The following is a statement from the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), a coalition of five political groups, namely: Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF), Gambella People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM) and Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM) …
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The Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy Statement on the Current Situation in Ethiopia
January 10, 2015
The current situation in Ethiopia is no longer tenable, and unless urgent measures are taken, it will bring unmanageable chaos in the Horn of Africa, worse than the current situation in the Middle East.
In 1992 and 1994, the Ethiopian regime declared an all-out war against the civilian population in many parts in Oromia, Ogaden and the rest of Ethiopia creating humanitarian and human rights catastrophes: hundreds of thousands were killed, detained, tortured or forcefully dislocated from their lands.
Today, the Ethiopian regime is embarking on a campaign to commit grave violations of human rights and suppression of all democratic rights, which it even recognizes in its nominal Constitution. The Oromo people, whose democratic rights have never been respected and who have been subjected to consistent human right violations massively, are now being systematically uprooted from their ancestral lands around Addis Ababa under the pretext of development. Similar atrocities are being committed against the people in Sidama, Gambela, Benishangul, Amhara and other regions.
The current popular uprising in Oromia is not about the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan or about Oromo land and Oromo people’s demands alone. It is also a popular uprising against the habitual and vicious atrocities committed against all peoples in Ethiopia. It is a movement to achieve, in practice, the full exercise of the self-determination, democratic rights and peace for all other nations and peoples in Ethiopia.
The Oromo people have challenged the EPRDF tyrannical rule, and demonstrated their readiness and ability that change is feasible in Ethiopia. What stands between the aspiration for freedom and democracy and its realization is the unwillingness of the authoritarian EPRDF regime to submit to the expressed will of the people. Instead, the regime perpetrates flagrant human rights violations, and fails even to respect and abide by its own Constitution.
Due to the grave and real danger posed by the current Ethiopia regime to all peoples in Ethiopia, PAFD calls upon all peoples of Ethiopia and all political forces, both at home and abroad, to rise up in unison against the regime’s injustices and crimes.
Furthermore, PAFD calls upon all political forces struggling for a democratic change in Ethiopia to work for the fundamental change and the convening of an inclusive conference, which would facilitate a way towards the establishment of a transitional order in Ethiopia that will respect freedom, democracy and the right of nations to self-determination. The Alliance calls upon the ruling party to stop its brutal use of excessive force and bid to the realization of the yearning of the people for peace, freedom and democracy; otherwise, it will be responsible for the catastrophe that will result from its genocide against the peoples in Ethiopia.
In addition, PAFD calls upon the international community to condemn the flagrant violations of the human rights against all peoples in Ethiopia in general, and send an urgent fact-finding mission to Oromia in particular.
PAFD strives for a political change, and for a just and genuinely representative transitional democratic political order in Ethiopia.
Issued by PAFD
OFFICE OF PRESIDIUM
pafd22102015@gmail.com
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