By Aie Zi Guo
July 12, 2006  After Auschwitz the international community made a collective promise to defend humanity. Fifty years after the community witnessed multiple madness and abuse of humanity by mindless dictators from Rwanda to Srebrenica, Darfur to Chile, Ethiopia to Cambodia, and Iraq to Chad. The ghosts of dictators haunt millions of children. Their names have become scarecrow for school age children allover the world.
Yet again in the 21 st century where fiber optics and internet technology transformed our lives, we continue witnessing the proliferation of new breeds of ruthless dictators like Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. To ascend and cling to power, they have exterminated scores of innocent people, wasted immense resources, and destroyed the cultural and human values of their nations. They killed and imprisoned thousands of their opponents, tortured civilians, mutilated children, raped women and executed many without trials. They buried their victims in mass graves denying them the minimum human curtsey expected of Homo sapiens. They have pulled the triggers of genocide and ignited the chambers of torture.
Like a child playing Entendo games, they watched the act of torture of prisoners by their mindless prison wardens, army and police officers from their palace chairs. For them it is as easy as one two three to decided the fate of their nation from lavish limousine seats chatting with their concubines or drinking whisky with their likeminded people. As a result children were orphaned, women were widowed, and thousands were killed and maimed. Their societies have been paralyzed to melancholy indiscriminately. The level of torture is gruesome to account. Their actions are no different from Hitler, Sadaam or Charles Taylor.
What is shocking and surprising is that UN member states seated at the 2nd floor of the UN head quarters in New York watched the madness of dictators with utter indifference. When one is indifferent to the suffering of others, one has indeed taken a moral stand. A moral stand which says, the life or pain of poor people is of no consequences. Consequently, the international community gave lip services with diplomatic jargons of restrain and containment strategies.
Unashamed of their deeds, dictators sat shoulder to shoulder with Western diplomats in international conferences, workshops and meetings to discuss wide ranging issues from human rights to sustainable development and International terrorism to peace and stability. For example African dictators sat with G8 countries to discuss the New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative in Kananaskis Canada, the Millennium Development Goal in Galingales with Tony Blair and EU, poverty reduction and sustainable development with WB, and international terrorism with President Bush at the White House. They are signatories of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Convention against Discrimination in Education. More than ever they continue to abuse their women, keep their population illiterate and starve their children to death
Interestingly and under the banned wagon of international diplomacy, diplomats of the so called civilized world attended receptions and tossed friendship champagnes with modern day butchers. The hand shakes and champagne for diplomacy and containment coupled by their unfettered access to western goods and services have emboldened the hearts and minds of dictators. To this end African and Asian dictators who failed to trust their own financial institutions are encouraged to keep their embezzled monies in American and European banks. They are allowed to vacation in western countries often with full diplomatic immunity. Dictators who pressure their people to send children to local schools are allowed to send theirs to prestigious western institutions of learning often at the expense of starving children.
Many are permitted to buy lobby firms in America and Europe to advocate their causes of genocide and tyranny with western governments. A case in point would be the regime of Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia who hired DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary to provide legislative, regulatory and PR services to the Government of Ethiopia. God knows for how long, the firm will receive $50,000 a month or $600,000/annum for its services. At current prices this can buy 150,000 impregnated mesquite nets for the entire families of the residents of Bahir Dar,Ethiopia. In a country where 81.9% of the Population earns below $1 a day, spending exorbitant sums of money to pay rich lobby firms is absolute madness. The firms are greedy profiteers who sell their decency and moral values for sheer personal gain. They should understand that the money they are receiving from Meles’ regime is money taken from starving children of Ethiopia on whose behalf the UN is asking donors for help. What else would be more shameful than to defend a dictatorial regime?
Moreover, Ethiopia is ruled by a minority ethnic group whose members are genetically close to Meles Zenawi’s family. In the 3000 years of its history this is the first time that Ethiopia is ruled by a single family member and a single ethnic group. These ruling elites between them have national assets (excluding their fluid net worth of assets in American, European and Asian Banks) $225 million. At current prices this can buy 57 million impregnated mosquito nets sufficient to protect 77 million Ethiopians from Malaria. Or in monetary terms it constitutes 30% of WFP’s US$763 million budget for its relief and recovery operation for a three year period, from January 2005 to December 2007 in Ethiopia. To add insult to injury the Ethiopian Ambassador in Washington requested his government to send him $20,000 to meet his expenses for compiling the list of names and photos of pro-democracy protesters in Washington and elsewhere in the US. On the contrary, we see that Microsfot co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates devotes most of his time and wealth to philanthropic foundations he established in 2000. Whereas leaders like Meles Zenawi use public and World Bank funds to suffocate democracy. They drain the resources of their people and approach the widerworld to ask for humanitarian and development aid. They use international aid and loan to buy military hard ware to sustain the rule of genocide and dictatorship.
One wonders why President Bill Clinton called Meles and others as the new breeds of African leaders for the renaissance of African democracy. Africans continue wondering how the Bush and Blair administration partnered with these leaders in the fight against international terrorism while they terrorise their own people. It is time to pause and reassesses the moral values of the United States of America and Great Britain.
