Why the Oromos are in a deadly struggle

COMMENTARY

Why the Oromo are in a deadly struggle

Story by FIDO EBBA Publication Date: 01/26/2006
The Oromo Liberation Front is compelled to respond to a letter by the Ethiopian ambassador to Kenya, Mr Murad Mussa, in reaction to an earlier, accurate report about the Oromo people and their legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination.
An informed reader could easily discern that the ambassador's letter was devoid of facts and full of intentional misrepresentation and misinformation.
He desperately attempted to portray the minority, tyrannical Ethiopian Government as democratic, and also laboured in vain to convince the readers that the right of self-determination of Oromo people is guaranteed by the regime's constitution.
It is well known that Ethiopia is constituted of diverse nations and nationalities. What is less known is that Ethiopia/Abyssinia stands alone as the only Black power that participated in the colonial scramble for Africa.
The Oromo people's experience under Ethiopian rule is the same as other African peoples under European colonial rulers.
To date, this colonial relation is maintained through use of force by the government that Mr Mussa represents.
Today, the subjugated peoples are struggling to reverse that order and the subjugators are acting to perpetuate the status quo.
In 1991, when Mengistu Haile Mariam was overthrown, leaders of various political organisations and communities, including the OLF, came together, adopted a Transitional Charter, and formed a transitional government.
Unfortunately, stiff resistance from the Tigrian People's Liberation Front (TPLF) met that initial enthusiasm.
Instead of striving to create new and equitable relations among the peoples in Ethiopia, the TPLF replaced the old order by a new type of domination, establishing the Tigrai minority political, economic and military monopoly of power.
After the collapse of the transitional arrangement, TPLF pushed out all credible organisations that would challenge its determination to establish minority rule. In so doing, they not only failed to resolve the Oromo question, but also closed all possible avenues for redressing legitimate grievances peacefully.
Every attempt by the OLF, friendly governments, and organisations to peacefully resolve the political problem between the OLF and the government has been rebuffed by the regime.
Today, the TPLF regime is engulfed in mutually reinforcing crises. Armed conflict, popular uprising, authoritarian governance, corruption, the misuse of natural resources, the HIV/Aids pandemic and a debilitating famine are besieging the country from different angles - a consequence of the TPLF's failed policies.
The country's grim situation is getting worse by the day. Appallingly, despite a decade of intensive reform efforts initiated and backed through substantial foreign financial assistance, the basic security and livelihood of the majority of peoples in Ethiopia remain highly deficient.
The plight and agony to which this minority regime is subjecting the Oromo people is unparalleled in history. Thousands of Oromo are currently languishing in prison for years without charge or trial.
Thousands of others have been kidnapped and many killed without due process of law. Thousands of Oromo are being forced to flee their homes to neighbouring countries for protection.
The government's acts of violence against the Oromo do not stop at the border.
Disregarding international law, the Ethiopian government soldiers have often crossed into the neighbouring countries to kidnap and kill innocent Oromo refugees.
The allegation that the OLF is the cause of conflict between communities in Northern Kenya is unfounded and malicious. It is rather the Ethiopian government, which arms one community against the other and incites cross-border violence. This is the regime that came to power through violence and perpetuates its rule through violence.

Mr Ebba heads the diplomacy division, Oromo Liberation Front.