Yuuniversitiin Jimmaa Mooraa Waraana Wayyaanee Fakkaata. Diddaan Barattoota Oromoo Ebla 19,2014 Itti Fufeen Barattooti Gaga’amaa Jiru.

Ebla 19/2014 FDG Goototni Qeerroon Barattootni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa torbee tokko oliif gaggeessa jiiran daran jabaatee itti fufe.

Warraaqsii Fincila Diddaa Garbummaa (WFDG) guyyaa har’aa haalaan jabatee Mooraawwan Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa Main Cumpas, Mooraa Agriculture fi mooraa saayinsii fi teekinooloojii keessaatti fincillii guddaan itti fufee oleera. Sagaleen mormii guddaan dhageesifamera, Waranaa poolisii federaalaa Wayyaanee Waliinis w alitti bu’insii guddaan Uummamee Mooraa Agriculture fi mooraa Saayinsii fi Teekinooloojii irraa Baratootni hedduun humna Waraanaa mooraa 44 (arba arattanya kifile xoorii) kan dhihaa Oromiyaaf ramadamee ta’uu humnaan Mooraa Yuunibarsiitii cabsanii galuun baratootaa konkolaataan Ukkamsaa jiru. Yuunibarsiitiin Jimmaa fi magaalaan Jimmaa dirree Waraanaa fakkaatee jiraachuu Qeerroon gabaasa.

Ammaan dura gaaffiin barattoota Oromoo Jimmaa bulchinsi Finfinnee mootummaa nannoo Oromiyaa jala galuu qaba, Magaalawaan Oromiyaa naannaawaa Finfinnee , bulchiinsa Finfinnee jala galuu hin qaban, kaayyoo mootummaan Oromiyaa gargar qoodee lafa uummata Oromoo gurguracha jiru hatattamaan dhaabbachuu qaba, kan jedhuu fi Oromummaa keenyaan manni maxxansaa ‘hinquu’ jedhamu nu arrabsuun maxxansii maqaa balleessii kun seeratti dhiyaachuu qabu, namoonni Oromummaan nu arrabsan seeratti dhiyaachuu qabu jechuun iyyannoo dhiyeeffatan, gaaffii deebii keenyaa hanga nuf hin deebinetti

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GGO’n Oromiyaa Bakkoota Adda Addaa Keessatti Haalaan kabajame.

Gabaasa Ebla 15/2014 Guyyaan Gootota Oromoo(GGO) dhihaa Oromiyaa goodinota garaagaraa keessatti haala gammachiisa fi damaqinsaa qabsoof qaban mul’isuun sabboontotni Oromoo Maddheewwaan ABO garaagaraa irraa walitti dhufuun kabajatan. Akkuma Hoogansi Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo haala kabaja ayyaanichaa irratti ergaa fi dhaamsa karaa miseensota qeerroo uummataaf dabarsetti uummaanni haala baay’ee ajaa’ibsiisa ta’een guyyaa kana irraa qooda fudhachuun kabajatan. Godinota dhiha Oromiyaa kanneen akka:

Godina Jimmaa: Sabboontootni fi miseensotni Qeerroo dargaggootni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimma jalbultii Guyyaa gootota Oromoo ebla 11/2014 fi 12/2014 Warraaqsaa FDG gaggeessuun kaayyoo bilisummaa uummata keenyaa goototni ilmaan Oromoo lubbuu isaanii itti wareeguun asiin ga’an itti xummura haa goonu jechuun guyyaa gootota Oromoo kayyoo goototni Oromoo irratti waraeegaman finiinsuun kabajachuu eegalan. Goototni Sabboontotni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaa FDG eegalan itti fufuun, cinatti Ebla 15/2014 Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo sirna ho’aa ta’een kabajatan, Seenaa Gootota Oromoo ilaalchisuun Guyyaan Gootota Oromoo akkamittini fi eessatti isa jedhuu, eenyufatuu wareegameef, maaliif eenyuuf wareegaman isa jedhuu irratti ibsa gaggabaaba waliif kennuun haala ajaa’ibsiisa ta’een kabajatan. kana malees goototni baratootni Oromoo department garaagaraa irra barachaa jiran walitti dhufuun namotni 100 olitti lakka’aman bakkatokkotti walitti dhufuun haala qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo fi warraaqsaa FDG eegalanii jiran irratti marii bal’a gaggeeffachuun guyyaa seena qabeessa kana haala nama gammachiisuu fi onnachiisuun kabajataniru. Godinichuma keessatti sabboontotni hojjetootni Mootummaa, daldaltootni, dargaggootni, barsiisotni, fi dafqaan bultootni dhalotaan Oromoo ta’an gurmuun walitti dhufuun guyyaa seena qabeessa kana kabajataniru.

Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa: Goototni Sabboontotni baratootni Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Mattuu, kolleejjii Barsiisota Mattuu, Jiraattootni Magaalaa Mattuu, fi Sabboontotni Magaalaa Beddelleetti argaman namoota dhunfaa fi gurmuun maadheen ijaaramanii kanneen jiran walitti dhufuun guyyaa Gootota Oromoo haala walfakkaatuu fi akkam miidhagaa ta’en kabajataniru, Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo(GGO) sababeeffachuun haala qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo irratti marii guddaa gaggeeffachuun, gumaacha qabsoon isaan irra barbaaduu bahuuf waadaa isanii haaromsuun kabajatan.

