Jaallannee Gammadaa | VOA

WASHINGTON, DC – Koreen Hojii Raawwachiiftuu Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO) Sadaasa 22 hanga Sadaasa 30 bara 20-tti walgahii isaa kan ramaddii eega gaggeessee booda Murtilee adda addaa dabarsuu kan ilaaleen ibsa baasee jira.

Dhimmootii murtiin irratti kenname keessaa tokko dhimmi Jaarmayaa keessaati kan jedhan miseensa koree hojii rawwachiiftuu fi Dubbii Himaa ABO kan ta’an Obbo Toleeraa Adabaa irra guddeessaan kan irratti fulleeffane garuu sochii yeroo ammaa Oromiyaa keessatti mul’ataa jiru jedhan.

Mootummaan Itiyoopiyaa Barattoota mirga ofii fayyadamuun karaa nagaa hiriiran irratti tarkaanfii humnaa fudhachuun ajjesuun, hidhuu fi dararuun akkasumas maqaa misomaan qonnaan bulaa Oromoo lafa isaa irraa godaansisuun dhaabachuu qaba jedha Addi Bilisummaa Oromoo.

Bara mootummaan ce’umsaa kan Itiyoopiyaa hundeeffame daangaan Oromiyaa lafa ka’amee ture bakka Oromoon irra qubatee ture mara kan hammate ta’uu baatuus jedhu Obbo Toleeraa Adabaa Oromiyaan Finfinnee irraa bu’aa addaa akka qabdu lafa ka’amee ture jedhan.

Garuu waggootii darban24 keessatti kan mootummaan gaggeessaa jiru kan heera biyyatti irra ka’amee ture sanaan faallaa ta’uu isaa ibsuun Kunis dhaabachuu akka qabu ADDI Bilisummaa Oromoo gaafaatee jira.

– VOA

Unveiled by the ethic-Tigrean-dominated Federal government of Ethiopia in April 2014, the Addis Ababa Master Plan intends to expand the borders of Addis Ababa by many folds into the adjacent Federal State of Oromia.

The City of Addis Ababa, known as Finfinne by Oromos – who make up the largest ethno-national group in Ethiopia, is itself part of the State of Oromia, but the Federal government instituted a “Charter City” status (self-governing status) over the city in 1995 without the approval of the State Representative Council of Oromia (known as Caffee Oromiyaa). Through the “Charter City” status, the city has become a self-governing region, but, to fend off the ethnic Oromo opposition to this secession of Addis Ababa from Oromia, the 1995 Constitution, in Article 49, has recognized the “Special Interests” of the Federal State of Oromia over Addis Ababa (Finfinne). However, experts say this Article 49 of the Constitution has never been put into effect, rather, what has happened over the last two decades since 1995, they say, is essentially the opposite. Caffee Oromiyaa and many other vital State institutions of Oromia, which used to be located in Addis Ababa, had been forced out of Addis Ababa and relocated to elsewhere, especially, to Adama, by the Tigrean-dominated Federal government, which has become the governing body of the City of Addis Ababa.

Over the last two decades, Oromo institutions had been cleared off from Addis Ababa: Oromo music bands, Oromo civic societies (such as, the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association), Oromo newspapers, venues for expression of Oromoness (such as, Hawi Hotel) and so on, were criminalized and banned on fictitious accusations that these institutions of Oromoness had connections with the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF); today – Addis Ababa has become a ghost town from the Oromo view – a city cleansed of its Oromo ethnic origin and features. Opponents of the Master Plan say, it is this “City of Addis Ababa” that wants to expand into the rest of Oromia by cleansing Oromos and Oromoness along its way.

What the Federal government proposed in April 2014 in its “Addis Ababa Integrated Regional Development Plan,” known in short as the Addis Ababa Master Plan or the Master Plan, was essentially expanding the “Charter City” of Addis Ababa beyond its current limits by taking more land from Oromia. Opponents of the Master Plan say, this is a gradual, but definite, trampling of the Constitution as well as a threat to the existence of the Federal State of Oromia as a region (Addis Ababa sits in Central Oromia; if allowed to expand with a “Charter Status,” it will ultimately cut off the Federal State of Oromia into two: East and West – see the map drawing attached here). Opponents have counter-proposed their own plan, which supports the development of the region without the expansion of the “Charter City” of Addis Ababa and the restoration of Addis Ababa (Finfinne) as an integral part of the Federal State of Oromia. However, the Tigrean-dominated Federal government seems to use the mantra of “development” for its main objective of expanding the “Charter City” in order to decapitate the Federal State of Oromia as a coherent region.

