“This is a regime for the stone age operating in the 21^st century.”

It was in 1978 the Provisional Military Administration known as the Derg declared what it called “red terror” in Ethiopia.[1] What followed was hard to comprehend; it was a grotesque demonstration of inhumanity against fellow human beings. Streets were littered with bodies of young men and women with placards displayed on them reading “red terror.” For the survivors and their families this period is a particularly painful one, which they wish didn’t happen. Whatever the context, the use of the term “red,” especially coming from the government policy makers, has a chilling psychological and emotional effect on the people of Ethiopia. It brings back that dark period and pokes the terrible memories of those who endured so much under the official campaign of “red terror” (1978-1979). The declaration of a “state of emergency” by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is a sad repeat of the “red terror” from which citizens are still trying to recover.

The regime’s state of emergency, announced this month, has legitimated two things. The first one is that it formalized the regime’s implicit desire and behaviour of being a military dictatorship. The establishment of the so called “command post” is indisputable evidence that the country is effectively run by the senior military officers of a minority group that represents less than 6% of the country’s population. Secondly, it made it official that the slow motion mass murder the regime has been undertaking for the last 25 years could be carried out with full scale and coordinated order of the “command post” with much bigger causalities than the “red terror” of 1978-79.

Here are some key parts of the “state of emergency”

“Members of the diplomatic community are not allowed to venture outside 40 KM radius of the capital Addis Ababa with out a permission.” The argument the regime is making for restricting diplomats’ movement is “safety” of the diplomats. Does this mean all places outside forty km are considered part of a war zone? If they are, then the issue is not just the “safety” of members of the diplomatic community, but also the government doesn’t want diplomats to witness possible atrocities committed by forces loyal to the regime. Furthermore, the problem with restricting diplomats is that Article 26 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stipulates that “receiving State shall ensure to all members of the mission freedom of movement and travel in its territory.” Hence, the regime is in loggerheads with the Vienna Convention of 1961, and it could raise some serious problems under international law as it relates to the responsibility of the host nation.

The second and most troubling part of the state of emergency is the power accorded to security guards and members of security forces. It says “to take measures on those who violated the 6:00PM- 6:00AM curfew around factories, large-scale farm sites and others. This in particular is disturbing as it is a reinstatement of “red terror” of 1978- 79 which gave “shoot to kill” authority to the so-called “revolutionary guard,” which comprises of militias and cadres of the military junta. After four decades later, the current regime is recalling the same brutal measures and strategies to brutalize innocent unarmed civilians.

One of the great inventions of the 20^th century is the advent of communication technology, particularly the internet. It eliminated geographic and economic barriers for accessing information. Anyone anywhere in the world have equal access to a bounty of information at his/her finger tips. Well, unless you live in Ethiopia. The regime has been periodically shutting the internet and phone communication, blaming social media for the popular uprising sweeping the country. Even the Prime Minister, Haile Mariam Desalegn, audaciously attempted to lecture the United Nations on how social media is fueling social discontent in Ethiopia. Soon after his speech before the international body, the regime completely blacked out access to the internet across the country except in the region of Tigray. In the 21^st century, the internet and modern communication technology are part of the political, economic and social reality of life.

“This is a regime for the stone age operating in the 21^st century,” one young man retorted with anger. “What is this? Why are they doing this? No one should have the right to deny me access to information. No one!” he repeated. The popular uprising that has been going on for more than ten months is largely, but not exclusively, youth led with heavy participation of those under thirty. They have shown tremendous resilience and unwavering discipline in their organization and leadership capacity of the movement. They believe their energy, creativity and imagination will help them adjust to any challenges including the closure of the internet and social media. If anything, they say it will harden their resolve and commitment to continue their struggle until democracy, freedom and justice are achieved. The shutting of internet service and social media, and its impact on the general public, members of the diplomatic community and the expatriates, is a serious. The Internet is the key tool in the 21^st century communication and work. The regime’s strategy of unplugging the country from the rest of the world is unprecedented, and it should be challenged by members of the international community.

The regime is desperate, and it is taking desperate measures to see which one could prolong its hold on power. The truth is that neither a “state of emergency” nor the shutting of the internet can stop the public from demanding change, fundamental political, economic and transformative social change, including regime change.  Often, under undemocratic regimes, states of emergency are not intended to provide safety and security for the general public. Instead, they are intended to stifle popular uprisings and extend the life of authoritarian rule. History tells us it never works. In the end, a state of emergency for dictators is the last gasp and that is what we are witnessing in Ethiopia.

The writer can be reached at Alem6711@gmail.com

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qey_Shibir

Dr Merera Gudina’s comment at Fana Broadcasting forum on current issues – October 2016

Hundreds Of Protesters Killed; State Of Emergency Promotes Human Rights Abuse

By Ojulu Abala
 
E-mail: ojulu.kabala@gmail.com
 
‘’America has become a nation of polarizing groups, each with their own agenda and no regard for well-being of whole country.’’  (John Hagee, 2013)
 
This article written with some sort of exigency for minority ethnic groups in Ethiopia in general  and  people of Gambella Regional State in particular to come together, to ponder of their future by adopting ‘Hedgehog Method’ to simplify their complex world, to be aware of bogus  political objective of some oppositions political  parties while urging EPRDF   to move faster with its retrospection   and renewal at its all echelons, and to denounce lethal demagoguery of the oppositions that will infect unity of Ethiopian Peoples.  I am so crestfallen for the death our benevolent citizen who died in mournful stampede and protest.
 
From religious perspective, Pastor John Hagee condemns immoralities, crimes, social inequalities, disenchanted social stratums and mistrust in America caused by racism and discrimination practices; and he also so critic on weak American foreign policy that unable to foil terrorists’ activities.  Hagee seems to be cautious about problematic future of America which seems to be inconceivable to many of us.   I share the same affinity but for pragmatic and warlords’ future Ethiopia as hatred,    ethnicity, and profanity against tribes has become a ways of politic today.   I believe we are heading there but ours will be the worst ever perhaps like of Rwanda, Somalia, and South Sudan to mention few, since ignorance will contribute its own part.   Is it really not preposterous for unionist to stream venomous hatred messages mostly through partisan Medias, social Medias and political forums for this itself a fragmentation process unless one proposed to attain hodgepodge nation?    Please listen to Dr. Tolosa Dunia.

In line with this, segregation and ethnicity politic are cogent parochial political views that evaporate enthusiasm for unity into more cynical disillusion, and contribute to collapse of political leadership that materialized.   Generally these are catastrophic and oppressive political tactic that produce transient result particularly in modern era for those were in ‘longanimous’   have already aware of their right and have lost patient.  Obviously, ethnicity politics is a dangerous political game that tears apart social fabric of the nation.  Once unscrupulously it introduced, notably in a wobbly pluralism system, it harm minority group the most and it more likely to become inexorable social horrendous for which requires devise and epigrammatic approach to counter it.

Therefore, abhorrent  approach – hatred, ethnicity, mudslinging – of the oppositions who term the status quo system of  Ethiopia  as schismatic that have weakened social cohesion of the people of Ethiopia  is flawed and  far from panacea.   What these traducers don’t know is incessant and sensitivity of the issue they puerile play with, and impasse ahead of them when they will be challenged likewise.

In contrast, ethnic-base federation of Ethiopia was deliberately established by EPRDF to devolve legal, administrative and fiscal responsibilities to the regions; to ensure political diversity and to succor despaired ethnic groups access to resources, and to introduce democratic system in Ethiopia.  However, this is a precarious system as Solomon Negussie asserted: ‘’generally, the success of a new political structure will largely depend on how carefully it is designed and with how long a time it can meaningfully be implemented.’’    Therefore the complacency and remiss of EPRDF to handle this fragile system is reprehensible.

Gambella Regional State and its Peoples

Gambella is one of Regional States of Ethiopia; fertile and untapped region endowed with natural resource, arable land, and lush greenery land.  It could be one of the bread baskets of Ethiopian.  However it is backwater region inhabited by indigence indigenous ethnic group namely – Anyuak, Komo, Opuo, Majang and Nuer.  Even though it has witnessed considerable development since EPDRF took power, it still doesn’t controvert suffering and negligence of these penurious indigenous people.  Kurimoto, Eisei argued:

‘’Up to now for many Ethiopian highlanders who claim Semitic origin the Gambella Region appeared as a remote hot lowland rampant with malaria and other tropical disease, occupied by black African ‘tribes’ with whom the highlanders share little cultural and historical traditions.  Even now when the Nilotic peoples of Gambella – mainly the Anywaa (Anuak) and Nuer – come to the highland, they often suffers the insult of being called Shankala (‘black’ or more properly translated ‘nigger’) and baria (slave).’’