More surprising is the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund willingness to reward dictators with huge loans and credits for a job well done in castrating democracy, the rule of law and good governances. Recently, the World Bank granted the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenwai of Ethiopia $1.05 billion dollar. But Meles uses this fund to collect the names and photos of pro-democracy demonstrators at the door steps of the World Bank offices and the white House. Knowing full well the atrocities of Meles Zenawai, it is shameful and equally sinful of the WB to crown a dictator with such large sum of money.
So far Western nations who often expose the atrocities and human rights abuses of dictators in their annual human rights report of nations have often failed to take concrete steps. It is, therefore, important to stop business as usual and do some serious business of disaster prevention. In this context, the trial of Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor is a welcome omen. Nevertheless it is something too good that came too late at the expenses of too many innocent lives. It is a pity that the west remained a sleeping giant while genocide, miscarriage of justice, abuse of power and torture took place at the doorsteps of their respective embassies for so long. This is a regrettable diplomatic episode that aught to be condemned and not condoned. There should be no diplomatic and moral generosity of complacence to dictators. Financial institutions should not be keen to hide the monies embezzled by African and Asian Heads of States. Meles and his surrogates who are considered as the darling democrats of African Nations are cold-blooded murderers whose security forces hunt and kill innocent citizens.
Finally “Every year, about US$15 billion pours out of Africa, a sum that equals international aid. As the money comes in, capital flows out into Western Banks. Every year, 70,000 of Africa’s brightest and best leave to work abroad, and 100,000 foreign “experts†come to work in Africa.â€ÂThere is no need of telling African leaders to do capacity building while they are torturing their expertise daily. In the Ethiopian context no capacity building or development agenda will be achieved when the effects of poverty and lack of individual and collective freedom is at stake. Multilateral and bilateral donors should not lend money or provide aid to reinforce tyranny. The community that said no to Auschwitz should be able to say no dictatorship. There should be no sanctuary to corrupt and undemocratic leaders who loot the resources of the people whom they were destined to serve. The developing world is sick and tired of the continuednaivety and complacence of the international community. In unison Africans demand the international community to act before the beast makes colossal damages. Acting after the fall of dictators is just like a dog barking after the enemy left its barracks. That is why the Ethiopian Diaspora and the Ethiopian people demand the Bush administration to approve HR 5680, the “Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006†and implement in earnest. If approved, the Act will send clear messages to Meles Zenawi and other members of the AU in Addis Ababa who are champions of terrorizing and looting their peoples.
The writer is an economist who is interested on international affairs particularly on Ethiopia. He resides in Canada. He can be reached at [email protected]
GETZ #8
By Donald N Levine
For all the attention paid to issues of ethnic conflict occasioned by the Government’s charge of “genocide†(see Getz #7), I find it puzzling that so little attention has been paid to one of the most momentous ethnic issues of all: Oromonet. In the contemporary Ethiopian political scene, Oromo protests–starting with the Mecha-Tulema association and the Bale Oromo Movement of the late 1960s–existed nearly as long as those centered in Tigray, and to this day often appear as associated with highly divisive departures.
As with Tigrayawinet, the Oromo populace is marked by strong ambivalence toward the Ethiopian nation and its government. On the one hand, most Oromo feel gratitude to EPRDF for having brought them an unprecedented level of self-determination. As one Oromo businessman sympathetic to the opposition said to me, “Although I disagree with many of his policies, Prime Minister Meles is a jewel. He has enabled the Southern peoples to have an important say in their governance, and that is a huge accomplishment.†Indeed, there is no denying the fact that Oromo participants played a major role in drafting the Charter that laid the groundwork for the Ethiopian Constitution. On the other hand, many Oromo object to their disproportionately low presence in the higher echelons of the federal administration. They have been aggravated by what they perceive as years of harsh repression, such that some extremists have indulged in talk about an EPRDF policy of ethnic cleansing. This includes unfounded charges such as that Dedessa prisoners are shaved with a single razor blade in order to proliferate HIV infection.
These baseless allegations apart, the credible grievances voiced by Oromo politicians center on three issues–language, power, and repression. MP Bulcha Demeksa, for example, argues that it would be reasonable to make Oromiffa, the language spoken by the largest single ethnic group in Ethiopia, a second national language, pointing to Switzerland as an example of a country where multiple official languages coexist.
Similarly, Oromo leaders press claims for a larger Oromo representation in the national government that is commensurate with their demographic and economic strength. Finally, although allegations about an explicit anti-Oromo policy are exaggerated, the reality behind them is the fact of the imprisonment of thousands of Oromo on political charges and the harassment, arbitrary imprisonments, and killings of Oromo citizens imagined to be sympathetic to the Oromo Liberation Front. When President Negasso Gidada left office in 2001, he estimated that more than 20,000 Oromo citizens were being held in prison. A Human Rights Watch Report on Oromia amplifies human rights reports by the US State Department and other agencies in painting a grim picture of abuses, especially in the Wollega area and at the Dedessa prison camp; I myself have spoken with credible survivors of such abuses. The matter has become so flagrantly scandalous that the Oromia state legislature has reportedly called for an investigation. There is also the allegation that de facto governance in Oromia is still in the hands of TPLF cadres.