What has become more appalling to the opposition is the way the Master Plan is being put into effect. The Addis Ababa Master Plan of the Tigrean-dominated Federal government intends to expand the “Charter City” by depopulating the region of its ethnic Oromo population and settling non-Oromo ethnic people. Since the ethnic Oromo population of the region lives on farming, the Federal government’s “development” mantra, with a focus on ‘industrialization,’ has meant the eviction and removal of the ethnic Oromo farming population, while those being settled there as an ‘industrial population’ are of non-Oromo ethnic groups, especially from the dominant Tigrean ethnic group. Therefore, by covering the Master Plan with “industrialization” and “development” buzz words, the Federal government has, albeit unsuccessfully, hidden its genocidal agenda against ethnic Oromos in the region. Opponents say the ethnic Oromo farming community itself must be supported to industrialize, instead of be evicted from its land and thrown to become homeless, as a new non-Oromo ethnic community takes over the Oromo land through the Federal government’s apparent militarized implementation of the Master Plan.

In addition to the Addis Ababa Master Plan, the Federal government has recently outlined a new comprehensive Master Plan for all cities and towns in Oromia to be given “Charter City” statuses under the disguise of “development.” With the “Charter City” status comes the project of cleansing these towns and cities of their Oromo residents and Oromoness.

The past weeks’ Oromo protests, which are currently being waged by Oromo students, come with this background of life-and-death for the Oromo people in the Oromian region adjacent to Addis Ababa and other major towns, and Oromia itself as a coherent region. The Oromo protests have been staged all over Oromia; the following are some pictures from the week’s Oromo protests against the Master Plan.

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Reports say the latest Oromo protests against the Master Plan were triggered when Federal authorities, using the State of Oromia’s officials as vehicles, started an indoctrination campaign to force the Oromo people to accept the Master Plan. Another event that led to the escalation of the Oromo protests was the cutting down of an old-growth (virgin) forest in Ginchi, known as the Chilimo State Forest, for “development;” residents opposed it in light of the drought and famine risks associated with deforestation; the government, as it fails to feed the 15-million people affected by the recent drought, continues its deforestation policy in the name of “development.”

In late November 2015, residents of Mendi in Western Oromia blocked the road to make the town inaccessible for an entourage coming in for the indoctrination. The Federal government, in overreaction, according to observers, sent in its Special Federal Paramilitary-Police force (known as Agazi) to quell the tension …

Reports say the latest Oromo protests against the Master Plan were triggered when Federal authorities, using the State of Oromia’s officials as vehicles, started an indoctrination campaign to force the Oromo people to accept the Master Plan. In late November 2015, residents of Mendi in Western Oromia blocked the road to make the town inaccessible for an entourage coming in for the indoctrination.

The Federal government, in overreaction, according to observers, sent in its Special Federal Paramilitary-Police force (known as Agazi) to quell the tension.

More Photos of the Oromo Protests from Western Oromia …

As news of the confrontation spread throughout the town and the region, elementary and high-school students of Mendi – who were in school at the time, started marching. During the march, the students expressed their opposition to the annexation of Oromian land by the Master Plan. According to media reports, two were wounded by the Federal police shots in Mendi …

By the end of November 2015, the protests spread through the Western Oromian region: students in Ambo, Naqamtee, Jarso, Dirre Inchini, Ayraa/Guliso and other towns joined the Oromo protests against the Master Plan; more Federal police were dispatched from the center (Addis Ababa) to contain the peaceful protests by the schoolchildren …

By the eve and beginning of December 2015, the Oromo protests spread to Eastern Oromia. Students of Haromaya University joined the Oromo protests; the Federal government, again in overreaction – according to observers, sent in its militarized police force to Haromaya. As this video shows, the Federal force, with a strategy of showing fierce force and terror to put down the Oromo protests in Oromia through fear, unleashed ts massive force on unarmed peacefully-protesting students. At least four students were killed, and many more were wounded by the Federal police at Haromya University …