Truly, it was only after the advent of Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) these peoples respite from socio-politico economic injustice, when their democratic right that has granted them to govern themselves in their region enshrined in the Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in 1995 G.C, though devise program aim to fully transfigure these penury peoples is yet required.

Diaspora Ethiopian Government Oppositions

The diaspora oppositions are slipshod groups compose of acquisitive individuals and of obdurate members of old political parties who have no national political agenda other than personal financial gain and ethnocentrism respectively.  These parties include: Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), Tigrian Liberation Front (TLF), Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC) – ‘Dergue’, an old Amharic term means committee.   With no exception, all of these parties were obliterated in skirmishes by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during freedom struggle for having illiberal political agenda for the people of Ethiopia.   Undoubtedly, no less than this eclectic multifarious rancor becomes political motive of these groups wail with tirade against TPLF.

More importantly, these are covetous sternly poignant for quietus of their own ethnic supremacy and are the people have seen Nation, Nationality  and Peoples of  Ethiopia (NNPE) as brood of viper hatched by conniving TPLF.    Furthermore, groups view the Constitution as a political stratagem to outwit them in the game of power usurpation.   Thus, the struggle of these oppositions for meritocracy system and nationalism is ploy.   If these are erroneous assumptions, one must answer the questions: why they detest and burn Placards Signify NNPE?  And why they stomp on national flag for the star represents NNPE and calls it the symbol of devil?   And why they always disseminate ethnic politics if they are really nationalist advocates?  Why they don’t listen to opposition leader like Mr. Lidetu Ayalew?

The Evolution of EPDRF / TPLF

The student upheaval of 1974 was not improvised.  There was ubiquitous resentment of social-economic deprivation felt by the people of Ethiopia.  Mostly by the people of Tigray province, the Oromo people, the separatist people Eritrea who already in arm struggle, Amhara people who infuriated by devastative drought that claimed thousand lives.   All of these had become the indignation to students’ convulsion that put Emperor under house arrest, later transferred to prison where he finally died.   This turbulence somehow was impetuous to some extend for missing leadership vacuum in its equation.   The absence of strong well-defined political party or civic organization at that time, combined with the resignation of cabinet ministers of the Emperor include PM Akililu Habtewold had indeed created political leadership vacuum.   There were some gimcracks civic organization had dissipated into public with trepidation.

Sadly, it was disciplined and organized army moved cautiously and methodically for takeover.  Accordingly, young junior commander formed PMAC.   Lest public inferno, Dergue – military committee in old Amharic term – took control of radio station and others media outlets through which they frequently communicated their communiqué, demanded the surrender of old generals and ministers who were obstacles in their way, and conspired their death.    Here; bear in mind history will repeat itself if current system torpedo into prevailing odium and higgledy-piggledy riot.

Since Dergue, the scourge regime started butchering people right after it assume power, the seven members of Tigrian University Students’ Association (TUSA), a fulcrum association on which students’ upheavals leverage resided lost hope in Dergue attitude, therefore they unobtrusively convoked in Café shop in Addis on February 14, 1974 when they laid down guidelines and foundation of the profound movement – TPLF for self-determination of the people of Tigray and future democratic Ethiopia. (Berhe, 2009)  On February 18,   1975 these students set foot to Dedebite, ‘remote hills of Western Tigray’ to initiate arm struggle whence they successfully launch vigorous ethnic-based mobilization to capture interest of those to whom the movement put at their disposal.  They had no experience of living in backcountry but have strong conviction for freedom struggle to eke in outback and bleak area, and relayed only on the thought of Marxist revolutionary and its guerrilla warfare theory based on Maoist’s principle that successfully put to the test in Vietnam, Cuba, China, Algeria, and elsewhere as exemplar.  (Berhe, 2009)  Their thirst for future democratic Ethiopia never quenched after they liberated Tigray region.  Thereby, they configured other forces to form a formidable army, EPDRF to realize this noble vision.    Obviously, EPRDF  that  later joined by Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) after a decisive arm struggle, was a collation of TPLF and two other nominal parties such as  Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM) that later became Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) and  Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO).  It was founded in May 1988 and it overthrew   Dergue in 1991.

As a result of TPLF’s exertions federal constitutions that accommodate diversity was adopted in 1995; Federal Government ‘’with ethnic-based regional governments as its units’’ was purposely established as it only the option to resolves ethnic tensions and to balance resources distribution.    The right up to secession and to develope culture and language of these ethnic-based regional governments enunciated.   This is an exemplary, flawless and well-organized arm struggle of good cause. Though these are the feat of TPLF-EPRDF, it has forgotten the foes have been   lurking to materialize any opportunity.    In fact, lack of good governance exhibits by TPLF-EPRDF has been used to rift the relationship between the Government and grass-root and to incite the prevailing public wayward.

Conclusion

As I already mentioned above, this article neither to rebut indecency, nor to prevent minority ethnic group to join the comity of those insatiably hankering to revive their ethnic supremacy,  but to apprise them about cryptic political agenda played in semblance of nationalism; so they should not be underwhelm by  their druthers at the end.

Alas, these diaspora opposition organizations are haphazard, deluders whose cause of struggle promoted by eclectic hatred and who avail citizen’s torments and other gimmick to gain support.  Truly, these calumny speeches against the Constitution of FDRE, National flag and EPRDF-TPLF in esoteric rhetoric might be rousing because of high magnitude social injustices have put many citizens in quandary wherefore some of them bluntly support to overthrow Government of FDRE.  We must know this chancy rhetoric and these derogatory remarks about National flag for the star represent ethnic diversified Ethiopia can only predict despotism and ethno-czarism system to come.   Unless something is done with it, whether we like it or not, the new system will abrogate the vestige of article 8, 39, 43, and 47, and put Ethiopia back into thirteen provinces.  This mean the right of NNPE to develop their cultures and languages and to rule themselves in their respective region will be invalid.   In other way, the new system will create anarchism,   pogroms and   disintegrated Ethiopia which secludes some regions like Gambella who will later coerce to join oppressive system under which it will drink another biter superfluous cup.  Please listen to euphemism of the dabster Jawar Mohamed on VOA.

References:

1. Asfa, T. (2008). Digest of Ethiopia’s National Policies, Strategies and Programs. Addis Ababa: Forum for Social Studies, European Union.
2. Berhe, A. (2009). A Political History of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (1975 – 1991). Elias W.
3. Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great . New York: HaperCollins Publisher Inc.
4. Fanon, F. (1963). ThE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH
5. Getachew, M. (1977). Munger Africana Library Notes Issue #39 , An Inside View of Ethiopian Revolution. California : Institutes of Technology.
6. Gsbre-Egziabher, T. A. (2007). Decentralization in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Forum for Social studies.
7. Hagee, J. (2013). Four Blood Moons. Brentwood, Tennessee: Worthy Media.
8. Kurimoto, E. (1992). Natives and Outsiders:the Historical Experience of the Anywaa of Western Ethiopia. Tokyo: Journal of Asian and African Studies No. 43.
9. Measheimer, J. J. (2001). The Tragedy of Great Powoer Politics. New York: Maple-Vail book Manufacturing group.
10. Negussie, S. (2008). Fiscal basedFederalism in the Ethiopian Ethnic-based Federalism System. Netherland: Wolf Legal Publisher.
11. Stigitz, J. E. (2012). The Price of Inequality. New York: Courier Westford.
12. The Constitution of The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Note:  please listen to videos clips  and rad documents highlighted in the text also

Filed Under: UC Davis
 

 
DAVIS (CBS13) – Family of a researcher killed in Ethiopia is trying to raise money to continue her legacy.
 
Sharon Gray set out on a journey around the world to help Ethiopian researchers to farm and help women there to have sustainable lives.
 
“It was our first time in Africa and we were really enjoying exploring the country and its beauty,” said Siohban Brady, who was Sharon’s partner.
 
“Ultimately empower them and their children and to not have them suffer painful and difficult lives,” she said.

But tragically three days into the trip, Sharon was killed. Authorities say rocks were thrown at a van she was in. It came on the heels of social unrest in Ethiopia and a massacre of more than 600 people.

“I’m handling at one breath at a time,” said Sharon’s husband Cody Marklez, who is also a researcher at UC Davis.

Marklez said it’s the positive life his wife led and her passion for science that keeps him going.

“Sharon and I always strive to push one another to do good in the world through our science,” he said.

In Ethiopia, Sharon met a young researcher she wanted to mentor back in the states. Now her family is raising money and making part of that possible.