On the face of it, the readiest option for dealing with all such issues would simply be to strengthen the political and cultural dimensions of the Oromia kilil–far and away the largest, after all–in the state of Ethiopia. Beyond that, some Ethiopians imagine that the problems are so deep-seated that creating a separate state might be the best solution. One reader, Aberra Buli, raises the question of Oromo options in a recent letter:
Your previous and present writing is eloquently demonstrating the problems of nation building in a multiethnic society like Ethiopia. Frankly speaking, if one analyzes Ethiopian society in historical perspective and considers the social antagonism between the Kibre Nagest and Gadaa Oromo social and political systems, one arrives at two contradictory social orders… The different nations and nationalities inhabiting contemporary Ethiopia are not based on voluntary union of the people but at gunpoint. The oppressed nations and nationalities are waiting for a good day to get out of this prison of a nation to chart the social contract that keep them together as a modern nation by dissolving the old order. I believe the way out of this vicious circle is the imposition of Gadaa-based political democracy that embraces the southern people and the Oromo nation or else to facilitate the separation of these antagonistic social orders forever and arrange new territorial definitions in the Horn of Africa. What do you think about this?
One can surely sympathize with the experiences that underlie a wish for separation. (I shall have more to say about that in a paper to be presented at the Oromo Studies Association on July 29.) My own view, however, is that a two-state solution would not be optimal, and indeed that the very existence of the Oromia kilil as presently constituted impedes satisfactory solution of the above-noted problems of language marginalization, insufficient power, and historic repression.
Oromo Ethiopians have expressed three concerns to me that support such a conjecture: dissatisfaction with enforced uniformity within Oromia, maladministration in an oversized province, and marginalization at the center.
A former student of mine sought me ought during my February visit–the first time we had met since 1960. One point that angered him about the current set-up was how it presumed and tended to enforce a presumption of homogeneity among all Oromo. “This make no sense,” he exclaimed. “I am a Hararge Oromo, and we are more different from the Oromo of Wollega than the Gondares are from the Tigreans.” His comment reminded me of the statement of some (then-called) Galla of Jimma Abba Jifar, who in the early 1960s objected to being referred to as Oromo on grounds that that name betokened a “pagan” identity whereas they were proud to be Muslims. In short, there is so much heterogeneity among the Oromo themselves that putting all of them under a single political authority would probably breed more problems than it solves, not to mention depriving the Oromo of participating in what still promises to be the most successful polyethnic democratic state in all of Africa. What is more, by incorporating all the Southern peoples under such an authority, it blithely ignores the aspirations of millions of non-Oromo Ethiopians who currently live in those areas, such as the Dorze, the Wollayta, and others who appear to feel long-standing anxieties about Oromo domination.
If a single Oromo entity–whether kilil or independent state–is objectionable on cultural grounds, it poses no less difficulty on administrative grounds. At present, citizens of Oromia often find it to be so large that it is administratively unwieldy. They would prefer kilil proportioned more on the size of other others. This would enhance delivery of services such as education, health, agricultural improvement, infrastructure, and the like. And creating different administrations within that vast territory might also help enfranchise the numerous non-Oromo ethnies living under Oromo rule.
Regarding language policy, to make Oromiffa a third official language would require the many non-Oromo Ethiopians there to learn at least four languages. This situation would of course be amplified by making Oromiffa an additional official national language. An alternative reform has been advanced by Dr. Getatchew Haile, who suggests that all Ethiopians be required to learn a second Ethiopian language in addition to Amharic, a reform that would both benefit Oromo-speakers and spread the linguistic burden more equitably.
Perhaps the biggest complaint of many Oromo citizens–their exclusion from the central elites–has some connection with the separateness with which the EPRDF regime has defined the Oromo population. The notion that a presumptive entity called Oromia had and should have a separate existence has two drawbacks: historically, it is counterfactual; politically, it relegates the Oromo to a place as second-class citizens within the Ethiopian nation. What this view of Oromonet omits is the huge and essential role played by Oromo in the building of the modern Ethiopian nation. In a joint seminar with noted Oromo scholar Asmarom Legesse in the 1960s, we discovered that we had come independently to appreciate this role, one rarely touched on in the literature. Professor Asmarom’s notion that the (then-styled) Galla constituted a cultural corridor through which diverse other ethnicities were integrated into a single national community of Greater Ethiopia captured one of these points perfectly. (See my Greater Ethiopia [Tiliqwa Etyopiya], ch. 12; see also the conclusion of Getz #7).
The marginalization of the Oromo can be overcome if the Northerners welcome them more emphatically and if Oromo leaders who view themselves simply as oppressed and as second-rate would evince a more positive attitude. Even the head of the most radical Oromo group, the OLF, emphasizes the advantages that can be realized by working within the existing Ethiopian national system. In an interview in Les nouvelles d’Addis of March 29, 2006, Obbo Dawud Ibsa Ayana embraces this option on the basis of removing three obstacles to democracy in Ethiopia-–the ruling party’s control of the media (see Getz #1); of the judiciary (see Reply to Critic of Getz #5); and of the security forces–-and of addressing the outstanding grievances of the Oromo people. With sufficient determination and political will, all of these changes can be accomplished.