Godina Lixa Shawaa: Sabboontotni Oromoo Godina Lixa shawaa gurmuuhawaasaa kanneen akka dargaggootaa, baratoota, hojjettootaa, fi bakka bu’oonnii qeerroo dargaggoota Oromoo fi bakka bu’oonnii madhee garagaraa irraa walitti dhufuun Magaalaa Amboo keessatti GGO haala midhagaa fi dadamaqinsaa qabsoo guddaa qabuun kabajataniru, Guyyaa gootota Oromoo kana sababeeffachiinis haala qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo irratti marii bal’aa gaggeeffachuun kabajatan, guyyaadhuma kana bakka bu’onni gurmuulee hawaasaa kunneen ilmaan oromoo lafa rakkinaa fi mana hidhaa wayyaanee garaagaraa keessatti dararamaa jiran ittin jajjabeessuuf kan oolu buusii maallaqaa walitti qabuun qarshii 700 kan walitti buufatan ta’uu bakka bu’onnii qeerroo godina lixa shawaa gabaasaniru,kana malees godinuma Lixa shawaa Aanota garaagaraa fi manneen barnoota sadarkaa 2ffaa fi 1ffaa garaagaraa keessatti GGO haala ho’aa ta’een kabajameera. keessattuu Aanota kanneen akka Midaa Qanyii, Geedoo, Xuqur Incinnii, Iluu Galaan, Baabbicha, Tokkee Kuttaayee, Jalduu, Gudar, Amboo, Giincii, Adaa’aa Bargaa, Gindabarat, fi Meettaa Roobii, kanneen jedhaman keessatti qonnaan bultootaa, Barattoota, Barsiisotaa, fi hojjetootaan akka kabajamaa ture maddeen keenya gabaasaniru.

Godina Kibbaa Lixaa Shawaa: GGO’n bifa adda ta’een sabboontota Oromoo maagaalaa Walisoo,fi Aanota Wancii, fi Sadan Sooddoon kabajamera. Sabboontotni Oromoo haaluma walfakkattuun walitti dhufuun Ebla 15/2014 bifa adda ta’een kabajachuun haala yeroo qabsoon Oromoo irra jiruu fi Oromiyaa irra jirtu irratti marii guddaa gochuun qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo fulduratti tarkaanfachiisuuf dandeetii keenyaa, beekumsa keenyaa fi waan qabnu hundaan qooda kan irraa fudhannu ta’a jechuun waadaa isaanii haaromsuun guyyaa kana kabajatanii oolaniru.

Walumaagalatti: Sabboontotni Qeerroon Baratootni Oromoo Dhabbilee barnoota Olaanoo fi Manneen barnootaa sadarkaa 2ffaa keessa jiran GGO haalan kannan kan kabajatan yoota’uu, keessattuu dhabbilee barnoota olaanoo Yuunibarsiitota akka Jimmaa, Amboo, Walisoo damee Amboo, Wallagga, Wallagga Damee Gimbii fi Shaambuu, Miizan Teeppii, Walqixxee, Finfinnee fi Kolleejjota Barsiitotaa kanneen akka Jimmaa, Neqemtee,Mattuu fi shaambuu keesatti illee GGO’n ilmaan Oromootiin haala aja’ibsisaa fi jajjabinaa fi dammaqinsa qabsoo argisiisuun haala howaa ta’een kabajachuun gabaasaan bakkota garaagara irra nu qaqqabee jiru ifa godhee jira.

Injifannoon U/Oromoof!.
Gadaan Gadaa Bilisummaati!
Ebla 17/2014


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Leading Surgeon, Philanthropist and Author Dr. Gudata Sado Hinika Selected as Keynote Speaker for the 2014 Oromo Studies Association (OSA) Annual Conference

It is with great excitement that I announce to you, OSA members, supporters, and the Oromo, that Dr. Gudata Hinika has been selected as the Keynote Speaker for the 2014 Oromo Studies Association (OSA) Annual conference. He is an inspiration to many Oromo and African born immigrants in the Diaspora. His achievement is stellar! His commitment to empower the Oromo people and other peoples of Ethiopia is commendable.

The Annual Conference of the Oromo Studies Association will be held onAugust 2-3, 2014, in Washington D.C. Metro area. The Theme of the conference is “Gada & Oromo Democracy: Celebrating 40 Years of Research and Oromo Renaissance.” The Deadline for submission of articles and panels is May 21, 2014.

Please send articles and panel proposals to OSA President at ielemo@yahoo.com. Below is the full profile of the distinguished scholar, Surgeon Physician and Philanthropist Dr. Gudata Hinika. It is a great honor and privilege for me to introduce our keynote speaker.

Dr. Gudata S. Hinika was born in rural Oromia, Ethiopia, and was raised by his grandmother in the hinterlands of southern Oromia, in a village called Gode. As a child, he lived through the strife of starvation, drought and communist occupation. As a young physician, he had the distinction of serving as a chief surgical resident at King/Drew University Hospital in Los Angeles. Thanks to his rich academic experience and robust surgical residency training, his career has since blossomed. Since 2004, he has served as the Chief of Trauma, General and Critical Care Surgery at California Hospital, the busiest private trauma center in Los Angeles. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Hinika has dedicated his life to alleviating adverse health conditions in underserved communities. His commitment extends far beyond hospital walls – locally and globally.