“She was limited by the resources that she had in Ethiopia and so Sharon was really inspired by that and she really wanted to bring her to the U.S. to work and to grow as scientist,” he said.

While it has been a painful turn of events, they want everyone to remember the good Sharon did.

“We had so many positive interactions with Sharon and she touched so many lives immensely, this will be the only negative memory that we have of her and there’s no way that that can overshadow the positive aspects of Sharon’s life,” he said.

Their family wants everyone to remember the beauty Sharon saw in life and continue to let her work live on.

“A bright light, she was funny, she was brilliant, she was patient she was kind, and a really incredible person,” Brady said.

https://www.gofundme.com/sharonbethgray

Sharon’s family has a GoFundMe page set up at https://www.plb.ucdavis.edu/sharongray/.

by Aklog Birara (Dr
 
When a government takes a deliberate and dangerous step to segregate itself and its ethnic base from the rest, the implications are far bigger, deeper and more dangerous than the State of Emergency the TPLF dominated government declared on October 9, 2016. This segregation confirms what the majority of the Ethiopian people have been saying for the past quarter century. The TPLF’s imposition of ethnic-federalism whose sole and primary purpose has been to facilitate state capture of politics and economics has undermined Ethiopia’s remarkable history of independence, territorial integrity and the bonds and unity of its diverse population. Ethiopia’s decline and potential regression towards a failed state like Somalia is a direct consequence of the centrality and supremacy of ethnicity over citizenship and shared prosperity, separatedness (ክልል) over a multinational state called Ethiopia. The State of Emergency manifests this tragic division.

  Reinforcing Ethnic and Regional Division

The United States and Europe are not Helping Ethiopia or Ethiopians

Dictators survive because they have allies. They have allies because they serve someone else’s national interest as a policeman at enormous costs to their own societies. State level thieves receive billions from their allies, siphon-off billions in the process, squander hundreds of millions in projects that are not well studied and do not add value to the society, hide their stolen billions, kill hundreds etc. with impunity. They hide billions in illicit outflow because there are places to hide them; or to invest them in clever ways such as houses, real and make-believe businesses and other non-traceable assets often under pseudonyms and family members. These billions enable them to repress citizens. Ethiopia has lost billions of dollars in illicit outflow; and will continue to bleed until and unless there is a regime change.

Ethiopia’s so called remarkable growth over the past decade is not self-generated. It is not the creative and imaginative outcome of a caring and prudent regime. The TPLF elite captured the state and imposed a Constitution with the façade of democratizing the country. Among other things, it declared itself as the champions of oppressed nations, nationalities and peoples. It offered the “oppressed” self-administration while ensuring that one party, the TPLF controlled the levers of power. This party became a king-maker, creating ethnic and other parties obedient to it; and decimating independent parties, free media and civil society. The institutions it created deliberately and systematically became instruments of the one party state. Pretenses of multiparty democracy, a free and independent press and civil society in the first few years of the current regime notwithstanding, the TPLF and its ethnic allies within the EPRDF had never wanted to yield political power to anyone else. Why?

Don’t expect the TPLF/EPRDF to reform itself

The TPLF determined far in advance that its ability to capture the state and the economy depended on applying the military discipline of “command, control, communications, and increasingly, computer systems.”  This doctrine is defined as an “Integrated systems of doctrine, procedures, organizational structures, personnel, equipment, facilities, and communications designed to support a commander’s exercise of command and control across the range of military operations.” For the past quarter century, the TPLF has applied this well-tested technique for the benefit of its members. The merger of party, state and government is therefore natural; and those who question this model considered inimical. For this reason the TPLF and its allies in the EPRDF have never been nor will ever be democratic. When political capture endows you with an unexpected enormous wealth, the chances that you will share power through peaceful means is almost nil.

Statistics and the alarming disparity in wealth and income show that the TPLF/EPRDF regime is one of the worst rent-seeking regimes in the world. It is the worst in Ethiopian history! This is why it has a high proclivity to create its own parties and undermine those it can’t control or buy. This is also why it established a party and state media that serves as its mouth piece while undermining the public good. It criminalized free and independent media; bars access to social media such as Facebook; and dismantles television and radio dishes so that people do not watch ESAT and OMN; and disallows peaceful protests. Why are ESAT and OMN feared and barred? Because they enable ordinary people to express their voices without fear; and transmit information that regime media does not dare to present.

Resistance and revolution that the party can’t control

Unlike episodes of resistance in the past that were led by elites, this time the TPLF/EPRDF is fighting a losing battle. It is fighting the very people, especially youth that it had said it serves.  When millions of Ethiopians say, “Enough to the TPLF! Enough to the EPRDF!” they mean they want regime change. When the people of Gondar in the heart of Amhara land — in their tens of thousands say “Do not kill our Oromo brothers! Bekele Gerba is our hero! And their fellow Oromo reciprocate, this phenomenon is transformative. Millions of Ethiopians are denying the TPLF/EPRDF the ethnic card it used so adeptly and systematically. The people of Gondar went further than any other group. They rejected the TPLF/EPRDF flag and replaced it with Ethiopia’s recognizable flag. They accepted their core identity as Amhara while placing Ethiopia as central for their future. They called on others to unify their forces as Ethiopians. This is not because they sympathize with the Dergue. Many Gondaries died fighting it. This is not because they want to restore the Imperial system. Gondaries gained literally nothing under the old Imperial regime. They gained literally nothing to speak of under the TPLF/EPRDF. On the contrary, they lost their lands, honor, dignity, identity and more. When you lose everything, you have nothing more to give. The same is true in Oromia. Oromia gives more to the TPLF/EPRDF than it receives. The regime continues to deny these root causes.

Ethiopia is more dependent than ever

The TPLF/EPRDF regime is unfair and unjust in pronounced ways. Ethiopia’s inequitable growth is

entirely a result of billions of dollars in foreign aid, billions in remittances, billions in foreign direct

investment and billions in soft and low interest commercial loans from China. I don’t think it will be

farfetched if an impartial observer would argue that Ethiopians do not own their country or their

natural resources or their lives. The country is trapped by a plundering ethnic elite with a voracious

appetite and globalization over which citizens have no say. Ethiopians are also at the mercy of a

surveillance, repressive and costly state and have been for the past quarter century! This enormously

Costly state that deploys one spy for every 5 Ethiopian has to go! Its value-added to the society is nil.

This is because, by all accounts, it consumes without producing a dime!

Why does the regime shut down the internet and all social media?

Free and independent media is anathema to the regime. The TPLF dominated regime repeats mistake after mistake. It has never learned and won’t ever learn that failed policies never lead to viable solutions. It is crushing the economy because enormous resources that the country cannot afford are being channeled to what I call the “war front.” Economic transactions have stalled. Hotels and other establishments in Bahir Dar and other towns are “closed” to customers. There are no customers. More and more businesses will shut down in the months and years ahead. The recovery from the adventurist and irrational polices and activities of the TPLF/EPRDF state and government against its own citizens will be felt for years to come. Poverty will deepen further. This ill-conceived State of Emergency will never address and resolve the root causes of the resistance or revolution. On the contrary it will worsen the situation in multiple ways: social, spiritual and psychological, economic, political, regional security and environmental. Restoring faith in government and its institutions will take decades. Why? Because of the massive bloodshed and the destruction it has caused. Foreign investors are unlikely to flood Ethiopia. As I highlighted in a previous commentary, the new State of Emergency is not new at all. De facto state repression, killings, enforced disappearances and jailing is a common practice under the regime. The State of Emergency gives this de facto activity a legal status (de jure) in the form of a proclamation!

I ask myself this question. “What is the end game of the TPLF dominated regime?” How many innocent Konso, Amhara, Oromo and other young Ethiopians must die or go to jail etc. in order to halt the hemorrhaging? Is the intent what people suspect, namely, if the TPLF does not continue its hegemony it would care less about the destruction of Ethiopia? That will be stupid!

Given the danger I see, I argue that no sane leadership of any country wages war and applies a reign of “terror” against 96 million people and expect to survive. Why 96 million? The State of Emergency does not apply to the chosen Tigray region. This gives the impression that Tigray is like a separate country! The state’s military might is housed here, out of sight from the rest of Ethiopia. The resources to support this might come from the rest of Ethiopia. What is scary and dangerous for Ethiopia and its millions is this. The State of Emergency defines and depicts the danger zone, Red, to apply to all of Ethiopia except the coveted and protected region of Tigray. The contrasts between this region and the rest depict the danger the country faces. Think of the situation at a human level. Mothers in the Red Zone spend sleepless nights because their sons and daughters face danger each and every day. You will find that for a family in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, Gambella, the Omo Valley and other locations grief is and will continue to be a daily occurrence. Ordinary Tigreans should reject this phenomenon now! This is because an Apartheid system of separation will worsen the situation.