Then the door would be opened to integrating Oromo political culture more forthrightly into Ethiopia’s democratization process. What would it be like to begin all sessions of Parliament and public meetings with the kind of language invoked at the start of Gaada assemblies, which encourages speakers to avoid provoking resentments and to promote peace (nagaa)? What would it be like to feature the theme of social inclusiveness, as in the Oromo practice of incorporation through adoption–a practice that over generations enabled Oromo to integrate groups from other ethnies such as Konso and Wolleyta, to assimilate immigrants, and to adapt to other cultures which they penetrated? What would it be like to feature the theme of inter-religious harmony, as in the Oromo custom of having one spouse be a Christian, the other a Muslim? What would it be like to institute a system of democratic self-rule, in which leaders were elected for finite periods with the expectation that they would turn over the reigns of governance smoothly to a properly appointed successor cohort? I trust that this is the sort of institution of Gaada-inspired democracy that Obbo Aberra advocates. Cultural creativity of that sort would complete the process of nation-building in which Oromo peoples have been engaged so conspicuously over the past three centuries, and would enable the Oromo tradition to resume its historic trajectory with a flourish.
Below the full text of a speech given in Paris, France, by OLF’s Dr Shigut Geleta on June 17, 2006.
Thank you Mr. Chairperson for the nice introduction. As the chairperson said, my name is Shigut Geleta, and I am the Head of Foreign Relations of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in Europe.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I feel greatly honoured and privileged to have been invited to this “8 heuers les Nouvelles d’Addis” meeting not only to participate but also to address such a distinguished audience of wide spectrum: from students, researchers, journalists, guest speakers, and of course readers and friends of “Les Nouvelles” on the topic given to me, namely: Oromia and Its Perspectives in the Present Situation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Speaking about perspective of Oromia and the Oromo people explicitly means to speak about the central issues of the Ethiopian empire. The Oromos that live in Oromia are geopoltically and socio-economically the main issue to measure Ethiopia’s progress and/or problems. Oromia State is the largest among the Regional States, and stretches from north west Sudan border to south east to Somalia, from north Tigray border to south up to Kenya, and in the west from Sudan border to the east up to Djibouti. The Oromos account for more than 40% of Ethiopia’s projected 78 million total population; 75% of its forest resources, a lion shares of imports and foreign exchange. Most of the main stable foods of Ethiopia such as wheat, barely, corn, oats, teff, sorghum, pulses and oil seeds are produced in Oromia, and Oromia is the largest producer of cattle, poultry, horse, mule, donkey, sheep, goat, and others. Blue Nile, the longest river in the world, and other rivers that benefit the Sudan, Egypt, Somalia and Kenya get most of their tributaries from rivers that originate and flow in Oromia. As many of might be aware of, any environmental malpractice on these shared water resources such as deforestation directly affects not only Ethiopian peoples but also the life of millions of peoples of the riparian states down the streams.
Addis Ababa/Finfinne, sometimes known as the capital city of Africa that serves as the seat of Ethiopian government and many international organisations like Economic commission for Africa (ECA), African Union (AU) and others is located in the heart of Oromoland. Among the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia, the Oromos occupy an important position not only geographically but also socio-economically. The Oromo democracy, the Gada system, has many resembles with several indigenous peoples like the Sidama, Gedewo and Konso. Afaan Oromoo, the oromo language, shares many words with most of south west nations and nationalities of Ethiopia such as the Konso, Sidama, Gidolee, Gatoo, Arboora, Gedewo, Gaamota, Semayii and Geleb. The same is true with Somali, Afar and Saho languages.
These are some of the few points why the Oromo issues should be central to any topic be it economy, politics, human rights, democracy or development in general. Regrettably, for the last one hundred plus years, Oromos have been under the subjugation of different systems of Ethiopian rulers or dictators. These dictators have some common characteristic. They all had/have ascended to power by force and rule by force from Menelik to Melese Zenawi. Since each systems have ethnic vanguard and beneficiaries, Oromos have been marginalized, oppressed, and have become second class citizens in their own country for more than a century now. Oromos voices have been silenced, their culture and language suppressed and their resources exploited to sustain the oppressing systems. Oromos haven’t got an opportunity to say yes or no in any war or peace making process. It is our latest fresh memory that Oromo peasants and youths were used as cannon fodder and mine sweepers during the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000.
Sustainable economic development and growth of domestic product need peace and democracy. Oromos have none of them. The absence of justice, equality and peace in Ethiopia has made Ethiopia as the prison house of nations and nationalities and one of the poorest countries in the world. Oromia that could have been the bread basket of Africa is in need of foreign food aid. Oromos who could have enjoyed liberty and justice from their egalitarian culture are chained and put to prison for demanding God given rights that are enshrined to all human beings.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ethiopia was described by Ennrico Cerulli (1956) as a museum of peoples and the coincidence of class and ethnic fissures has long provided the primary nexus of conflict over Ethiopian state. Both national and international factors played a key role for such deep-rooted conflict and contradiction. History teaches us, the climax of contradiction results into revolution, and the Ethiopian revolution of 1974 was nothing but the explosion of the contradictions suppressed by force for many years. As I indicated above, the problem of nations and nationalities has been the critical issue for Oromos in particular because of the emperor’s desired goal of homogenised and centralized Ethiopia by making it mono culture, language and religion. The revolutionary event of 1974 was high-jacked by the military junta, the Derg, because there was no other organized political party in the country. As the Emperor had done, Mengistu, the chairman of the Derg, continued the pattern of extreme centralisation and denial of individual or collective rights of nations and nationalities. He replaced monarchical absolutism ideology by militaristic Marxism – Leninism to build the Ethiopian nation state. Centralization and homogenisation under the culture of one ethnic group severely suppressed the Oromos culturally, economically and politically and only perpetuated the systematic domination. The grievance of oppressed nationalities resulted in ethnic based liberation movements such as Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and with the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) that finally toppled the Military junta in 1991.