Dr. Hinika’s concerns focus on introducing sustainable solutions to communities in need, both in the United States and in his native Oromia, Ethiopia. Seeing similar alarming disparities in health, wealth and education, Dr. Hinika has been delivering sustainable solutions in rural Ethiopia and South Los Angeles. Dr. Hinika started his work in the rural village of Gode, Ethiopia, in 1995 by funding college scholarships that enabled deserving high school students to pursue their college education, all expenses paid. This commitment evolved into the construction and development of elementary, middle, junior high schools, and most recently, the first high school in the area. Gode High school has been cited by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education as a model of public-private collaboration.

In 2007, Dr. Hinika founded Ethiopia Health Aid, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to providing access to care from rural villages, townships and cities in remote areas in Ethiopia. He currently leads the development of a Health Village composed of a hospital, medical school and satellite clinics in the rural township of Arsi Negele, to provide basic hospital care and education to a population of 1.2 million – that is currently bereft of resources. To bridge the continuum of healthcare access, Ethiopia Health Aid has also developed a unique Knowledge Exchange Program in collaboration with the prestigious Adama General Hospital and Medical College, a tertiary care facility midway between rural Ethiopia and the country’s capital city. This Knowledge Exchange Program sponsors medical professionals at all levels (physicians, nurses, technicians and administrators) to mentor and learn from each other through actual site visits (medical missions) and virtual communications (telemedicine and webinars).

In the US, Dr. Hinika worked for many years in the healthcare-challenged community of South Los Angeles. In 2008, he established Crenshaw Medical Center, a multi-specialty health facility that provides access to primary and specialty care to the underserved. He has been recognized for his outstanding community service by such national, state and community leaders as the former US Representative Diane Watson, County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas, City Councilman Bernard Parks. As the head of Trauma, General and Critical Care Surgery at California Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Hinika has been instrumental in establishing the hospital as a vital force in trauma care. In 2010, Dr. Hinika received the Treasure of Los Angeles award for his leadership in trauma care.

In 2011, under his exemplary leadership, California Hospital received its third consecutive rating of “Zero Deficiencies,” the highest quality rating awarded to trauma centers by the American College of Surgeons. With this remarkable achievement, California Hospital’s trauma center is now one of a select few in the nation to hold such a distinction. Dr. Hinika received his medical degree from Loma Linda University. He completed his General Surgery residency at Martin Luther King Hospital. He is Board Certified in his specialty and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Hinika is a recognized speaker and educator, working with both the American College of Surgeons in the US, and the International College of Surgeons to promote advances in general and trauma surgery. He is also recognized for his work with Adama General Hospital and Medical College as well as the Ethiopian Medical Association.

The Charles R. Drew University Lifetime Achievement Awardee for 2011, Dr. Hinika is the recipient of the prestigious 2012 National Meritorious Award from the National Medical Association. He is also a recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Africans in America award from the American Medical and Education Services Foundation. In September 2012, the United Nations Association recognized Dr. Hinika’s work by presenting him with their highest honors, the Global Citizens Award. Dr. Hinika is the author ofHealer’s Light: Achieving the Impossible.

Ibrahim Amae Elemo, M.D, M.P.H

President, Oromo Studies Association
Senior Resident, Internal Medicine
Weiss Memorial Hospital
E-mail: ielemo@yahoo.com/ielemo@weisshospital.com

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Kidnaping, jailing and killing will not stop the Oromo people from demanding their rights

Statement of the Oromian National academy (ONA) | April 20, 2014

As the Oromo people are increasingly opposing against the Abyssinians scramble to annex central Oromia into their business district known as Addis Ababa, the Oromo youth struggle to stop this process is also growing by every passing day. In the process, many Oromo artists are exposed to the Tigreans intelligence services abduction and torture.

Obsessed with becoming richer and richer, Ethiopia’s superpower tribe, the Tigre, once again turned it’s attention to land garbing activities and they are in the process of evicting the Oromo people from their lands. To make their robbery look legal and legitimate, the Tigre tribe leaders hold meetings and conferences at their parliament Halls and address their Trojan Horse, the OPDO. Few days after they were into the meeting, artist Jafar Yesuf released new song dedicated to land grab and human rights abuse in Ethiopia. Fearing that his new song will ignite opposition, the Tigre tribe kidnaped Artist Jafar Yesuf following it’s tradition of kidnaping and murdering.

It is clear that the Oromo people do not have the resources and means to expose the ruling tribe’s crimes. But truth being on the side of the Oromo people, we feel the need from time to time to restate the facts plainly, and trust that this will serve the cause of truth and justice. Hence, this statement addresses the fundamental question of the status of Oromia, the invalidity of the Tigre tribe claim to “ownership” of the Oromo land (Oromia), and the Oromo people’s right to self-determination and the negative effect of the Tigre tribe domination in Oromia.

It is very important to understand that the Oromo people’s situation has been insufficiently highlighted in the past, and understand it now in the context of much of what is happening in Oromia today.