The state of emergency makes citizens captives in their own homes! Imagine that. You dare not show any movement out of your home during curfew unless you want to be killed by a sharpshooter, at minimum arrested. The state has criminalized foreign and independent media such as ESAT and OMN. You dare not open these two unless you want your satellite dish snatched and your life threatened. Security goes house to house dismantling satellite dishes, entering homes to pick up “agitators.” In the Amhara region, especially Gondar, the TPLF army and federal police launched a campaign to disarm peasant farmers. The might of the state against citizens is so overwhelming that one would think that the region is a “war zone.” In Oromia, the state of emergency has been used to arrest thousands of Oromo suspected of “insurrection” and destruction of property. As the epicenters of the popular grassroots level resistance, the two regions bear the burden of the TPLF assault. None of the human rights conventions—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Conventions against Genocide— is respected.

Most observers feel strongly that the single most important issue that should be resolved is political and economic capture by the TPLF; and its determination to maintain the status quo at any cost. The cost may even mean the Balkanization of Ethiopia in line with Article 39 of the Constitution. I repeat, the destruction of Ethiopia will cost each and every Kilil including Tigray!  The flow of massive aid, investment and remittances will stop overnight.

Thus far at least, evidence shows that the regime and the country are heavily dependent on foreign benefactors that care more for regional stability and profits and less if citizens are dispossessed or massacred by their own government. To them, the deaths are mere statistics as much as they are to the regime that kills, maims, wounds and incarcerates without let up. These entrapments must go.

One of the least understood and appreciated aspects of the TPLF that makes and dictates policy, investments and the dealings with ordinary citizens is this. Unlike its predecessor, the Socialist Military Dictatorship or the Dergue that killed or facilitated killings of an entire generation in broad day light and for political reasons, the TPLF is much more secretive and conscious of its international public image. It carries out silent killings, maiming, wounding and “enforced disappearances” under cover. No one really knows how many political civic, professional, religious and other dissidents are killed and buried in the country. These are routinely done out of sight by the most trusted agents of the party. The State of Emergency will strengthen the capacity to kill and maim etc.

In effect, Ethiopia has been under a state of siege and under a state of emergency at least since the election of 2005. Simply ask yourself how many leaders and activists of multiethnic parties and others have been selected and killed, wounded, tortured, jailed, forced to flee or “enforced to disappear?” How many spouses, mothers, sisters, aunts and uncles have been crying or wondering where their beloved ones are buried or held. These episodes have intensified over the past 11 months. Grieving has become a norm. It is a consequence of a quarter of a century of relentless assaults by the surveillance state and government of the TPLF/EPRDF. The response is the current popular resistance and revolution that show a determination to bring down the system that criminalizes dissent of any kind.

To my knowledge, neither the leaders of the Dergue nor the TPLF/EPRDF felt obligated to ask themselves what the end game is! Does anyone know the end game?  Is it to kill more; if so how many? Is it to destroy the country? If so, for whose benefit? Is it to stimulate ethnic conflict? If so why preach to us that the country is at “risk” when the regime is the very one that causes it? Who is responsible for the risk? It certainly is not youth who sacrifice their lives for freedom, justice and the rule of law.  Is there anyone within the ruling party who has the courage and stamina to challenge the dangerous assumptions, prescriptions, scenarios and unintended consequences? The conference held in Addis Ababa recently does not offer hope. While dissenters offered a plethora of solutions, the governing party failed to produce anything new or constructive that offers confidence to the very people who brought the regime to its knees. It is because of them that the State of Emergency was declared.

In my estimation, the TPLF/EPRDF is not only anathema to Ethiopia’s durability and the peaceful coexistence of its 102 million people; it is also its own worst enemy. First and foremost, it does not believe in democracy. It does not entertain differences in ideology, world view and alternative governance. Its ideology and values are dated to the point of irrelevance. The leadership is delusional. It believes that nearly 96 million people will succumb to its will. At one point, its foreign benefactors will abandon it if and when they are assured of a better and saner alternative. The regime created, promoted and institutionalized ethnic antagonism (kilil) as an instrument of longevity. In the process, it implanted the seeds of its own destruction. The State of Emergency shows that the regime’s leaders are incapable and unwilling to learn from their own mistakes, the mistakes of their predecessor and the failures of other dictatorial regimes. In my estimation, brute force is never a rationale response to public anger and grievances. It did not serve former dictators in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, the Philippines and Syria etc. It won’t serve the TPLF/EPRDF regardless of the human cost and the use of force to subdue millions of Ethiopians.

The TPLF/EPRDF leadership should question itself

I say to the rulers “Don’t blame the current crisis you created on Egypt, Eritrea, the Diaspora, and ESAT OMN or anyone else. Ethiopians are fiercely independent and won’t allow any foreign power to dictate to them. The leadership should now accept the hard reality that the vast majority of Ethiopians do not want their government or leadership! This is why millions have been fighting for freedom, justice, the rule of law and democracy. I do not believe any force would stop the current resistance except through dialogue and negotiation to share power. “

In a commentary CNN’s Farai Svenzo showed the massive Irreecha on October 2, 2016 and its aftermath. He commented that human rights abuses of the Oromo have persisted under various regimes and have reached their limit. In his own words, protests have “snowballed.” A wise government leadership would have allowed the celebration to go on without interference regardless of whether activists protested or not. They did not harm any person. They did not throw stones let alone shoot at any one. The quarrelsome regime reverted to the tool it uses routinely. It begun to shoot to kill and caused a stampede. The stampede caused by the regime itself tells us the story. People do not trust the regime’s security, federal police or military. They perceive it as killing machine! Why? Because the regime has done this over and over and over again. In other words, the regime sees the citizens it rules as its enemies in every situation regardless of ethnicity or religion. Its proclivity to kill is well established. Dissenters and protestors alike see it as a killing machine.  For this reason alone, it cannot survive. Because it can’t kill millions and get away with it this time. Millions of Ethiopians are saying that 25 years of brutality, savagery and plunder is enough!

My conclusion in this commentary is this. The state of emergency is not declared to protect citizens from the state and government. It is declared to protect the governing party, its members and supporters as well as its investments from Ethiopians citizens. People do not wake one morning and say “We are going to demonstrate and die doing it! We are going to destroy this property today and that tomorrow!” They must have a cause built over time. The TPLF/EPRDF abused human rights before the latest emergency; and will intensify this abuse. This time, it will do the assault without let up under the guise of a proclamation that licenses it to kill, arrest, “enforce massive disappearances” and force people either to flee or to fight to the bitter end. How sad for the country!  How sad for the Ethiopian people! How shameful for the TPLF/EPRDF! Why not opt for the least cost way of accommodation, peace and reconciliation! Allow freedom of choice! Dare to compete in the open market of ideas!

The Governments of the United States and Europe have a choice

On October 12, 2016, an editorial comment in the Washington Post put the matter clearly and questioned America’s and Europe’s position and policy towards the regime in Ethiopia. In “State of Emergency: Ethiopia’s rulers answer protests with bullets,” it opined thus. “Ethiopia’s rulers have redoubled a repressive policy that is failing. Instead of looking for ways to alleviate the pent-up frustrations of the ethnic Oromo and Amhara populations that spilled out in demonstrations over the past 11 months, Ethiopia’s authorities on Sunday announced a six-month state of emergency, allowing the deployment of troops and bans on demonstrations….the state of emergency will bottle up the pressures even more, increasing the likelihood they will explode anew.” Incidentally, my commentary last week under the title “Ethiopia Faces Imminent Danger” asserted an identical view. Repeating a failed policy over and over again worsens a bad situation. The current State of Emergency of hunting for those who advance freedom, justice and the rule of law is a far cry from responding to the systemic crisis in a responsible and accountable manner.

This time, the TPLFs/EPRDF’s make-make believe story of a failing state and government crashed before landing. According to the Post’s timely commentary, “Attempts to point to foes abroad masks the truth that unrest is being fueled by a deep sense of anger at home…the EPRDF, the target of the rage, would do better to confront the root causes than answer with bullets and tear gas.” As indicated in my last commentary, “The violence threatens to shake foreign investment that has been the pillar of Ethiopia’s development” and the source of wealth for members of the ruling party and its loyalists. Who in the world trusts a regime that is rejected by tens of millions of Ethiopians?