The OLF was born to address the brutal oppression, and socio-politico-economic exploitation and subjugation of the Oromo people by the Ethiopian political system. This necessity delivered a centralised and secular OLF in 1973/1974. The sacrifice of thousands of Oromo nationalists has resulted in the recognition of Oromo and Oromia as a unified polity in the Ethiopian political system in 1991. After the fall of Derg, the ethnic based federal system was introduced to Ethiopia during the Transition Government and later enshrined in the constitution. The TPLF had conducted election in June 1992 and 1994, May 1995, 2000 and 2005. By doing so, it claimed that it has transformed the Ethiopian state from authoritarian ethnically dominated empire and command economy to democratic society and free market economy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The current rulers of Ethiopia also never seem to learn from history. In fact, the political culture of Ethiopia remains unchanged. As all dictators do, Prime Minster Meles banned all independent political parties and liberation movements during the first year into the Transition period. A few political parties have managed to participate in the election processes mentioned above under very harsh conditions. The Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has used various methods to manipulate the elections. The main methods have been closure of opposition offices, harassment, killings, arrest of candidates, refusal of endorsement of registrations of opposition organisations, last-minute shift in the election regulations regarding the number of candidates to be field, suspension of candidates by alleged cases of being “under police investigations” were a just a few of tactics the regime routinely uses.
As a result of such election mockery, the federal government of Ethiopia with bicameral parliament (legislative body), the executive body, judiciary, the army, security and police all are interwoven into one party, the TPLF led EPRDF party. The prime Minister, Foreign Minster, Security Minister, Army Chief of Staff, most military commanders and many other Federal employees are ethnic Tigres and come from the TPLF even though the total population of ethnic Tigres is about 6% of the population of Ethiopia.
Despite Ethiopia’s claim to follow free market economic policy, it is officially known that “Non-Governmental Organisations” (NGOs) such as Relief Society of Tigray (REST), Tigray Development Association (TDA) and Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray ( EFFORT) are controlled by TPLF and serve as the front organisations to channel national and international resources to the ruling party controlled business empires. Basically, the TPLF privatised (took ownership) public property nationalized during the Derg time in the name of free market economy. TPLF dictates politics, economy and security of peoples in Ethiopia. There is no doubt in fair and free competition, TPLF will never stand a chance to rob Ethiopian peoples vote and resources.
As far as free press is concerned, five Oromo magazines (Urji, Biftu, Gada, Madda Walaabuu and Odaa) were closed down when the government imprisoned their editors and publishers. Many of the Oromo journalists were exiled after their release, but Mr. Shiferaw Insermu and Mr. Dhabassaa Wakjira are currently languishing in prison. This is not unique to Oromos alone. There are also a number of Amharic and different language newspapers that are closed down by the regime.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is true that the Ethiopian state is federally structured and the country has a constitution resembling that of western European norm. Nevertheless, this constitution remained a paper document devoid of implementation. This fake federal structure has been manipulated by TPLF to divide and rule at home, and has given the impression of prevalence of democratic structure to the international community. The regime has pitted one ethnic group against the other allotting villages to adjacent ethnic group and has caused unnecessary blood-shed. Furthermore, the incumbent minority ruling party merely formulated and expressed the competing interest and ideas of the opponent parties on paper for its own survival on power and gain international support. A constitution that has become an instrument of oppression for the vast majority of the people is not worth the ink and the paper it is written on.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today after 15 years, we need not to enumerate the dictatorial nature of Ethiopian government. The International Observers of May 2005 National Election and the Ethiopian peoples are the witnesses what the regime is and how it has remained in power.
Ethiopia is at a cross-road and two important trends have been unfolding in the mean time. On one hand, lack of solution for pending political questions and on the other hand the underdeveloped economy have taken a collision course. Poverty, high unemployment, alarming population growth, rate of spread of HIV/AIDS, repressive measure of the government for any peaceful demonstration are hefty records of shame for the government. Since November 9, 2005 until this time there is widespread continuous people disobedience in Oromia where the government falsely portrayed itself as if it won the election in this regional zone. However it was in this region where it has used its armed wing for its flawed election. The government responded to peaceful demonstrations causing massive human rights violations such as extra judicial killings, harassment, disappearance, gang rape, detentions and etc..These brutal actions of the regime will never silence the Oromo national struggle but rather it will strengthen “Oromummaa” (Oromo identity).