Basically, the Tigre tribe sell of the Oromo lands reflects a profoundly colonialist nature of the Tigre rule in Oromia. This being the case however, the world tend to identify colonialism with European colonial expansion in the past two centuries. But colonialism in all its manifestations must be brought to an end, whether perpetrated by another black tribe from north of empire Ethiopia or from the north East.

The Abyssinians themselves view the Oromo people and Oromia in colonial terms: that is, not as a part of the Abyssinian proper, but as a non-Abyssian, culturally, linguistically and traditionally, while beliveing that they have the right to own and exploit the Oromo land on the basis of a relationship that they claim existed one hundred fifty years ago, or, at best, two hundred years ago. This attitude is evident from Tigreans eviction of the Oromo people from their lands and sell it to foreigners. Further more, the very notion of “ownership” of Oromia by the Tigre tribe is both colonialist and imperialist in nature.

Colonialism is characterized by a number of important elements, all of which are abundantly present in the Abyssinians cruel practices in Oromia. The most common characteristics of colonialism are:

• Domination by an alien power
• Acquisition of control through military force; unequal treaty
• Frequent insistence that the colony is an integral part of the “mother” state
• Maintenance of control through instruments of military or administrative and economic power in the hands of the colonial power
• Active or passive rejection of alien domination by the colonized people
• Suppression, by force if necessary, of persons opposing colonial rule
• Chauvinism and discrimination
• Imposition of alien cultural, social and ideological values claimed to be “civilizing”
• Imposition of economic development programmes and the exploitation of natural resources of the colony, primarily for the benefit of the colonial power
• Promotion of population transfer of citizens of the metropolitan state into the colony and other forms of demographic manipulation
• Disregard for the natural environment of the colony
• An obsessive desire to hold on to the colony despite the political and economic cost

All of these characteristics are reflected by the ruling alien tribe in a manner and style which only confirms the tribe’s colonialist and imperialist view of Oromia.
At the time of its invasion by troops of the Tigre People Liberation Front in 1991, the people of Oromia were fighting for their independence. The Tigre military which took over Oromia in 1991 constituted an aggression on a sovereign state and it’s continued occupation of Oromia with the help of several hundred thousand troops represents an ongoing violation of international law and of the fundamental rights of the Oromo people to independence.

The tribe continued to sell the Oromo lands claiming that it has a right to “ownership” of Oromia. It does not claim this right on the basis of similarity with the Oromo people but only based on its military conquest in 1991 and based on the Amhara tribe conquest of Oromia and alleged effective control over Oromia since 1882. Further, the Tigre government of Ethiopia does not base its claim to “ownership” of Oromia on any form of agreement between the Oromo people and the Abyssinians. However, their alleged legal claim is based on the invasion of Oromia by their ancestors and based on the master-slave relationships they’ve established since then.

In general, the Tigre tribe rely on the events that occurred after the height of the Abyssinians imperial expansion, when their emperor known as Minilik extended his political supremacy over Oromia and the southern people. Prior to the Abyssinians invasion of Oromia, the Oromo people exercised power and influence on their neighbors, including the Abyssinia. It would be hard to find any state in the world today that has not been subjected to foreign domination or influence at some era in its history. In Oromos case, the degree and length of the Abyssinians influence was quite limited to the times after 1882. Moreover, the relationship that the Oromo people have with the colonialist tribes from Abyssinian has been poor, insignificant and thus did not at any time imply a union or integration of Oromia with Abyssinia.

However confusing Oromia’s relatioship with the Abyssinians may be, its status at the time of the Abyssinians invasion must, of course, be judged on the basis of its position in modern history, especially its relationship with Tigre tribe invasion since 1991 when they overthrew the Amhara rule and became the masters over the Oromo people.

Rundassa Eshete,

Chairman, Oromian National Academy (ONA)

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Deliberate and systematic extermination of identities of indigenous peoples of Ethiopia via land grabbing (1870 – 2014)

Jaatee M. | April 19, 2014

Land grabbing is classically known as the seizing of land by a nation, state, or organization, especially illegally or unfairly. It is recently defined as large scale acquisition of land through purchase or lease for commercial investment by foreign organizations (4). Abyssinian governments of Ethiopia are systematically used land grabbing as a tool either to eradicate completely or to reduce indigenous peoples of Ethiopia particularly Oromo and generally Southern peoples in favor of Abyssinian identities. Both micro and macro scales of land grabbing have effectively resulted in disappearance of indigenous identities over time, because land is not only a fixed asset essential to produce sufficient amount of crop and animal to secure supply of food, but it is the foundation of identities (language, culture, and history) of a community or a nation. Changes to land use without consultation of traditional owners of the land mainly by forceful displacement of indigenous peoples can in a long term result in disappearance of languages, cultures, and histories of the peoples traditionally identified by ancestral land. Both expansion of amorphous towns & cities without integration of identities of indigenous peoples and large scale transfer of rural land to investors are the major political strategies of current Abyssinian government to successfully achieve the target of eradicating identities of indigenous peoples of Ethiopia in order to replace with Abyssinian identities. Thus, problems associated with land grabbing become very complex in Oromia and Southern Ethiopia where the peoples are unrepresented by the Abyssinian government of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is politically divided into North (Abyssinia) and South (Oromia and Southern Ethiopia). Elites of the North are militarily and politically colonized the peoples of the South since the end of 19th century depending on technical, material, and financial aids of foreign organizations. The status quo of colonial relations of governance between the North and the South is still maintained. By 1889 emperor Menelik (1889 – 1913) had violently formalized expansion of imperial government of Abyssinia over much of present-day Ethiopia during the era of scramble for colonization of Africa & he had gained recognition of colonial boundaries of Abyssinia from European colonial powers. The state of Abyssinia had established itself in the Northern Ethiopia for centuries before formation of the present day Ethiopia that the present Ethiopian state is founded on Abyssinian traditional state and acquired its current shape & identity after passing through long and turbulent socio-political processes (3). Oromo people in particular and peoples in Southern Ethiopia in general are still politically marginalized, even though ethnic equality is constitutionally recognized since 1991. Government of Tigray people Liberation Front (TPLF) / Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) requires central control of local land resources and changes in livelihoods in order to protect its monopolistic governance powers based on technical differences from its predecessors, the imperial and military governments, but all of them strategically share similar political targets, exploitation of resources of indigenous peoples.