The root cause of the current crisis that the ruling party is unable to face includes land grab and annexation, identity, gross human rights abuses, relentless suppression and oppression, incalculable atrocities and crimes against humanity, bribery, corruption, insatiable appetite to use power and the acquisition and illicit transfers of undeserved wealth. Enough is not in the regime’s vocabulary! Compromise, disclosure, accountability to the public, free and independent media including face book, competitive parties, an open and competitive economy deter rent-seeking, corruption and ethnic favoritism. These are enemies of the party, state and government.

In light of the truth that the TPLF/EPRDF has demonstrated amply its failure and illegitimacy to govern by crushing dissent and by making the country unstable and a potential breeding ground for future terrorism, the governments of the United States, the UK and rest of Europe as well as the UN, AU and others must now accept responsibility and side with the Ethiopian people. “Ethiopia’s human rights abuses and political repression must be addressed frontally by the United States and Europe, no longer shunned to the backburner because of cooperation fighting terrorism.” A regime that terrorizes its citizens and declares a state of emergency to do more harm can’t justify its existence by serving as a policeman or by giving itself the legal authority to kill, harass, incarcerate, forcibly evict and enforce disappearances. The remedy is change in the system and government. The regime itself needs policing and global attention.  “With the state of emergency, Ethiopia’s leaders are borrowing a brutal and counterproductive tactic from dictators the world over who have tried to put a cork in genuine popular dissent. It won’t work.”

In her recent state visit to Ethiopia, Chancellor Merkel of Germany refused to address the timid and unrepresentative Ethiopian Parliament; and urged the regime to change its ways. Germany should refrain from training Ethiopian security or other forces for now. The United States should now consider the real and moral hazards it faces in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa.

In summary, it is now time for the U.S. and the EU, together, to stop bankrolling one of the most repressive and corrupt regimes on the planet. When they do, the Ethiopian people together can and shall advance their collective welfare and deter terrorism. Ethiopians together possess the potential to transform their country’s poor and backward economy into a prosperous one.

The rest of us should not be mired by a cycle of unproductive competition for power and glory. Instead, the historical demand is for each and all of us to do what is required. This is to work together for the common cause of ushering in a new era of genuine democracy; and a transitional arrangement that will get us there.

William Davison in Addis Ababa

Protests by the Oromo ethnic group have led to spiralling violence and a crackdown on dissent that risks long-term instability

Near a sacred volcanic lake for the Oromo people in the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu, a boisterous crowd seized an unusual opportunity to chant anti-government slogans during their annual Irreecha cultural celebration.

Disregarding the Oromo officials and traditional leaders at the 2 October ceremony, the youthful protesters crossed their arms in a symbol of defiance and edged forward towards police armed with batons. In a defining moment for the Oromo resistance, one man got on stage, grabbed the microphone and sent the thousands in the audience into fever pitch as he led a chant.

“Down, down, Woyane! Down, down, TPLF!” he yelled, referring to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front party, which opponents say has controlled the strategically vital Horn of Africa nation for 25 years.
Minutes later, as demonstrators threatened to take over the stage, Oromia police triggered a deadly stampede by firing tear gas. The crackle of gunfire followed from armed officers and an armoured vehicle sped into action, exacerbating the panic. People fell into a deep ditch and were crushed. Others drowned in the lake, contributing to an official death toll of 52, while rights groups estimate that more than 100 died.

Social media activists characterised the bungled dispersal as a “massacre”, falsely accusing soldiers of shooting people from a helicopter, and called for “five days of rage”. A week later, the government announced a state of emergency after protesters rampaged across Oromia, burning government buildings, and torching farms and factories.

The events may mark a turning point in the 11-month uprising by the Oromo, Ethiopia’s most populous ethnic group, who cite frustrations over political and economic marginalisation. The movement, along with a series of violent demonstrations occurring since late July in the historically powerful Amhara region, had already threatened the authority of the government, a favoured partner of the UK and other donors that provide close to $4bn (£3.2bn) in aid a year.

The state of emergency is likely to mean the increased use of federal security forces, including the military, to quell unrest at the expense of regional states’ autonomy, as well as occasional curfews and suspensions of due process. The US Department of State said the move could “further enshrine” the repression that has contributed to the crisis.

The government has killed about 500 Oromo demonstrators so far during the crisis, while detaining tens of thousands more in an effort to discourage civil resistance. The message from those efforts and the latest round of unrest, however, is that it will be hard to subdue protesters, who see the government as discredited and embattled. That means the possibility of escalating violence in Africa’s second-most populous nation.

“If the government persists with the current stand, Ethiopia may be in for long-term instability,” said Hassen Hussein, a US-based regional analyst who has written sympathetically about the Oromo struggle.

The Bishoftu violence was preceded by a two-month lull, as new Oromo ruling party leaders emerged and pledged reforms. Before that, on 6 August, activists called for a day of “grand Oromo protests”, which resulted in about 70 deaths and included a rare demonstration in Addis Ababa, the capital. Federal police dispersed that rally, scattering attendees with batons and boots.

Among those subsequently detained was an educated young man calling himself Gudina Jalata. He’d previously stayed away from protests out of fear, but felt compelled to participate by witnessing continuing injustice across the sprawling region that encircles the capital. “First you have to be respected for your dignity – that is why I got involved. There is a lot of discrimination against the Oromo,” he said.

Before the government came to power in 1991 by removing a socialist junta, Ethiopia was a unitary state. A 1995 federal constitution ensured self-rule for minorities and promoted local languages in schools and government. However, Oromo allege the state is controlled by Tigrayans, who comprise 6% of the country’s almost 100 million-strong population, and say farmers are being unfairly evicted by investors tied to ruling elites.

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The divergent narratives feed a furious debate. Far from being oppressors, TPLF elites say their community made huge sacrifices during a 16-year struggle that liberated the Oromo and other groups from Amhara domination. They add that ethnic federalism now protects those hard-won rights, and power is shared equitably within government, while the statist development model pushed by Meles Zenawi, the former TPLF chairman and prime minister who died in 2012, helped Ethiopia advance.

For Gudina and the other detainees, such claims seem fanciful. After time in a cramped cell, his group was driven to a federal police facility in the Awash area; some were held for a week and then released, others were held for up to two weeks. There were no showers or toilets and they were given only small amounts of bread and water. The camp had three components: gruelling barefoot exercises on gravel under a scorching sun, political lessons and bouts of investigation.

The workouts included being forced to hop forwards with hands behind their head. Even the injured had to participate; if there was any slacking off, they were beaten. “It was really inhuman,” Gudina said.

Tigrayan officers, the interviewed detainees claimed, gave lessons on federalism and ruling coalition doctrines. While they felt contempt for their instructors, the prisoners were compliant, although one bucked the trend and was severely beaten. “The constitution they are teaching us is not broken by us – they themselves break the law. For example, it’s our right to protest,” one explained.

Mass detention is not a new tactic for a government that has largely failed to move Ethiopia on from an authoritarian past. There have been similar initiatives during these Oromo protests, Human Rights Watch said in June, while thousands have also been detained in Amhara. After the disputed elections in 2005, when Ethiopia faced its last major political crisis, the US state department said up to 18,000 youths were kept at a military camp for longer than a month.

While the regime undertakes another mass roundup of suspects, the efforts to indoctrinate Oromo youth are increasingly futile, Hassen believes. “If anything, it makes people even more defiant,” he said. “It’s exposing how empty the regime is, making it more vulnerable.”

In Denkaka, Kebele, on 3 October, women mourn during the funeral of Tesfu Tadese Biru
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In Denkaka, Kebele, on 3 October, women mourn during the funeral of Tesfu Tadese Biru, a construction engineer who died during the stampede after police fired warning shots at an anti-government protest in Bishoftu. Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
Ethiopia’s crisis developed after only one opposition lawmaker won a federal parliamentary seat in 2010 and last year’s election produced no opposition representative. The multi-ethnic ruling coalition emphasises its success in building infrastructure, improving social services, and helping millions out of extreme poverty, while acknowledging the democratic deficit.

Donor support for the government, which is also a security ally in Somalia and South Sudan, is unwavering. That relationship gives officials leeway to reject western criticism of abuses as a neocolonial attempt to impose liberal norms. Ethiopia’s leaders believe democratic pluralism is the product of development, not a means to achieve it.

When parliament reconvened, the largely ceremonial president, Mulatu Teshome, an Oromo, promised to create jobs and introduce some proportional representation at elections. And using familiar refrains, the government blamed Egypt and Eritrea for stoking the violence by backing a weakened, fragmented Oromo rebel group.

But the primary threat to Ethiopia is that a portion of its population is now committed to liberating regime change, rather than campaigning for reforms – including the young Oromo the police tried to re-educate. “Until we get our freedom, our self-determination as Oromo, I will continue struggling. I will continue to death,” said one.

