide Dikkale, Yayye district, Sidama, Ethiopia

June 24, 2014        

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