Rural communities of Oromia in particular and Southern Ethiopia of mainly Benishangul, Gambella, and Omo regions in general are at very high risk, because almost all of the large scale agricultural land transferred to investors by government of TPLF/EPRDF is located in these regions. Since 1996, the total area of agricultural land transferred to the investors is 5 million hectares. A total land transfer to investors will measure 7 million hectares of agricultural land by end of 2015 (10 & 11). In general 94% of the land allocated to investors is located in colonized regions of Ethiopia. Allocation of agricultural land to global investors is insignificant in North Ethiopia (Amhara and Tigray), because the land use rights of rural communities of Abyssinia is constitutionally protected by their government (9). However land accessibility rights of rural communities of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia is systematically regulated by land governance and investment policies of colonial regime. Moreover condition of global land grabbing in Ethiopia is the most attractive in the world, because the TPLF/EPRDF regime does not take into account the land use rights of colonized peoples. The regime offers protection of investors by being a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agencies that the agreements guaranteed investors’ right without providing opportunities for those affected by activities of investment projects to challenge the agreements and to call for adequate compensation. For example the agreement signed with the Netherlands on the encouragement and reciprocal protection of investment offers considerable incentives to the private corporations wishing to invest in Ethiopia: i.e., it guarantees transfers of profits, interest, or dividends in freely convertible currency of payments related to investments, that a Dutch company investing in Ethiopia would not have to pay tax and that profits can flow back to the Netherlands without any restrictions (2).

Impacts of land grabbing in Ethiopia is characterized by genocide, cultural extinction, and eradication of identities of colonized peoples of South Ethiopia through mass killing (1870 – 1900) and political attempt to destroy identities (1900 – 1991) of the colonized peoples. The aggression war was the first direct genocide attempted to wipeout peoples of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia from global map through cumulative effects of war, famine, and epidemic diseases that resulted in death of at least five million (50%) peoples of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia during the period between 1870 & 1900 (5 & 7). It is possible to call both the direct and indirect political motivations of successive regimes of Abyssinia intended to eliminate certain groups of communities as genocide, because their murderous actions are in agreement with the following definition of genocide. Genocide is crimes committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with the deliberate purpose of eradicating them” (6). Acts of genocide (murder of a people) includes causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, forcibly transferring children of the group to another group, and etc (1).

Destroying identities (language, culture, and history) of the colonized peoples were articulated by both imperial (1989 – 1974) and military (1974 – 1991) regimes of Abyssinia in order to realize absolute ownership of the land. The second systematic genocide is articulated by the TPLF (EPRDF) regime through abusive implementation of land governance and investment policies. Social and economic powers of rural communities of Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular directly depend on rights to access land in order to access primary human needs (food, safe water, house, cloth, and medical services). Analytical evaluations of impacts of current land grabbing policies of Ethiopia indicates destabilization of livelihood assets of rural communities of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia via aggravation of poverty, expansion of food insecurity, intensification of conflicts, degradation of ecosystem, and advancement of violation of human rights (2, 9, & 12). The above stated facts are indicators of the loaming threat of systematic genocide designed by the successive regimes of Abyssinia either to wipeout peoples of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia or to reduce them to the minority level in order to achieve political goal of complete ownership of the land mainly through the tactic of silent eradication of identities of the indigenous communities in a long-term. For example Genocide Watch considers Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7, genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes” (8). The effort of human right organizations to defend victims of evil policy of land grabbing is full of challenges, because transformation of global business is mostly in favor of the strongest. Survival of the fittest is the norm in heightening global competitions to expand and protect economic empires at all levels. Therefore political organizations of Oromia and Southern Ethiopia must act effectively to overcome land governance policies and unfair investment strategies of Abyssinian government that continuously threaten existence of indigenous peoples of Ethiopia.