ESAT DC Daily News Thur 20 Oct 2016

Interview with Dr, Tsegaye Ararsa on State of Emergency? Pt 1 – SBS Radio

The internet shutdown in Ethiopia will drain millions of dollars from the economy, besides undermining citizens’ rights to impart and seek information, observers of the current state of emergency say.

Mobile internet remains down across the country since the government announced a six-month, nationwide emergency in early October. The government also this week banned the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to communicate or to document the ongoing unrest in the country.Ethiopia, the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, has one of the lowest rates of internet and mobile phone connectivity in the world. The current protests, which have engulfed the country since Nov. 2015, have only exacerbated that situation. More than 500 people have died in the protests in both the Amhara and Oromia regions according to rights groups, 55 of whom died during a religious festival on Oct. 2.

Authorities shut down access to social media in the Oromia region four times this year, Access Now, an organization that defends the digital rights of users across the world says. With the escalating protests, however, the government has now also cut mobile internet in the capital Addis Ababa, estimating the loss of millions of dollars. In the current crackdown, access to fixed internet lines to business was however reportedly relaxed and up, but mobile internet remained off.

The thinking behind this blanket shutdown is to curb the spread and flow of information about the unrest, says Endalk Chala, a doctoral candidate in media studies at the University of Oregon, and one of the co-founders of the Zone 9 blogin Ethiopia. (The bloggers, who have gained international recognition, have been arrested and arraigned in court in Ethiopia almost 40 times since April 2014, and some of them have even fled the country to live in exile.)

“This is a typical textbook example of repression. You shut down media, you arrest dissidents and try to use propaganda to co-opt,” Chala told Quartz. The ban on the internet, he said, is similar to the government’s directive in 2005, when it blockedtext messaging via mobile phones for two years, after accusing the opposition of using it to organize anti-government protests following the elections.

Chala says the move will be quite unsustainable in the long run. The state-owned Ethio Telecom is the sole provider of internet, and while 3G is widely available in the country, few users can afford the expensive data service. A recent Brookings Institution report showed that a total 30-day disruption of the internet between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, cost Ethiopia’s economy over $8.5 million.

The latest restriction of internet access has drawn concerns from both regional and international bodies. The African Commission on People and Human Rights, which is based in Addis Ababa, said the governmentshould unblock the internet in the country. As a rising economic powerhouse, Ethiopia is facing a critical moment as two of the country’s biggest ethnic communities protest against the government.

“Internet shutdowns do not restore order,” Ephraim Percy Kenyanito, the sub-Saharan Africa policy analyst at Access Now recently wrote. “They hamper journalism, obscure the truth or what is happening on the ground, and stop people from getting the information they need to keep safe.”

To a large extent, the government might be succeeding in muffling both the direct flow or the volume of information coming out of the country, Chala says. “But I am not sure if they will stop the movement [of protest] that is already out of their control,” he said.

the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief

by Ezekiel Gebissa
 
Questions about Oromo loyalty to Ethiopia persist though they are stale, condescending and meaningless. The sort of questions that Tedla raises have been litigated for nearly three decades. The issue of secession, for instance, was basically settled when federalism was chosen as a solution and secession was enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution as a right in principle. For those who have remained in the mindset of the ancient regime, however, all Oromo political moves, even a call for a convention, must be scrutinized for some hidden desire for secession. To be sure, no one Ethiopian group has the moral authority to administer the litmus test of loyalty to Ethiopia. It is unfathomable that Oromos have to answer such questions especially in the wake of the sacrifices the young generation of Oromo have been paying to liberate Ethiopia from tyrannical rule.
 

By responding to these questions, I am not respecting them. But I respect the spirit of dialogue in which Tedla Woldeyohannes raised them. He did not indict anyone or besmirch anyone’s reputation. His was a plea for clarity. It is the kind of civility that befits the moment and it bodes well for the kind of dialogue we need at this critical point in time in our history. I commend him for his contribution to civil discussion. Let me try as best as I can to respond to his relevant queries.

Question #1: What does “Oromo nationhood” mean? Denying the existence of an Oromo nation was a mission of a succession of Ethiopian ruling elites, including historians of great repute. Under the policy of assimilation of the imperial period, it made sense to deny the existence of the Oromo as a distinct nation. The Oromo of Harer were called Qottuu; the southern Oromo were referred to as the Borana of Sidamo. The Oromo in Shewa were often dipicted as Amhara. The Wallaga Oromo were said to have nothing in common with the Arsi. One historian summed it up: “the Oromo don’t have corporate history.” The conclusion is that the Oromo don’t belong to the same ethno-national group.

In addition to dividing along lines of region and lineage, assimilating the Oromo also meant denying the existence of the Oromo as a people. Until 1974, the Oromo were referred to as Galla, not Oromo. The schools foisted this charade on generations of students, including Oromos who were forced to reject their true self-designation fearing cultural alienation and other forms of retribution. So Oromo endured a culture of dehumanization encapsulated in offensive Amharic clichés. Mohammed Hassen summarizes them as follows.

In the eyes of many Ethiopians, as Donald Donham keenly observed, the “Galla were pagans. They were uncivilized. Ye Galla chewa ye gomen choma yellem (it is impossible to find a Galla gentleman as it is to find fat in greens) or again Galla inna shinfilla biyatbutim aytera (even if you wash them, stomach lining and a Galla will never come clean).” In one Amharic expression, Oromos were equated with human feces: “Gallana sagara eyadar yegamal” (Galla and human feces stink more every passing day). In another, even Oromo humanity was questioned: “Saw naw Galla?” (Is it human or Galla?).

The Galla reference was a mechanism of “othering,” an instrument of sociocultural denigration and psychological dehumanization of the Oromo. The Oromo nation has survived the onslaught of assimilation and imperial domination. In the last four decades, Oromo has become the accepted designation though only a decade ago someone published a book insisting that Galla is the proper designation. The Oromo believe they have overcome the denial, denigration and dehumanization of the past. The Ethiopian Constitution refers to the Oromo as a nation. The Oromo nation has always been a nation. It has reclaimed its status today. We just have to get used to it.

Question #2: What does it mean Oromo is a great African nation? Is the Oromo a nation as other African nations? It should not sound strange to state that the Oromo are indeed “a great African nation.” Oromo is great, African and a nation. Implicit in the query is a suspicion that the reference to the Oromo as a nation presages a claim to statehood. To be sure, it takes a great deal of courage to even raise such a patronizing question. Who is more Ethiopian than any other group to administer the test of Ethiopianess?

Oromo has always been a great nation. The French traveler Antoine d’Abbadi, a traveler known for his meticulous mapping of the region from Massawa to Kafa in the 1840s, described the Oromo as “a great African nation” in an article he published in 1882. Martial de Salviac also repeated the same description in his book title: An ancient people, Great African nation: The Oromo (1902). In today’s parlance, Oromo is a great nation. The young Oromo generation has made a compelling case for the reinstatement of the historic reference.

Where there Oromo state in the past? When Antoine d’Abbadie crossed the Blue Nile in the 1840s, he encountered a gadaa republic at Odaa Buluq in Gudru. As he traveled south, he came across five Oromo kingdoms known as the Gibe States: Limmu, Gera, Gomaa, Guma and Jimma. These were independent kingdoms that governed themselves, later made tributaries and eventually conquered by the Kingdom of Shewa. Other travelers encountered Oromo gadaa republics everywhere in the rest of Oromia, at Odaa Hule, Odaa Robba, Odaa Bultum, Mae Bokku, and Gummi Gayyoo and so on. That is the history of the Oromo kingdoms and republics, and that is how Oromo custodians of knowledge (argaa dhageetii) have documented it orally. Learning this history or argaa dhageetii (what is seen and heard) is part of being socialized into being Oromo. No text book history can erase or falsify this history. Fortunately, young Oromo scholars have also documented this history with competence and finesse. Some people just don’t want to believe it.

The writer asks for the locational map of these Oromo entities. On a regular map, the kingdoms emerged in the region that is modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb. The republics were all over today’s Oromia. I surmise that the question about a unified Oromia independent state in the past. This too is a tired question. Oromo historians have documented the unity of the gadaa republics as all paid homage to the Abba Muudaa at Madda Walaabuu every eight years. These historians are loyal to the cannons of historiography. Their documentation is no less valid than those who claim an exceptional epistemological authority to judge which history is authentic. History is a matter of interpretation. We can debate any one interpretation endlessly. We must muster the courage disagree on interpretations of Ethiopian history and agree on living in the future.

In the present context, self-governing means that the present Oromia Regional State, nominally self-governing today, will be truly self-governing in the future. Oromo politicians have championed the idea of self-rule regionally and shared rule nationally for quite some time now. Apparently, it never sinks in.