This brut act is not only confined to Oromia but also makes in Ogadenia, Sidama, Anuwak, Amhara and others too. This continuous suppression of the regime and Ethiopian people’s rebellion heralds the end the road for the TPLF-led Ethiopian regime. To facilitate the end of a minority rule and to shorten the time suffering of Ethiopian people, after a long thorough discussion, liberation movements and political parties with their different pragmatic programs but representing different nations or political interest of the Ethiopian people recently (in May 2006) established Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD). As history instructs us it is the democratic vision of Pan Africanists like Kwame Nkurmah, Patrice Lumumba, Julius Nyerere, Amilcar Cabral and Nelson Mandela that led and speeded up de-colonisation process. Today’s bold determination and vision of the leadership of member organisations of AFD to pool resources together and work hand in hand will be, no doubt, the light at the end of the tunnel for Horn of African peace in general and for Ethiopia in particular. It is high time that freedom and democracy reign in all corners of Africa and Ethiopia should be an example not an obstacle. AFD has a noble goal that accommodates all those who stand for justice, equality, freedom and democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before I sum up my speech I would like to say some words about the efforts the Oromo nation has been making for freedom and peace. Since 1900s, Oromos of all walks of life have been dying to restore their inalienable birthright for human dignity, freedom and equality. The OLF, as a vanguard organisation leading the Oromo people, has always showed its willingness and commitment to resolve the fundamental problems in Ethiopia peacefully and democratically. The following records are a few of the efforts made by the OLF to resolve the problem in the Ethiopian empire peacefully.After the fall of the Derg the OLF and almost all Oromo Liberation organisations participated in the 1991-1992 Transitional Government with the hope that the chronic problem of the empire and that of Oromo case would be resolved peacefully. While OLF is seriously working on Transitional Charter:
Mr. Gamahis Dhaaba (Zacharias Galata), Central Committee Member of OLF was murdered cold blooded in a TPLF office. On 25 March 1992, along the streets of Water town in Hararge region, Meles Zenaw’s army opened gunfire on peaceful Oromo demonstrators indiscriminately and killed 92 people and wounded over 300. Soon after that, Jatani Ali, a prominent Oromo politician,was murdered in Nairobi, Kenya. When the mechanism devised by the Charter was derailed by the TPLF/EPRDF, the OLF was forced to withdraw from Transitional Government of Ethiopia in the Mid-1992. Since then, the OLF has taken several initiatives to end the conflict peacefully. The OLF has sat for negotiation with the TPLF several times to resolve the Oromo issue, but all failed because the TPLF regime knows it has no public support and mandate to rule by force if equality, freedom and peace reign in the country. Just to give some chronological events:-
1.In 1993 OLF sat for negotiation with the help of eight European and North American Ambassadors. The Eritrea President with the ambassadors of Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and the US took the initiative.
At that time EPRDF was declaring to the world that it had captured 20,000 OLF fighters by mass arresting Oromo children, elders and women and refused to negotiate. 2.In 1993, OLF joined the Paris Peace Committee with a sincere commitment to salvage the situation. The TPLF/EPRDF beside its unwillingness to solve the conflict peacefully,
it rather aggravated the disagreement by arresting Mr. Ibsa Gutama, the OLF representative when he arrived in Addis Ababa/Finfinne from Europe to participate in the Peace and Reconciliation Conference due to take place from December 18-22,1993. The unsecured minority government intensified killing, assassinating and imprisoning Oromo civilians. 3.In 1994, OLF met at the Carter Peace Centre in Atlanta, Georgia under the chairmanship of theformer US President Jimmy Carter. Again, the Meles government was not willing to negotiate.
In March 2004, Abba Gada Boru Guyyoo, a Gada leader of Borona who was invited for a peace talk was murdered on his way back to his village by TPLF soldiers. Again, in September 2004, Mr. Darara Kafani, a successful businessman of over 65 years old was gunned down in broad day light by TPLF security forces. On 21 May 1995, Mr. Ali Yusuf, a business man who was one of the 12 member of the OLF’s seat in Transitional Government was assassinated in Addis Ababa/Finfinne by no one else but the brutal regime. 4. In 1996, in Nairobi, Kenya, through the Kenyan government another attempt was made for mediation. But the TPLF/EPDRF responded by :-
closing the Oromo Relief Association (ORA) in February 1996, and imprisoned all its workers and confiscated all the property of ORA. It also killed a well known Oromo singer Mr. Ebisa Adunyaa in August 1996 in Addis Ababa/Finfinne in his home. 5.In 1997, a former German Ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr. Horst Winkelman made his best to bring the TPLF leaders to the negotiation table but it was turned down by the Ethiopian regime.
Again, the TPLF/EPRDF arrested Oromo journalists and all members of Oromo Human Rights League in the country
6. In 1998, by the invitation of the US State department, in Washington, DC, another attempt was made for negotiation but failed since this government can not stay in power if peace, equality, freedom and democracy prevail in that country.
The TPLF government did not waste any time to instigate ethnic and tribal conflict between Guji Oromos and Gedeo in July 1998, and between Borana and Garba peoples in October 1998 that claimed the lives of many innocent civilians. 7. In 1999, again in Washington DC, under the sponsorship of Congressman Hennery Johnston, another effort was made to bring Mr. Meles to negotiation, but it did not materialize and bear no result.
8. On February 3, 2000, the OLF took extra miles to seek a peaceful settlement with the Ethiopian regime by issuing an “ Agenda for Peace to Resolve the Conflict in Ethiopia ”.