Deceased/Wounded Oromo Students of Haromaya University …

Deceased Oromo Student Gazzahany Oliqaa

Deceased Oromo Student Gazzahany Oliqaa

Wounded Oromo Student

Wounded Oromo Student

Wounded Oromo Student

Wounded Oromo Student

Wounded Oromo Student

On December 1, 2015, the Oromo protests spread to Bale, Southeastern Oromia. The government, once again, sent in its elite militarized police, mechanized with maiming and deadly weapons, to contain the unarmed peacefully-protesting students of Madda-Walabu University …

On December 1, 2015, elementary students in Gimbi, Western Oromia, staged a march through the town – holding placards that denounced the Master Plan, which, if implemented, would displace millions of Oromo farmers and make them homeless …

On December 2, 2015, students in Tulu-Bolo and Waliso (in Central Oromia) staged their protests against the Master Plan; meanwhile, students in Ayra/Guliso continued their protests for another week. The government sent in its Federal Paramilitary-Police to stop the protests by the schoolchildren in Waliso and Ayra/Guliso. On this day, eyewitnesses say that, at least two Oromo students [one of the victims’ photo shown below] were killed, and others were wounded by shots fired by the police in Ayra/Guliso. In another development, many students were wounded by the police during the peaceful protest in Waliso …

Oromo protests by students in Ayra/Guliso (Western Oromia)

An Oromo schoolchild killed by the Federal police during a peaceful protest against the Master Plan (Ayra/Guliso)

Residents of Ayra/Guliso react to the news of the violent suppression of the peaceful protests:

The Wounded in Waliso:

The Oromia-wide protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan have continued for another week. According to a reliable report, today, December 3, 2015, Haromaya town’s residents, in Eastern Oromia, marched through the town denouncing the Addis Ababa Master Plan and the brutal attack of the Ethiopian Federal Police (Agazi, the military-police branch of TPLF) against peacefully-protesting students earlier the week at Haromaya University. Earlier the week, Haromaya University’s Oromo students were protesting against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, whose goal, they say, is to expand the City of Addis Ababa by many folds by evicting Oromo farmers from their land around Addis Ababa, and, consequently, leading to the loss of the Oromo livelihood, and the Oromo cultural and linguistic identity in the region. As shown in this video, they were violently met by the Ethiopian Federal Police, which stormed the campus – killing at least three and wounding many more, according to media reports; a fourth student, named Gazzahany Oliqaa, died a day later from complications of the police beatings.

Here are some photos from today’s Haromaya protest march against the Addis Ababa Master Plan.

On the same day, December 3, 2015, an Oromo 10th-grade student named Dejene Serbessa, in Tole (West Shawa), was killed by the Federal police, according to media reports. Other Oromo protest marches against the Master Plan were held in Burayu, Naqamte, Chelenko, Bedeno, Holeta, Mogor, among others. The following are photos of the deceased student Dejene Serbessa, and the marches in Naqamtee, Bedeno and Mogor …

On December 3, 2015, an Oromo 10th-grade student named Dejene Serbessa, in Tole (West Shawa), was killed by the Federal police, according to media reports.

High-School students protesting in Naqamtee (they were not allowed to go out of campus):

Students protesting in Bedeno:

In Mogor (West Shawa):

Overnight, Oromo students of the Waliso campus of Ambo University staged a protest rally to denounce the Master Plan and the brutal killings of Oromo students all over Oromia …

On December 4, 2015, the Oromo protests against the Master Plan spread to Southern Oromia – Bule Hora University. During the peaceful protests, the Federal police broke into campus and stormed the rally – wounding many students; some injuries while students tried to get away from the Federal police by jumping through windows of their residential building …

On this day, December 4, 2015, Oromo protests were held at Welayita Sodo University, in Shashemene, in Holeta, in Goro Dola (Guji zone), in Awaday (East Hararge), in Gasara (Bale zone), at Hawasa University (in the Southern Federal State), among others. According to media reports, the Federal police dispatched to contain some of these peaceful protests wounded many; no deaths had been reported …

In Awaday

The following is a statement from the Oromo Communities’ Association of North America (OCA-NA).