Question # 3: Does national liberation have the same meaning then and now? The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) adopted a political program in 1976 in which the idea of liberation was enunciated. Since then a lot has happened and a lot has changed. It looks like some “analysts” are scrutinizing for ways to find reasons to indict the OLF. At the moment, it is not clear which OLF is still promoting the idea of “total independence.” Over the last half century, the OLF has splintered into several factions. The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), for instance, has a new political program that doesn’t mention total independence.

In raising it again, Tedla has pulled from a time capsule a question that was asked in 1991. It is the same allegation that the TPLF is spewing today to separate and destroy the opposition against it, which is expressed in recent Amhara-Oromo solidarity. Lumping all Oromo political parties and scrutinizing their statements to find a subterranean meaning, a “hidden agenda,” serves no purpose other than stereotyping a whole group as perpetual iconoclasts.

What is inscrutable is the fact that the idea of self-identification, self-reliance and self-rule that the OLF planted among the Oromo has grown to the sentiment of “national liberation” expressed by the #OromoProtests. The #OromoProtests has been a national drama unfolding before the entire world. Reasonable people know the demands of the present Oromo revolution. They don’t torment them with the same question that were asked of their predecessors.

Still the idea that the “old” OLF has always been for nothing but secession is an urban legend that never goes away. The OLF was never wedded to only one avenue of solving the Oromo question. Let me support my case by quoting OLF leaders. First, a speech delivered by Galasa Dilbo, the former Secretary of the OLF, at the Mesqel Square in 1991.

Today this public assembly affirms that the Oromo nation stands for peace and democracy. It shows that the people are committed to this struggle until its goals are achieved. It wouldn’t be a misstatement to assert today that, because of the unity and freedom of the mind the people have achieved, the Oromo struggle has moved on to a new phase. For the Oromo Liberation Front, this public assembly attests the Oromo are peaceful people. Moreover, it shows that their demands are similar to those of the other oppressed people of Ethiopia. We express our solidarity with them. ….

The OLF has a message for the non-Oromo people of Ethiopia. Our struggle is directed against an oppressive system and it has never harbored hatred for any group of people. Whatever it is yesterday and or today, it has never been our intention to harm the non-Oromo people who live in Oromia. We struggle with you hand in hand to make sure that our rights and your rights are respected. Non Oromos among us have nothing to fear from the Oromo people or from the Oromo struggle.

The OLF has a message for the International Community. We need a stable democracy. We are aware that we have formidable challenges. We don’t have any time to waste. The OLF and the Oromo people do not backtrack from our commitment from working for achieving reliable peace and durable democracy.

Elsewhere I have written about the issue of the OLF and the charge of secession as follows:
In a testimony of April 8, 1992 before the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Taha A. Abdi, member of the OLF Central Committee, asserted that the fall of the Derg created “an opportunity to democratize, transform and create a new Ethiopia in which the equal enjoyment of civil, economic and political rights of all the people are assured, where freedom of expression and religion are guaranteed and above all in which the supremacy of the rule of law will be established. … There is no alternative to the democratization of Ethiopia.” Leenco Lata, former deputy secretary general of the OLF, has written a whole book explaining why democratization is the only viable recourse for both the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia. In The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization & Democratization or Disintegration he asserts that, without genuine democratization and federalization, the Ethiopian state cannot escape another round of bloodbath and likely disintegration.

This position is not a matter of politicians seeking expediency. In his “Ethiopia: Missed Opportunities for Peaceful Democratic Process,” Mohammed Hassen had stated: “As an optimist who believes in the unity of free people in a free country, I have an undying dream that one day the Oromo, the Amhara, and Tigrai, and other peoples of Ethiopia will be able to establish a democratic federal system. To me only a genuine federal arrangement offers a better prospect for the future of Ethiopia.” Mohammed also states that only democratization could transform the Ethiopian state from one dominated by one ethnic group into a state of all citizens. (Full article http://addisstandard.com/oromo-dilemma-national-question-democratic-transition/)

It is clear that even OLF isn’t wedded to the idea of secession. In my assessment, the OLF won that battle in 1995. It is OLF’s opponents who are committed to pinning the tag of secession on the OLF. In the last year, the #OromoProtests have demanded and died for their citizens’ rights to be respected. If the blood they spilled to defend democracy, genuine federalism and constitutional rule isn’t sufficient to alley the fear of Oromo imputed secessionism, my purely didactic presentation will not change any mind. But I have offered it for what it’s worth.

Question # 4. Who colonized Oromo nation and how does Oromo relate to the colonizer? The question of internal colonialism has been a subject of academic debates since the mid-1980s. In Ethiopian studies, the pertinent themes were outlined and discussed in several essays in The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia edited Donald Donham first published in 1986. The eminent sociologist Donald Levine describes the two sides as the “colonialist narrative” and the “nationalist narrative.” These means the debate has ended in interpretive disagreement. A generation of students in Oromia and other regions have up grown up learning the “colonialist narrative” version over the objections of the advocates of the “nationalist narrative.” This is a settled issue to need any explanation. It is even pointless to ask for one. The only remaining issue of interest here is academic curiosity that sometimes has the characteristics of debating the number of angels that can dance on a head of a pin.

It seems that Tedla doesn’t have much problem with the intent of the Leadership Convention if it was meant to issue documents that will affirm Oromo unity on the basis of the Oromo gadaa principles and state in broader terms Oromo aspirations. But he finds it difficult to accept idea when he connects several dots in the opening paragraph with the goals of the Convention. The outlines of the documents that the convention hopes to endorse are clear. For now, let’s respect the right of Oromos to come together for a conversation on crucial issues that affect our people.

Within the Oromo community, there are different political positions. We would like to arrive at an overall consensus regarding the future of the Oromo nation. Other political communities in Ethiopia should also do the same. For those who despise “ethnic politics,” what the Oromo are trying to do for themselves as a political community is quite deplorable. They view these efforts as an active engagement in breaking up Ethiopia. On that issue, we disagree. Oromos have always been affirmative builders. That is the next level of consensus that Ethiopians need to have.

The writer, Ezekiel Gebissa, is professor of history at Kettering University, Flint, MI

Nahome Freda
 
The people’s determined and peaceful stand to assert their rights on the one hand and the TPLF’s unreconstructed and brute response on the other does not bode well for Ethiopia’s peace and stability and regional tranquility in the near term. Sadly, repeated appeals over the years for genuine and incremental reform were cavalierly and arrogantly rejected by the TPLF. Instead, even the most innocuous vales for venting criticism were systematically shutoff. Thanks to its arrogance and barbaric actions, the people’s accumulated anger against the TPLF is now deeply and widely internalized and has metamorphosed into outright revolt. Hence we shouldn’t be surprised by the multifaceted irruption of this accumulated anger in almost all corners of the country today. At this stage, the people’s legitimate and long-standing demand can only be answered through a complete change of government and a new beginning. However, that is only one solution to one side of the problem. Equally important is the solution to the other side of the problem – how to transition a deeply divided and traumatized country to a representative and democratically elected government.
 
Recent and forward-looking proposals to address these problems by some diaspora activists and opposition figures, although laudable, in my view seem to put the cart before the horse. I am talking about the recent announcement to hold an Oromo only congress with the aim of drafting a charter reflecting the desires and interests of the Oromo people. According to proponents of this idea, the charter will give basis for formulating negotiating positions for a subsequent enter-ethnic dialogue on what kind of polity Ethiopia becomes post-TPLF. There have been calls that others ethnic groups also should follow suit and draft similar charters for the same purpose.

I’m afraid this approach is fraught with several problems and in the end may unintentionally put the people’s collective future at severe risk and may even scare away potential partners in and outside of the country. Firstly, such conferences if held should take place internally in the country, as fundamental existential decisions should only be taken on the widest and most exhaustive consultative process possible by the sovereign people inside the country. Otherwise outcomes of a foreign-based unrepresentative decision process risks credibility and even worse rejection by the people. I know it is impractical to undertake such an exercise inside the country while the TPLF is in power. But that doesn’t mean preparations on a credible general framework for future deliberations should not be made now. I’ll explain this later.

Secondly, engaging in such exclusionary exercise is likely to siphon off the people’s individual and collective energy, which should be strategically targeted at their common and deadly enemy. The main focus of the moment should instead be on how to solidify the scattered opposition and apply collective pressure on the TPLF so we can end the suffering of our people and bring all protagonists to the negotiating table. Scattered and discordant struggle hasn’t brought the change people deserve and have been yearning for the last 25 years and I am afraid it won’t in the future. It can only bring reprieve to the TPLF and even worse could lead to endless infighting among the opposition.