References

1. Abagond, 2009. Genocide. http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/genocide/
2. Alison G., Sylvain A., Rolf K. and Sofía M. S. 2011. The role of the EU in land grabbing in Africa – CSO monitoring 2009-2010, “Advancing African Agriculture” (AAA): The impact of Europe’s policies and practices on African agriculture and food security. Paper presented at the international conference on global land grabbing: 6-8 April 2011.
3. Asrat G., 2007. The search for peace: the conflict between Ethiopia and Ertrea: Twards sustainable peace between Ethiopia and Ertrea (chapter 6). Proceedings of scolarily conference on the Ethiopia-Ertrea conflict: held in Oslo, Norway, 6 – 7 July 2006. Fafo report 2007:14 (52 – 61)
4. Daniel Sh. and Mittal A. 2009. The great land grabs: the Oakland institute. www.oaklandinstitute.org/pdfs/LandGrab_final_web.pdf
5. De Salviac M. D. 2005 [1901]. An ancient people, great African nation, translation by Ayalew Kano, East Lansing, Michigan.
6. Ford A. 2008. A Brief History of Genocide. www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1865217,00.html
7. Gadaa M. 1988. Oromia, an introduction. Khartoum: Sudan
8. 8. Genocide Watch, 2012. Genocide Alert: Ethiopia. http://genocidewatch.net/2012/12/06/genocide-watch-emergency-ethiopia/
9. Jaatee M. & Mulataa Z. 2012. Review of land grabbing policies of successive regimes of Ethiopia. http://gadaa.com/OromoStudies/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/A-final-review-of-land-grabbing-policies-of-successive-regimes-of-Ethiopia-1.pdf
10. Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MOFED). 2010a. Updated 2nd PASDEP Agric. Sec. Plan (2003- 2007) [2011-2015].
11. MOFED. 2010b. Implementation of first five year development plan (1998-2002 [Eth. C]), and preparation of next five year plan for growth and transformation (2003-2007 [Eth. C]) [Amharic]. [Unpublished power point document]. Addis Ababa
12. Rahmato D.2011. Land to investors (large-scale land transfers in Ethiopia). Forum for social studies. www.mokoro.co.uk/files/13/file/lria/land_to_investors_ethiopia_rahmato.pdf

Jaatee M.

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OROMO REFUGEES CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE OF KENYA’S STOP-AND-FRISK

(OPride) — Since Kenya began its security operations on March 31, nearly 6,000 foreigners and some Kenyan citizens of Somali origin have been arrested.

So far, close to 200 people, mostly undocumented Somali immigrants, have been deported, according to local media reports. Thousands of detainees are being held in a temporary makeshift “prison” at Kasarani Stadium, the site of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration last year. Kenya is upping its counterterrorism measures in response to an upsurge in grenade attacks — the worst of which hit the Westgate Mall in Nairobi’s suburb last September.

 The indiscriminate swoop has drawn the ire of human rights organizations. In addition to poor prison conditions, the Kenyan police is accused of not arraigning those detained within 24-hours stipulated by that country’s law. But these stories have already been reported in the mainstream media. With all attention focused on the prejudiced profiling of ethnic Somalis, Oromo refugees from neighboring Ethiopia say they are caught in the crossfire and that their plight have been overshadowed.

“More than 400 Oromos and other Ethiopian immigrants have been arrested in these crackdowns,” Canada-based Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA), said in a statement this week. HRLHA listed the full names of 49 Oromos it said were caught in the security dragnet. Over the last two decades, as the Ethiopian regime intensified crackdown on Oromo dissent, millions of Oromos have crossed into Kenya seeking asylum. Last July, theUnited Nations Refugee agency estimated there were more than 600,000 asylum seekers and refugees in Kenya out of which some 56,000 lived in Nairobi alone. Some 10,568 of those registered with UNHCR were from Ethiopia, the second largest segment after Somalis.

 Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighborhood, where the crackdown is still ongoing, is home to Somali and Oromo refugees. Speaking to the Voice of America’s Jalane Gemeda on Wednesday, two Oromo migrants currently being held at Kasarani said they are legal refugees carrying UNHCR identifications.

Those on the outside say they can’t leave their homes due to fear of arrest. “We closed our doors and turned off the lights, but they are still banging on it,” Abdul J told OPride last night in an email from Nairobi, where the Kenyan police is still going door-to-door “literally arresting anyone who looks different.”

Others are desperately searching for and trying to free their loved ones arrested during the Stop-and-Frisk style sweep. “My pregnant wife, 17-month-old child and sister are in there,” Mahdi Ibrahim, 39, a refugee from Ethiopia told the New York Times. “This is the second time they come and arrest my family. Our refugee papers are valid.”

The refugees are calling on the international community to intervene on their behalf. They are also asking the Oromo diaspora to help amplify their “cries.” Kenya occasionally repatriates asylum seekers from Ethiopia. Several Oromo activists who have been refouled back to Ethiopia have disappeared and at least one person has died in Ethiopian prison over the last few years. Most Oromo refugees fear for their safety upon return to Ethiopia.

A few of those still in Nairobi have setup a Facebook page, “Justice for Oromo Refugees in Nairobi,” to create awareness about their plight. Anthropologist Mohammed Isa, one of the group’s coordinators, have written about their ordeals in greater details on CNN’s iReport page.