However, the TPLF regime did not miss a chance to show its true intention and goal. Just a few weeks later, it assassinated an OLF Executive Member, the Honourable Mr. Mulis Abba Gadaa. From 2000 until this very moment, many Oromo students have been killed, detained and many more have exiled in fear of immediate danger for their lives. In the same year, the regime moved the seat of Oromia Regional State from Addis Ababa/Finfinne to Adama. It detained the leaders and member of Mecha-Tulama self-help association, for no reason other than peacefully protesting the change of State government seat to Adama. Even though the government has recognized it was against the will of the people to do so and relocated the Oromia capital to Addis Ababa/Finfinne, the Mecha-Tulama leaders are still languishing in TPLF prison. 9. In September 2005, the OLF responded positively for Mr. Meles’s call for peace talk without any precondition. It was rather a public relation gimmick since at that time TPLF was cornered by International Observers and the opposition to accept defeat at the ballot. As usual, no follow up or any meaningful proposal was presented from Mr. Meles, and basically it has been OLF’s experience not to expect much from this regime.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Peace can only be attained when all stakeholders show willingness to resolve the conflict at hand and begin to negotiate in good faith. I have showed just a few examples to demonstrate that Meles regime is neither for peace, equality, freedom nor for democracy. It is an unstable, paranoid regime that relies on nothing but force and about 6% of the Ethiopian populace who belong to its ethnicity. On the other hand, the AFD, which OLF is a founding member, is calling all stakeholders including EPRDF for political dialogue to formulate a comprehensive solution for the problem the country is facing. The OLF firmly believes the problem in the country can be solved though peaceful and democratic deliberations if all agree not to use force. Unfortunately, TPLF is never late to use force and create more problem and mistrust among the Ethiopian people, the opposition and try to confuse the international community. I have no doubt that the TPLF will go to any length in fabricating anything to discredit the Alliance and its member organisations through all sorts of divide and conquer, intermediation and even by trying to make alliance to a member of AFD. AFD will not fall for old tricks.
Finally, one basic reality is that Oromos and Oromia are no more abstract to the World. They are part of the global world with name and location. No one should tamper with individual and group rights of the Oromos and other nationalities in Ethiopia except themselves. I also believe no one should forcefully separate nations that want to unite and live together, and at the same time no one should force any nations to live together if they freely express their will not to do so. Ethiopia is not the only multi-nation state in the World. Oromos have been in contact with different nations and nationalities in Ethiopia, if the root cause of contradictions and conflict that prevail in Ethiopia is sequentially and properly solved through free, fair and democratic deliberations, rather than the barrel of gun, I have no doubt that Oromo visionaries and the OLF leadership will play a key role to bring peace in the Horn of Africa by placing the hierarchy of Oromo identity in the world of multiple identities. To learn more we shouldn’t have to go very far; one of the neighbouring country adjacent to this meeting place (France), Belgium, is divided in to three ethnic based regional zones: Flandern (deutch speaking), Wallon (french speaking) and Brussels (multicultural centre) each zone is enjoying its multiple right and multiple identity in EU. We can also look at the recent vote in Montenegro where the populace expressed to try a solo journey than unity with Serbia. The future is doomed only for those who fear equality, democracy and freedom, and for those who uphold and condone injustice, inequality and dictatorship. I say freedom now, equality now, democracy now for all peoples of Ethiopia, and Freedom and Democracy for all !!!
Merci beaucoup, au revoir,
Nagaan Galatooma,
Thank you,
COMMENTS
Getz #7, Part II
By Donald N. Levine
Whence this dramatic reversal of Tigrayan sentiment, from champions of historic Ethiopia to debunkers of its reality? The story begins following the Liberation from Italian rule in 1942. The Tigrayan populace was stressed due to population pressures on increasingly infertile land. Nearly a third of Tigrayans migrated to other parts of the country. Their strained condition was severely exacerbated by impossibly heavy tax burdens, which the IEG refused to adjust. Indeed, the attitude of the central government seemed dismissive toward Tigray. It was clear that Shoa, the center of imperial rule since Minelik, and Eritrea, the returned province that Ethiopia sought to woo, were the major beneficiaries of the national budget. This grated on a people who had long played a central role in the Ethiopian political landscape.
These resentments boiled over in March 1943 when people from many parts of the province rose up in a rebellion (Tigr. woyane ) against the Imperial Ethiopian Government that lasted for five months. In response, Emperor Haile Selassie I had RAF planes drop payloads of bombs against Tigrayan villagers (as he did when he was confronted with peasant uprisings in other parts of the country, such as Gojjam). That planted the seeds of a smouldering antagonism that was fueled when the Government’s strict Amharization policy procued a ban against using the Tigrinya language in 1970.
It did not seem that things would improve under the Derg. Two days after they deposed the Emperor, a group of Tigrayans met in a café in Addis to plant the seeds of a Tigrayan opposition movement, taking the name Woyane–signifying a popular rebellion against outside oppression-as their logo. Derg policies reinforced their grievances. For example, the Derg forbade Tigrayans used to go to other parts of the country to work, a common basis for earning income that they would bring home to support their families and invest in their farms. This plunged Tigrayans ever more deeply into poverty and hopelessness, and gave the incipient TPLF movement important support from the very beginning.
“In my high school class in Agame,” one TPLF veteran of the early 1980s told me, “80% of the students supported TPLF, the rest were for EPRP.” This groundswell of sentiment led in two directions, however. One group (TLF) wanted to press the claims of a greater Tigray (Tigray-Tigrini), uniting Tigrinya-speakers from Eritrea with the province. The other group organized itself politically and ideologically through the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray. It conjoined the principle of class struggle with that of self-determination of nationalities. Like other radicals of the day, they appropriated the myth that Ethiopia was the invention of Minelik in order to legitimate the independence of Eritrea, and the principle of self-determination within Ethiopia.