Thirdly, such thinking does not seem to acknowledge the huge trauma the country underwent as a result of the TPLF’s divisive and distractive policies of the last quarter century. Thanks for the rampant ethnicization of politics for an extended period; the country carries several faultiness and wounds. These agonies and wounds need immediate care and remedy before any individual or ethnic group can make informed, rational, and fundamental choice affecting this and future generations. I believe the most pressing task for the opposition and activists at the moment should be reaching an agreement on a broad-based vision and strategy for removing the TPLF and instituting an all-encompassing and credible process for collectively deciding the shape and form of Ethiopia post-TPLF.

But the biggest risk I see in the exclusionist process is that such gatherings are likely to adopt maximalist and extremist positions in the hope of coming out on top in future inter-ethnic negotiations. To say the least this will make subsequent inter-ethnic negotiations very difficult and agreement far from assured. Even worse may unintentionally plant the seeds of unbridgeable chasms and endless internecine conflicts in the future. Such exclusionist approach also denies those individuals/parties that prefer to organize along ideological lines a say in the future of their country. I don’t believe all people want to live and raise a family in an ethnically segregated country.

This is not the time to remedy historical wrongs. Instead it is the time to build bridges and collective strength. We should learn from the 25-years of failed ethnic politics of the TPLF and others in our immediate neighborhood. Ethnic-based atrocities have been committed against one another. So much blood has been shed. The people have been robbed of their properties without due process of law, uprooted and displaced from their homes, arrested and tortured, and expelled from their jobs or denied their livelihoods because of their political persuasion and/or ethnicity, etc. The country has been ransacked and plundered by the TPLF. Given this deep and pervasive trauma and anguish, the first order of priority post-TPLF should be healing this festering wound and pain through an open, transparent and genuine reconciliation process.

Trust has to be rebuilt among individuals, communities, and religions through open communication, repentance, and forgiveness before reaching political consensus on the way forward. A credible process should also acknowledge the bond created by 25 years of shared trauma inflicted by the same dictatorship on all oppressed people. This sad but shared experience has interwoven a common desire to empathize with each other and live in justice and equality in a shared democratic space. The challenge for activists and politician today is to find such strands of commonality and hope among segregated and traumatized people and build a common movement for a promising future. The moment calls for envisioning and articulating a new political paradigm befitting a diverse, traumatized, and agonizing country that has preserved itself from foreign aggression through collective sacrifice over the centuries. Politicians and activists should work together in forging a forward looking system founded on the principles of justice and equality for all that acknowledges not only historical injustices and atrocities but also commits that they never happen again in the future.

This no doubt is a tall order and perhaps more daunting than defeating the TPLF. But it should be done as the alternative could be even more gruesome and traumatic. Such a commitment would take a clear departure from the politics of the past and a profound faith in the goodness and greatness of our people. The task of reconciliation and systemic transition should be entrusted to a representative caretaker government put together by agreement among the democratic opposition. In addition, the task of rebuilding civil society, impartial governance institutions, and independent media should start now in earnest, as these are vital for a credible reconciliation process and eventual transition into a democratically elected representative government. The Ethiopian people and their true international partners are hoping that opposition leaders and activists this time around will answer the call of the people.

ESAT 30 Minute FRI n Oct 21 2016

AFP on October 23, 2016, 4:27 am

Alaga Dore (Ethiopia) (AFP) – When protesters torched a nearby Dutch-run farm in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, Marc Driessen watched anxiously as smoke billowed above the horizon, fearing his own business would meet the same fate.

“I was really terribly scared because I saw AfricaJuice burning from our farm and we were getting noise from people that most likely our farm would be next,” he told AFP from his flower farm, Maranque, which boasts recently installed solar panels worth 600,000 euros ($650,000).

The farm, some 125 kilometres (77 miles) south of Addis Ababa, is at the heart of the restive Oromia region where anti-government anger erupted into violence after at least 55 people died in a stampede at a religious festival on October 2.

An employee of Maranque was among those killed in the disaster. The stampede was blamed on police who fired tear gas at Oromo demonstrators, who are waging an unprecedented protest movement against the authoritarian Ethiopian government.

After nearly a year of protests demonstrators turned their anger to foreign investors who they blame for occupying land appropriated by the government.

Not long after AfricaJuice, a Dutch fruit farm, went up in flames, hundreds of protesters brandishing sticks, rocks and a few guns gathered in front of Maranque.

It was a group of elders from the nearby village who rushed to the farm on their scooters, who saved the day.

“We put ourselves in front of the protesters and we told them ‘Maranque is our property, do not burn it. Burning this farm will not change the government. You’ll kill us rather than destroying this farm’. And our youngsters backed away,” said community elder Shumi Telila.

More than 800 residents of the village of Alaga Dore work at the farm.

– ‘It was like a war’ –

The spike in violence after the stampede, during which government buildings and more than a dozen foreign companies were targeted, prompted authorities to declare a six-month state of emergency for the first time since the fall of communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

“It was like a war,” said Abraham Negussie, an employee at AfricaJuice, describing an attack by thousands of men, some armed with Kalashnikov rifles, according to witnesses.

“Protesters say we don?t want to hurt the people, only to destroy this property completely,” he added.

The attack left a trail of destruction with warehouses destroyed and vehicles and equipment burned.

Outside the farm several tonnes of passion fruit now lie rotting in the sun as they can no longer be processed into juice destined for Europe.

Calm has returned since the strict state of emergency was put in place, with the government reporting over 1,500 people have been arrested.

Large rocks used by protesters as barricades still line the road, which is now patrolled by numerous soldiers.

The unrest began in November in the central Oromia region then spread to Amhara in the north.

Together, the Oromo and Amhara people make up 60 percent of the population. The protesters accuse the country’s leaders, who largely hail from the northern Tigray region, of monopolising power.

– ‘It will affect investors’ –

International rights groups estimate at least 500 demonstrators have been killed in a bloody crackdown on protests over the past 10 months.

The violence in Ethiopia poses a threat to its reputation as an oasis of relative political stability and its double-digit growth, which make it a magnet for foreign investment.

Driessen, who has been in Ethiopia for 12 years, is convinced that carefully nurtured ties to the local community helped protect his farm, where chrysanthemums, dahlias and lavender grow in greenhouses.

“We built a water line in the village, we put a cement floor in the school, we fixed their electricity generator… we need to do what we can to help the people surrounding us,” he told AFP.

Driessen said he was drawn to the Horn of Africa nation by its low production costs and the ideal climate of the Rift Valley. His company has invested 10 million euros in Ethiopia.

“It will affect new investors dramatically,” he said of the recent violence.

By David Weber

Hundreds of members of Ethiopia’s ethnic communities have marched in Perth to raise awareness of a government crackdown leading to the detention of thousands of people.

Authorities in Ethiopia have detained more than 2,000 people in recent weeks, amid large anti-government protests.

President of the Oromo Community in Perth Nuru Said has called on the Australian Government to put pressure on its Ethiopian counterpart.

“What we say is the Australian Government [should] not support this terrorist government who is killing [its] citizens and also to put pressure to abide human rights in Ethiopia,” he said.

“Australia is one of the leading democratic countries with respect for human rights.

“And this Government is violating the basic human rights and the constitutional rights of the people.

“So I think the Australian Government can play a major role on this.”

State of emergency

Human rights groups say hundreds of people have died over the past year as a result of clashes with authorities.

A state of emergency was declared a week after more than 50 people died on October 2, when an Oromo religious festival in the town of Bishoftu turned into a protest and a stampede ensued.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister said the state of emergency was declared due to the “enormous” damage to property.

An Ethiopian Government statement last week said more than 1,600 people had been detained in the Oromia and Amhara regions, on top of 1,000 arrests near the capital.

PHOTO: Omar Hasan says foreign aid is being misused. (ABC News: David Weber)

Authorities said the arrests near Addis Ababa were made in response to attacks on warehouses and factories, which had been set on fire.

Members of the Oromo, Amhara and Ogaden communities came together for the protest march in Perth.

Chairman of the Ogaden community Omar Hasan said there had been many deaths in detention.

“The Ethiopian Government gained the power and they want to keep the power by gun,” he said.

“We’re urging the Australian Government to stop financing, and cut off all the democratic relationship.

“Investment should be stopped – foreign aid is misused.

“There’s a lot of civilian unrest and it’s not appropriate for Australian companies or corporates to try to invest in Ethiopia.”

PHOTO: Members of the Oromo, Amhara and Ogaden communities came together for the rally. (ABC News: David Weber)