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Dear Oromo Communities and Friends:

The Board and Executive Committee of the Oromo Communities’ Association of North America (OCA-NA) are extremely concerned about the current Ethiopian government’s attempt to implement the controversial Master Plan at any cost, with aggressive crackdown on student demonstrators and peaceful protesters. We believe that we have a collective obligation to support the students who are brutally attacked, and Oromo farmers who are being evicted from their lands in the name development and urban planning. We know that many of you and your communities are planning to stage demonstrations, and organizing for sustained action in support of our people.

To facilitate this effort, we recommend that that each community chooses one of the following days for their demonstrations.

– Thursday, December 10, 2015

– Thursday, December 17, 2015

– Wednesday, December 23, 2015

– Wednesday, December 30, 2015

– Thursday, January 7, 2016

If necessary, additional dates will be announced later.

In your planning, please use the following suggestions:

1. Set your rally in your area or coordinate with nearby communities;

2. Contact your Congressional Representatives’ and Senators’ Offices (both State and U.S.) and alert them about the Oromo rallies ahead of the scheduled event;

3. Send press releases to all media;

4. Create, if you do not have already, fundraising committees to support Oromo students;

5. After the event, assess your activities and provide us with feedback for future improvement.

Remember, a one-time activity alone will not solve our historic problems, or deter a determined and brutal government from displacing peaceful people and destroying great nations like the Oromia. Organization, careful planning and sustained actions are vital for the ultimate success of our people. So, let us put our minor differences aside and focus on the great danger that we are all facing.

OCA-NA calls on all Oromo communities, civic and professional organizations in Diaspora to participate in the scheduled demonstrations. We also call on all Oromo political organizations to put their tactical and other differences aside and join Oromo communities in protest. We expect all Oromo political leaders to provide collective leadership and avert the looming danger for the Oromo people.

Our nation will rise again in victory.

History will be our witness.

Oromo Communities’ Association of North America (OCA-NA)

By Teferi Mergo (Prof.)* | December 2015

In a recent interview he gave to the Oromia Broadcasting Service (OBS), artist Sayyoo Daandanaa was asked what motivated him to write his now famous tune Boole. His eloquent response alluded to a poignant encounter he had while on a show-biz related trip to Eerar some years ago — an encounter that suggested to him that the alienation of the Oromo from their own land (Finfinnee) is so complete that they have grown to resent the city. Because of this alienation, the Oromo of Eerar (as he explained it) traveled to Sandaafaa for trading purposes, instead of going to Finfinnee, despite the latter’s clear favourability in terms of geographic proximity.

Eerar (misnamed Yerer by Amharic speakers) is located a few kilometers to the southeast of Bole Airport, and not too long ago, it used to be a rural community where certain members of the Tuulamaa Oromo lived in relative peace and harmony, earning an honest living cultivating their plots. I remember this Eerar, because I had been there, in more ways than one. I grew up in Finfinnee proper – in the so-called Doro Manaqiya Sefer (not very far from the old airport), and had made numerous excursions as a lad with my peers or cousins into the rural villages and communities that used to surround Finfinnee (Furii, Wacacaa, Eerar, Lagatafo etc.) – outings we relished, because it gave us opportunities to engage in boyhood mischief not approved by our parents (e.g. swimming in the areas’ rivers and streams). I still remember with great fondness the Eerar, the Wacacaa, the Furii and the Lagatafo of my younger days, where I felt liberated enough to speak Afaan Oromoo with the local people without “my buddies” making injurious comments about my language, my identity.

But, of course, the Eerer of yesteryear which offered me glimpses of what could be and should be, is no more. Today, it is a space where “white fences and manicured lawns surround the villas of an elegant housing estate … a potent symbol of the emerging elite in a country better known for drought and famine.” (Taste for luxury: Ethiopia’s new elite spur housing boom By AFP PUBLISHED: 07:28 GMT, 2 December 2015 | UPDATED: 07:29 GMT, 2 December 2015) I am well aware that the Ethiopian government is doing its utmost to promote a positive image of the country, trying to sell a narrative that it is overseeing an impressive expansion of the country’s GDP, with a promise of making Ethiopia a middle-income country by the year 2025. It turns out that Eerar and similar other spots in the vicinity of Finfinnee have become ground zero for this number-focused and image-heavy marketing strategy.