This ethno-Marxist sentiment drove the most ambitious elements of the TPLF movement. It led those who took political control of the TPLF to turn against Tigrayan political elements who did not support Eritrean independence. Before long that led, evidence suggests, to a policy of liquidating those elements. Tigray became, survivors of those horrific years aver, a “killing field.” According to many reports, which must be investigated further by future historians, Tigrayan civilians were slaughtered right and left–in many cases following gruesome torture, according to eye witnesses. Rumors of mass graves in the surroundings of Ghinem in Welkait Tsegede as well as in other parts of Tigray, if confirmed, would support such reports.
Like many idealistic youth of their generation, the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray felt empowered by the seductive morsels of Marxian ideology–unaware of the wise pronouncements of the young Marx himself that communism like other narrow doctrines was a dangerous “dogmatic abstraction.”
Coupled with the new dogmatic abstraction about Ethiopia as an invention of Minilek, it became a heady brew that induced the committed TPLF ethno-Marxists to murder great numbers of civilians and to perpetrate slanders against Amharas and Ethiopian patriots. One veteran of those killings confesses that when he told another, early in the fighting “the number of people we have killed thus far has reached 10,000,” his comrade replied: “So what, Red China had to kill a million people in order to become victorious.” Attitudes of that sort, be it noted, were shared by other Ethiopian revolutionaries of the time.
It is possible, then, that accusations of genocide against Medsfin Wolde Mariam and other defendants may reflect something else. They may represent a wish to disavow the crimes against Tigrayans which the TPLF in its days of struggle felt it had to commit. The current leadership has changed a good deal since those impassioned days. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had strenuously disavowed the tenets of his early ideological commitments as early as 1990, arguing that what he wanted was a chance for the peoples of Ethiopia to decide their fate from the bottom up, not from the top down. The EPRDF has given up most of the doctrines of Leninism and insists that it wants to move Ethiopia in the direction of democratization. In recent months it has taken steps toward reforming parliamentary procedures, press legislation, and the Election Board. The nationalist sentiments evoked by the 1998-2000 campaign against Eritrea produced some recognition that behere etyopiya was not so fictitious after all. The old warriors may regret the misery they caused in their determined rise to power. They now insist that they want to get beyond a politics of violence.
There is much that they and the whole country can do to accomplish that. The Government commands the allegiance of cadres of Agazi troops–uncompassionate, socially isolated cadres who owe their existence to the TPLF, and who can be mobilized in an instant to inflict terrible cruelties behind the scenes. For the former TPLF leadership to embrace Ethiopian nationhood fully it will do well to insist on an impartial and transparent investigation of the actions of its security forces–at Dedessa, in Tigray, and in the streets and alleys of Addis Ababa. The current Government of Ethiopia demands that those currently indicted be held accountable for any crimes they committed by inciting illegal actions against the Ethiopian state, if such can be proven in court––even though, on the question of incitement to ethnic violence, it is doubtful that there can be credible evidence to convict the CUD leaders. Beyond that, the Government must also be vigilant in monitoring excesses of ethnic vilification. In Tigray since the election, a few people circulate the warning, “Amharotch temelsu seltan intehizu iqetleke iyu naya’aharte sheate amat qalsi behama yiteref”–if the Amhara return to power, they will kill you all and your seventeen-year struggle will have been in vain.” Surely that is something that can be discouraged.
Decades of suffering from destructive political conflicts can be ended, especially now that Ethiopia’s security is threatened on all borders. It should now be possible again to view Adwa, not as a symbol of irrendentist particularism but once again as the triumph of multiethnic Ethiopianism, when 100,000 troops from dozens of ethnic groups fought together behind every important chief from all over the country–Ras Alula, Ras Mengesha, and Ras Sibhat of Tigray; Dejazmatch Bahta of Akale Guzae; Wag Shum Guangul of Lasta; Ras Mikael of Wallo; Negus Takla-Haymanot of Gojjam; Ras Gobena and Dejazmatch Balcha of the Mecha Oromo; Ras Wele of the Yejju Oromo; Fitawrari Tekla of Wollega; Ras Makonnen of Harar; as well as Ras Gebeyehu (who died fighting at Adwa) and Ras Abate of Shoa. Minister Fisseha Ashgedom, an early TPLF loyalist, talks proudly now of the role his grandfather Dejazmatch Tessema played in the battle of Adwa. The Adwa victory became and remains the most outstanding symbol of what, a half-century later, a British colonel would describe as the “mysterious magnetism†that holds Ethiopia together. This is a magnetism that will outlast the petty particularisms and personal ambitions that became so virulent under the ethno-Marxist ideologues of the 1970s and 1980s.
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TO my readers:
As noted in my introduction to Part I, “Portions of this piece might open old wounds. Please consider my point of view: that these old wounds were never properly healed and continue to spill toxins into Ethiopia’s body politic today.
Please know, also, that in this as in all previous Getzotch, I do not claim to have the absolute truth. That is never a proper claim to be made by scholars in general and in particular for anyone rash enough to make statements about Ethiopia.”
The full series can be accessed at www.eineps.org/forum.
