Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia
Group also speaks up against the brutality directed at
Afar pastoralists and the crackdown on journalists:
A Call to Action for All Ethiopians to Stand Strong for a Better Future!
April 3, 2014
We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) strongly condemn the horrific killing of innocent Oromo students, peacefully protesting at various universities in Ethiopia. They were decrying the forced displacement of Oromo farmers and the take over of Oromo land for development near Addis Ababa where many have been forced out of homes and from land they and their families have lived on for years, if not centuries. This is another part of the TPLF/EPRDF strategy to dominate and exploit the people, similar to what they have been doing in Gambella, the Omo Valley, Benishangul, the Ogaden, the Afar region, the Amhara region, and now in the Oromia region around the city. The Oromo are not alone for this is a klepotocratic and brutal regime who have left a trail of serial human rights violations throughout the country.
In the last weeks, the people of one district in the Afar region have also been attacked by the ethnic apartheid regime, again due to their protest of land grabs. We strongly condemn the massacre of Afar pastoralists in this area of the Afar region where TPLF/EPRDF forces recently murdered 12 innocent civilians, including women, children’s and elders, as they tended to their grazing animals. Many others were injured and over a hundred homes were burned in wanton destruction. Arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, disappearances and other human rights abuses have accompanied these attacks, not only in this place but in other places in the Afar region as well. Their land is also being leased for the business interests of regime cronies and foreign investors who seek to capitalize on the land and resources without consulting with the local people, as required by law, or without compensating them for their losses. It is government sponsored robbery and murder.
Who has been spared? TPLF/EPRDF greed has led to the stealing of resources and to the shedding of blood. It has polluted our land– from the north to the south, from the east to the west. We are outraged by these acts against all our people and want to express our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have lost loved ones and prayers for the recovery of the injured. These Oromo students and Afar families had a future that could have blessed a country. It is a loss to all of us….
Please click below to read SMNE’s statement in its entirety.