I am also aware of arguments some have made about the importance of integrated urban development in a country that aims to climb the development ladder. I currently teach Economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and have been making regular trips to Finfinnee to conduct empirical researches on economic development. I have thus a professional opinion of what is taking place around Finfinnee in the name of urban development, but leaving that for another piece (I will present a paper on this topic at the upcoming OSA Mid-year Conference at the London School of Economics), I want to recount a couple of my encounters during some of those research-related trips to the homeland, incidents that speak to the burning issue of our time – the alienation of the Oromo from their ancestral land.

The first one happened in the summer of 2010, when my wife and I went for a spin to one of those now virtually non-existent rural villages, largely out of curiosity to discover what has become of my boyhood stomping grounds. Needless to say, the transformation is devastatingly complete, as captured by the above mentioned article. On this trip, I wandered off the paved path (which is not out of character for me) without much resistance from my lovely wife, past the new developments, into what is left of the Eerar countryside, running into a young Oromo couple who were going about their business. I stopped to have a few words with them, to which they initially reacted with unmistakable agitation – which they couldn’t hide despite their best effort at composure. I don’t blame them, because they had been conditioned to be apprehensive of strangers, particularly the type that shows up at their doorstep, uninvited. Who knows they might have thought that I was one of the would-be “developers” of what are shaping up to be apartheid-like estates adorning their former farmlands.

The reaction I didn’t expect from the young couple, and one that will stay with me, is what happened next. When I greeted them in Afaan Oromoo, they looked at each other first, as if they were questioning what had just transpired, and then managed beautiful smiles that could not have been counterfeited – smiles of recognition, of understanding, and of identification. After the initial awkward moments, we exchanged a few words about mundane matters and parted, but the key story of the young couple of Eerar that I am trying to recount here, was communicated to me through their body language, and mostly with their eyes.

The second anecdote occurred during my most recent trip to Finfinnee in July and August of this year. Largely because we wanted my super-energetic four-year-old son to have convenient access to some facilities that can only be found in the city center, my family chose to stay in the Kazanchis area, in one of the high-rises recently built by one of the newly-minted instant millionaires. The property had a few gate-keepers (zebegnas, they call them in the local lexicon), three of whom are/were Oromo Abbaa Worraas from the local areas, into which Addis is currently expanding with blinding speed – displacing millions of farming families, exposing them to monumental socio-economic crises, with which they have been unfamiliar and ill-equipped to deal.

I was particularly struck by one of the gentlemen – an elderly man hailing from the Sabbata area – who gave me the distinct impression that he had seen better days, and was struggling to make sense of what is (in all likelihood) the last chapter of his life. I enjoyed talking with him whenever I had a chance, but I never pried too much for fear that perhaps overly intimate questions about his past might trigger unpleasant memories. I understood his fragile existence and respected his boundaries, but my daily encounters with him during those months reminded me of my own alienation, not unlike his and the young couple’s I attempted to describe above.

I was enrolled at a local school then known as Menen Asfaw under the name Biiftuu, a name my father gave me to signify that I was his first born. Once I discovered that some of my classmates were butchering my name intentionally, however, I asked my parents to give me a different name, but the request went nowhere, with my father deeming my entreaty a non-starter. Even though I liked school and I was a well-regarded kid among teachers and most of my peers mainly for academic reasons, it did not stop the system from brutalizing me because of my Oromo given name. Thus, without fully understanding the consequences of my actions, and under the worst of circumstances while my father was jailed by the brutal Dergue regime, I traded Bifftuu for Teferi – a name a close family friend (Aboy G/Egziabiher G/Medhin, RIP) gave me at my Christening – just to be able to fit into a system designed to alienate me from my identity.

Here is the moral of this narration: regardless of our stations in life, Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) has been a constant source of anguish for its rightful owners, the Oromo people. The city was founded on the gravesites of our forebears, decimating its original inhabitants – some of the clans of the Tuulamaa Oromo. Its growth and expansion have always come at the expense of Oromo identity, made possible only through diminishing the Oromo in every way – demographically, economically, politically, socially, psychologically, etc. It is demanding much more than we can afford to give, under the pretext of integrated urban development, and we have no option but to say: No, thanks!

I would like to end this piece with a now famous chant that is being heard throughout Oromia, loud and clear. Here is the English translation:

Our land: We were born here

We were raised here

We came of age here

We have raised our families here

Where should we go?