=>opride

APR 18 EPRDF’s “Addis-Oromia Special Zone Master Plan” for Committing Large-scale Genocide on the Oromo People

By Qeerransoo Biyyaa

 

 

The Issue

Under the excuses of “joint development” for cities of Oromia and Finfinne[1], the Tigirean minority regime of Ethiopia has secretly created a master plan it calls “Addis Ababa and the Surrounding Oromia’s Special Zone Common Development.”[2]   Using buzzwords of “development”, “investment” and “industrialization” as  “benevolent” justifications, the Tigire People’s Liberation Front is in a feverish campaign mode to implement the next large-scale genocide it wishes to invisibly commit on the Oromo people by depopulating cities and rural areas inhabited by Oromo farmers and urban residents in and around Finfinne (Addis Ababa).

The plan is explicit about the regime’s intentions to incorporate over 6 Oromia’s cities and 8 rural Aanaalee (Counties) in the vicinity of Finfinnee into Fininne against the will of the Oromo people.  Sululta, Bishoftu, Sabata Dukem, Holeta and Ambo are among the cities planned to be gobbled up by Addis Ababa. Regime authorities are estimating Finfinne, which currently sits on 54,000 hectares of Oromo land obtained through 19^th and 20^th century crimes of genocide, now wants to gain 1.1 million hectares of land from Oromia by the same criminal method—genocide.[3]

 The plan comes in two forms based on the kind of thrust TPLF wants to make into grabbing  Oromia’s rural and urban lands: (a) the plan that allows to make inroads into Oromia in all directions by 140 kilometers from the centre of Addis is set to expire in 25 years; (b) the plan that will be used to make inroads into Oromia by 30-40 kilometers in all directions from the centre of Addis is planned to last 10 years.[4]   Even the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) members, which forms one of the four arms of the TPLF-run Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, is being cowed into affixing   Oromia region’s name as the “co-creator” of the master plan when in fact the plan was created without their knowledge and presented to them in Adama as a surprise for implementation.  TPLF members in the Addis Ababa city government unveiled the secret plan  in April 2014, 3 years after they first started to work on it (in 2011.)

 

It is obvious that the master plan’s goals are to enrich Tigirean elites and their collaborators at the expense of slowly exterminating Oromos from the area.  Some Oromo lawyers, politicians and academics like citing TPLF/EPRDF’s  constitution of 1994 (specially article 39 on self-determination) and article 49 (5) to say that the implementation of the master plan proves once again that TPLF officials are above the constitution and the law, and that Oromia region lacks any form of autonomy to rule itself and develop its own cities. Yes, but it really doesn’t matter citing provisions in this sham document because everyone knows that the TPLF elites have always been above the law (and that they are the law). They have been committing the ultimate crimes of genocide against the Oromo people using OPDO as a glove for the last 24 years, pretending that they would not leave fingerprints behind at the crime scenes. Ironically, on its 24^th anniversary OPDO condemned the 19^th century genocide perpetrated against the Oromo by Menelik II, but it wimply accepted its 21^stcentury version under TPLF. 

Enhanced Master Plan to Continue Committing the Crime of Genocide

The master plan described above is nothing short of adding another layer of committing genocide under misleading and false labels of  connecting Oromia’s cities to  fictitious development “benefits” from Finfinne.  How can Abyssinian elites benefit Oromia by dispossessing Oromia of over 1.1 million hectares of land under the pressures military occupation?   What is clear is that “development” has become a new terminology for genocide in Oromia.

Evicting farmers because of membership in a group is an internationally recognized crime of genocide under the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide Article II (A-E).[5]  The land grab in Oromia, which has had genocidal characteristics, started in the last quarter of the 19^th century and it is ongoing.  While crimes listed under the UNGC are being committed against the Oromo people on a daily basis, including “killing members of the group,” (Art 2(A) and “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,” (Art II (B), a provision that is specially applicable to the mass eviction and impoverishing of  Oromo famers is UNGC Article II (C) “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”[6]    

The research conducted for this article indicated that almost all ethnic Amhara and Tigire sources never mention the negative consequences of the master plan.  They deliberately avoid talking about the crimes the regime they support has been committing and is about to commit some more through the master plan. In fact, a lot of the headlines of newspaper articles and online articles reviewed from northern Ethiopian media glorify and propagate the master plan as some kind of successful “land reform in Oromia Regional State”[7], stating “The Oromia regulation will have land given out through auction and assignment and avoid inheritance and succession, which had been part of the practice in the region.”   The Habesha press has fully avoided talking about the people inhabiting the cities and the rural counties (Aanaalee) on which further genocide is planned.  Their audiences, of course, are the Abyssinian millionaires and billionaires who are interested in acquiring Oromia’s lands through complicity with the actions of the Tigire government of Ethiopia. They are telling the so-called investors that they can lease a square meter of land from as high a rate as 1011.50 Br (USD 52)  to as low as 160.69 Br (USD 9) depending on the location and the quality of the land.  None express concerns about the Oromo population already on the land.  