We shall be evicted no more!

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* Teferi Mergo (Prof.) – Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Waterloo.

As Oromo students in particular, and the Oromo public in general, continue their protests against the Master Plan in Oromia, the government’s response has been bloody crackdown fiercer than any other repression witnessed in recent years: Oromo students (as young as 15-years of age, according to media reports) were killed by the Ethiopian Federal police, which has taken over the militarized and forceful implementation of the Addis Ababa Master Plan. The Oromo protests, thus far, have entirely depended on marches to bring to light the repressive nature of the Master Plan. Since the end of last week, new forms of protest have spread over university campuses across Oromia and Ethiopia: SILENT RALLIES and SIT-IN’S. Oromo students, from as far north as Mekelle, have joined the Oromo protests using these forms of peaceful protest. According to observers, with the silent rallies and sit-in’s, the Oromo protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan have transformed into higher moral ascendancy. Here are some photos of the silent rallies and sit-in’s of the Oromo protests.

The following is the schedule of the Oromo Diaspora Solidarity Rallies; Oromo Diaspora stands with Oromo protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan; this schedule will be frequently updated to include all rallies as much as possible.

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UPCOMING SOLIDARITY RALLIES FOR DECEMBER 10, 2015

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CITY: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A.
DATE/TIME: December 10, 2015 | 10am
VENUE: To be announced later
LINK TO FLYER – N/A

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CITY: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
DATE/TIME: December 10, 2015 | FROM 9am to 3pm
VENUE: Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof
LINK TO FLYER – http://goo.gl/k434KG

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CITY: OSLO, NORWAY
DATE/TIME: December 10, 2015 | FROM 10am to 2pm
VENUE: Oslo Central Station
LINK TO FLYER – http://goo.gl/KY9R7b

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CITY: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
DATE/TIME: December 10, 2015 | FROM 12pm to 4:30pm
VENUE: UK Parliament Square (SW1P 3BD)
LINK TO FLYER – http://goo.gl/S8pc6U

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CITY: ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S.A.
DATE/TIME: December 10, 2015 | FROM 12pm
VENUE: Minnesota State Capitol Building
LINK TO FLYER – http://goo.gl/xuygli

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UPCOMING SOLIDARITY RALLIES FOR DECEMBER 11, 2015

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CITY: OSLO, NORWAY
DATE/TIME: December 11, 2015 | FROM 10am to 2pm
VENUE: Oslo Central Station
LINK TO FLYER – http://goo.gl/tZhEtl

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INSPIRING SPEECHES FROM THE MAY-2014’s OROMO DIASPORA SOLIDARITY RALLY IN SEATTLE | #OromoProtests

On December 6 and 7, 2015, Oromo protests against the Addis Ababa Master plan continued in Oromia and across Ethiopia; according to reports, the Oromo protests were held at Ambo University, at Finfinne University, in Sululta, at Adama University, at Mekelle University (Tigray State), at Arba Minch University (Southern State), at Jimma University, in Tulu Bolo (Shawa), in Chiro (Hararge), in Guder (near Ambo), in Asebot (Hararge), in Boke (Hararge), in Horo Guduru (Wallaggaa), in Anfilo (Wallaggaa), in Bate (near Haromaya), in Mogor (Shawa), at Dilla University (Southern State), in Sababoru and Adole Rede (Guji), Bule Hora (Borana), in Chobi (Shawa), at Haromya University (outside the campus), in Burayu, in Arjo Gudatu (Wallaggaa), in Dugda Dawa (near Bule Hora, Borana), in Muger (Shawa), in Dodola (Arsi), in Dirre Inchini, at Dilla University (Southern State), in Dongoro (Wallaggaa), among others.

So far, the government’s response has been to use deadly and maiming force in order to put down the peaceful Oromo protests. Across Oromia, militarized police (such as the Agazi force’s unit, loosely known as “Hayelom Araya,” as well as a military unit from the Hurso Garrison, as per a reliable report) have been dispatched to crush the popular Oromo protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan. On December 7, 2015, there were reports of fatality and injuries from shots fired by the Ethiopian force: Murad Abdi, a Bate High-School student near Haromaya, was killed by the police; student Bekele Seboka of Inchini (Shawa) is in a critical condition (according to the latest report) after being shot by the police; several students were wounded by the police force at Ambo University, at Bule Hora University, near Haromaya University, among others, while peacefully protesting against the Addis Ababa Master Plan.

Here are some of the photos of the Ethiopian Federal government’s militarized force dispatched across Oromia to crush the peaceful and popular Oromo protests against the Master Plan, and the photos of the deceased and wounded Oromo students.

Near Ambo

At Bule Hora

At Ambo

Student Murad Abdi – killed near Haromaya University

The following is a statement from the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Alliance (PAFD), a coalition of five national liberation movements, namely, OLF, SNLF, ONLF, GPLM and BPLM, operating in Ethiopia. Currently, extensive land-grabbing campaigns are underway in Oromia, Sidama-land, Gambella, Benishangul, among other places.

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Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)

The Ethiopian Government Brutal Army and Paramilitary Police Use Lethal Force against Oromo Students Demonstrating Peacefully

Press Statement by Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)

The Ethiopian government’s brutal army and paramilitary police are shooting at unarmed Oromo students demonstrating against the implementation of Addis Ababa land grabbing master plan.

Just over a year ago, TPLF’s regime planned to exponentially expand Oromia’s capital, the city of Finfinne (Addis Ababa), under the scheme known as ‘Addis-Master-Plan.’ This plan aims to incorporate the rural agricultural areas in Oromia state surrounding Addis Ababa. This Plan will totally displace the entire Oromo rural population in the area without their consent. The said plan has seriously angered the Oromo people, who went on a peaceful demonstration of opposing the plan. The regime’s security and armed forces’ unprecedented and violent response to the peaceful demonstration has left over 60 Oromo University and high School students and the others Oromo civilians dead, and over 200 wounded.

After remaining silent for around a year, the Prime Minister and others government officials have recently announced their decisions to re-implement ‘Addis-Master-Plan.’ Again, the Oromo students started demonstrating, beginning in West Oromia towns, such as Mattuu, Ambo and others places; it has widened its horizons to almost entire Oromia Zones and districts.

On December 1 and 2, 2015 there have been series of demonstrations in various Oromia regional Zones and districts, including in Madawalaabuu university, Agarfaa, Ayira (Guuliso), Bantuu, Burrayyuu, Chancho, Dalloo, Dinshoo, Finfinnee, Gaasaraa, Gimbi, Gudar, Haromayaa, Horro Guduruu, Jaarraa, Maattu, Sabroo, Jaarsoo, Laaloo, Asabi, Jiddaa, Ayyaanaa, Mandi, Najjoo, Qilxuu Karraa, Sabataa, Walisso, Sabroo, Xuqur Incinni and others various high schools, universities, towns and villages. In all these places, the responses of TPLF security and police personnel has been as brutal as always. Several deaths have been reported since last week. The number of wounded Oromo students, including children, has reached to several hundreds.

PAFD categorically condemns the brutal treatments of the civilians, and calls all liberation fronts and opposition parties to unite in ending the current undemocratic rule and create a new system that respects the rights of all peoples in Ethiopia. We call all nations and peoples in Ethiopia to rise up and stop this illegal displacement of Oromo people from their ancestral lands as is happening in all other parts. We call upon the international community to denounce the unlawful action of the Ethiopian brutal regime and urge it to abide with international laws in respecting citizens’ rights, dignity and safety. We also call upon all nationals working for TPLF’s repressive apparatuses, such us military, police and security that are inflicting pain on their brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, to unconditionally stop their alliance with the regime brutalizing all peoples, and join a genuine struggles for democratic change to bring about equality for all.

Finally, with deepest sadness, PAFD sends its condolences to the families of Oromo students who have been murdered by the authoritarian Ethiopian regime.

Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)

The following is a statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA).

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Oromia/Ethiopia: Region-Wide, Heavy-Handed Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters

HRLHA Urgent Action

For Immediate Release

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its grave concern at the continuation of gross human rights violations in Oromia Regional State – violations that have regularly occurred since 1991 when the TPLF/EPRDF came into power.