Oromo Actors Oppose the Genocide Plan

Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the only lawful Oromo opposition party in Ethiopia, was among the first Oromo political actors to issue a statement and to condemn the master plan as a plan created in order to to incite conflict between Oromo natives and Abyssinian settler colonialist self-identifying as “investors.”   OFC clearly understood that the master plan is part of the TPLF culture of condemning Oromo rural and urban communities to lethal poverty “in the name of investment and development” for those with links to the totalitarian ruling party, EPRDF.  The OFC contextualizes the master plan as follows[8]:

In the countryside, Oromo farmers are being evicted from their plots of land without compensation and without any employment guarantee. In cities, the houses and properties of [Oromo] persons are being demolished and the owners are rendered propertyless and sanctioned to perpetual poverty. In contrast, it is seen that individual supporters of the regime (EPRDF/TPLF) are amassing wealth upon wealth by acquiring land in urban and rural areas using their connections, relatives and group memberships to get 30-40 maps  and then trading in those maps to generate profit.  

 

The OFC statement doesn’t call the massive evictions genocide, but the rate and conditions under which Oromo farmers are evicted and exposed to poverty-stricken and diseases-infested life conditions that will cause their demise is clear. It is also clear that this is centrally (by state) planned in the name of “development.”

OFC’s statement also notes that the severity of the consequences of the master plan goes beyond land grabbing in Oromia.  

It is not only land that is going to be taken from the people [the Oromo], it is also the right to speak and learn his[9] own language [Afan Oromo], the right to be judged in courts in his own language, the right to develop one’s own culture…all of these will be gone. As a result, the harm that will be inflicted on the region [Oromia], on the people [Oromo], and the farmers around these areas will be very heavy [difficult].

Of course, a good genocide scholar would look at this and infer: this paragraph from the OFC statement is talking about cultural genocide, sometimes, also termed “assimilation” under previous Ethiopian regimes.

 

The TPLF is determined to pass the master plan onto OPDO to implement. OPDO is under pressure to persuade people in coerced meetings to accept the terms of the genocide without reading or writing anything in the master plan for it directly.  One arrogant Tigrean official was heard at the venue of Oromia state delivering a veiled threat that OPDO had no choice but to accept the master plan for genocide against Oromo:  “we have no problem implementing the master plan from top-down.”[10] By “we”, he meant TPLF/EPRDF and by the lack of problem he was boasting the military power of the group to impose the order it wants, including genocide.

 

The amount of international visibility we can garner to stop this master plan and the genocide that has been ongoing prior to the master plan, depends on our concerted political muscle on the ground to organize people to resist Abyssinian genocidal campaigns in the 21st century.  The Oromo liberation camp needs to step up from issuing statements of condemnation to organizing relevant collective actions that shall meet the challenges of these difficult times for the Oromo people who are trapped under imposed life conditions threatening their survival as a nation.  

 

 

Endnotes

 

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[1] Finfinne is the indigenous Oromo name for the colonial city of Addis Ababa built on depopulated Oromo villages and tribes during the last quarter of the 19^th century. 

 

[2] Zenebe, W. (2013, September). “What are the benefits of Addis Ababa’s and the surrounding Oromia Special Zone common master plan?” [Translated title from Amharic]. Retrieved February  January 10, 2014, from

 

[3]Zenebe, W. (2013, April 2014). “The master plan created for Addis Ababa and Oromia Raided Governmental Questions” {Title translated from Amharic.] The figures cited about the sizes of land were excerpted from Wudneh’s news article in The Reporter.  

http://bit.ly/QiHQsF

 

[4] See endnote number 1 page 2.

[5] UN. 1948. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  Retrieved April 16, 2014 from

 https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-English.pdf

[6] Emphasis added.

[7] Endale, A.  (2013, July). “ Land reforms in Oromia Regional State.” Addis Fortune. Retrieved on April 15, 2014, from

http://addisfortune.net/articles/land-reforms-in-oromia-regional-state/

[8] Gadaa.(2014, April).  “Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) Sounds Alarm about the Ongoing Land-Grab in Oromia; Condemns the Ethiopian Govt’s Land Policy Being Enforced in Oromia Without Oromo’s Participation as Plan to Ignite Violence between Oromo Farmers and Investors.” Gadaa.com. Retrieved April 16, 2014 from

http://gadaa.com/oduu/25385/2014/04/15/oromo-federalist-congress-ofc-sounds-alarm-about-the-ongoing-land-grab-in-oromia-condemns-the-ethiopian-govts-land-policy-being-enforced-in-oromia-without-oromos-participation-as-plan-to-ignite/

This is a news item from Gadaa.com based on statement by OFC. Translation of parts of the statement from Afan Oromo into English is by the current author. 

 

[9] “His” is possessive for the Oromo people. The noun “Oromo” is masculine- gendered in Afan Oromo grammar.  

[10] YouTube video of Oromiya television news: “Addis Ababa-Finfinnee surrounding master plan faces fierce opposition from Oromos.” Via Oromia Times. Retrieved on April 16, 2014 from

http://oromiatimes.org/2014/04/14/addis-ababa-finfinnee-surrounding-master-plan-fac

 

11. Bulcha, M. (2013). “A Decade after the Aborted Oromo Eviction from Finfinnee: A Persistent Story of Expropriation, Humiliation & Displacement.” Retrieved  April 16, 2014, from

http://gadaa.com/oduu/25321/2014/04/13/a-decade-after-the-aborted-oromo-eviction-from-finfinnee-a-persistent-story-of-expropriation-humiliation-displacement/

12. Map Credit : Addis  Fortune. The same map also appears on Gada.com.

http://addisfortune.net/articles/land-reforms-in-oromia-regional-state/

Source: Oromopress