The most recent heinous crime was committed – and is still being committed – against defenseless schoolchildren protesting against the approval of “the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan” by the Oromia Regional State Parliament a month ago. The peaceful protest involved many elementary school, high school and university students, and civilians. Among them were students in Western Oromia zones: Najo, Nekemt, Mandi high schools, and in other towns, in Central Oromia in Ginchi, Ambo, Addis Ababa high schools and the surrounding towns, Eastern and Southern Oromia zones, in Haromaya, and Bule Hora Universities, and many more schools and universities. In violation of the rights of the citizen to peaceful demonstration enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution⁽¹⁾ [Chapter Two, Article 30 (1) states: “Everyone has the right to assemble and to demonstrate together with others peaceably and unarmed, and to petition. Appropriate regulations may be made in the interest of public convenience relating to the location of open-air meetings and the route of movement of demonstrators or, for the protection of democratic rights, public morality and peace during such a meeting or demonstration.”], students, in all of these places, were severely beaten, imprisoned or even killed.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa emphasizes that the ongoing violence and crimes committed in Oromia Regional State for over two and a half decades by the TPLF perpetrators against the Oromo Nation amount to war crimes, and crimes against humanity – a clear failure of the Oromo People Democratic Organization (OPDO) authorities, an organization claiming to represent the Oromo Nation. The members of this bogus political organization have proved to be not the Oromo peoples’ true representatives, but rather stand-ins for their real masters who have compromised the interests of the Oromo Nation. The Oromia Regional State authorities/OPDO did not resist the TPLF regime when Oromo children, farmers, intellectuals, members of political organizations were killed, abducted, imprisoned, tortured and evicted from their livelihoods by TPLF security agents in the past two and half decades. Instead, they helped the TPLF regime to control the political and economic resources of the Oromia Regional State. TPLF high officials and ordinary level cadres in Oromia Regional State engaged in enriching themselves and their family members by selling Oromo land, looting and embezzling public wealth and properties in the occupied areas of the Oromo Nation, and committing many other forms of corruption.

Committing atrocities and crimes against humanity are failures to comply with obligations under international law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including the principles of proportionality and discrimination. With many civilians suffering from the crimes and serious violations of human rights, and by not taking any measures to ensure the accountability of those responsible for these crimes and violations, it has become clear that after all these years the so called Oromia Parliament (Caffee Oromiyaa) has betrayed the Oromo people by not protecting them. The OPDO members and the Oromia Parliament (Caffee Oromiyaa) members should not continue in silence while Oromo children are brutalized by Aga’azy squads deployed by the TPLF for ethnic cleansing. The Oromia Parliament (Caffee Oromiyaa) and OPDO have a moral obligation to dissolve their institutions and stand beside their people to resist the TPLF regime’s aggression.

The HRLHA believes that the gross human rights violations committed by the TPLF government, in cooperation with OPDO in the past two and half decades against Oromo Nation, have been pre-planned every time they have happened. TPLF regime security agents imprisoned, killed, tortured, kidnapped, disappeared, and evicted from their ancestral lands thousands of Oromo nationals, simply because of their ethnic backgrounds and to acquire their resources. The TPLF inhuman actions against Oromo civilians are clearly genocidal, a crime against humanity and an ethnic cleansing, which breach domestic and international laws, and all international treaties the government of Ethiopia signed and ratified.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of these Oromo nationals who have been arrested without any court warrant and are being held in different police stations, military camps, “Maekelawi” compound, the main federal police investigation center, in Central Addis Ababa and in different unknown places.

Therefore, HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand an immediate halt to these extra-judicial actions, terrorizing civilians and the immediate unconditional release of the detainees.

The HRLHA also calls on all human- rights defender non-governmental, civic organizations, its members, supporters and sympathizers to stand beside the HRLHA and provide moral, professional and financial help to bring the dictatorial TPLF government and officials to international justice.

The HRLHA is a non-political organization that attempts to challenge abuses of human rights of the people of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. It works to defend fundamental human rights, including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and association. It also works to raise the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and those of others. It encourages respect for laws and due process. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies.

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Copied to:

– UNESCO Headquarters
– UNESCO – Africa Department
– UNESCO – Africa Regional Office
– Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
– Office of the UNHCR
– African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
– Council of Europe
– U.S. Department of State – Ethiopia Desk

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1 – Ethiopians Constitution of 1995 – http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Proclamation%20no.1-1995.pdf