Say my Name: Equal Exchange Mulls Re-naming Ethiopian Coffee

Say my Name:
Equal Exchange Mulls Re-naming Ethiopian Coffee

By Barth Anderson

Joe Riemann, Equal Exchange Coffee Co-op and Arfasse Gemeda, Youth Organizer for the Oromo Community of Minnesota

Is Organic Ethiopian coffee misnamed? Equal Exchange thinks so, and out of respect for the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, Equal Exchange Coffee Co-op is changing the name of its Organic Ethiopian coffee to Organic Oromian.

Fair Trade Organic Ethiopian Coffee is Equal Exchange's second best selling "Point of Origin" coffee (Colombian is first) and the coffee company purchased over 420,000 lbs of coffee from Ethiopia last year, for use in various blends.

Equal Exchange will test-launch this name change in Minnesota co-ops in February.

"Some customers may see it as just a new name for their coffee," said Equal Exchange's Joe Riemann, responsible for spearheading this project, "but coffee means so much to the Oromian people. This name change is powerful for them on a real personal, social, and cultural identity level."

Starting in February, co-op shoppers will see signs like this one on Equal Exchange's Organic Ethiopian

The name change from Ethiopian to "Organic Oromian" would specify for consumers where the coffee comes from, Oromia (o-ROH-mia), which is the homeland of the Oromo people.

"Oromia isn't internationally recognized," Riemann said, "and that's the problem."

Oromos constitute the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, and nearly one hundred percent of Equal Exchange's Fair Trade Organic Ethiopian coffee comes from the Oromia Coffee Cooperative Union. In fact, much of the coffee grown in Ethiopia is grown in Oromia.

The name change is being tested here because Minnesotans have a unique connection to Oromia: We are home to the largest single Oromo population outside Ethiopia. Some 20,000 Oromos live in Minnesota, according to Oromo Community in Minnesota.

"This community is right under our noses, and most shop in the same places where co-op people shop, go to the same coffee shops. It felt important to reach out to them and co-op shoppers at the same time," Riemann said.

"Bringing Oromos and co-op shoppers together over Fair Trade coffee is a very cool thing."

Say My Name

As Riemann said, it might seem a matter of semantics, but Oromos have endured stiff cultural repression for decades under various Ethiopian administrations. As explained by spokesperson from the Oromo Community of Minnesota, who asked to remain anonymous for this article, cultural identity is always at stake for Oromos.

"Nearly 100% of Ethiopian coffee comes from Oromia. But the government of Ethiopia wants to hide Oromia by not attaching [its] real name to the coffee. There are strong identity issues at play in this issue."

This is because Oromos have been subject to what can only be called "ethnic cleansing" in Ethiopia. Under several governments dating back to Emperor Selassie (who was overthrown in 1974) the Oromo language was banned, their people were resettled, unlawful internments were forced upon them, and even the name "Oromia" was replaced by a highly offensive moniker. For this reason, identifying Oromian coffee as "Ethiopian" is one more way of keeping these people invisible.

"I deserve to be called by my right name," said the spokesperson. "If someone calls me by a name I don't want, that's an infringement of one's rights. We greatly appreciate Equal Exchange for being a voice to Oromos in Oromia."

Black Gold

The need for a name change became clear after a recent showing of the movie Black Gold, a documentary about Fair Trade coffee featuring the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia. The movie was shown jointly by Equal Exchange and the Oromo Student Union, and the discussion afterwards was potent. The audience was almost all Oromos except for Riemann and Scott Patterson, coordinator of Equal Exchange's Minneapolis Office.

"Afterwards, they were asking, 'Why is this coffee called Ethiopian when it comes from Oromia?' " Riemann said. "It was totally emotional. I mean, I got emotional, too."

Dee, an Oromo American woman, was deeply moved by Black Gold, especially by images of starving children in lush green farmland.

"There was a lot of concern and emotion in the room that night. The people on my mother's side were all coffee farmers," Dee said. Dee herself is part of a generation born in diaspora here in Minnesota, people who fled cultural oppression in Ethiopia. "My generation, we're aware that coffee is part of our culture, but we don't make connections about where we're buying our coffee here."

She added, "I've only been drinking Equal Exchange coffee since that night."

Aware that Equal Exchange might act on behalf of Oromos in America as well as Ethiopia, Riemann wanted his company to consider a name change for the coffee, to honor the people who grow this coffee.

But can a company give up name recognition and "brand" allegiance so easily? "Ethiopian" is one of the most widely recognized coffee names on the market, after all.

So to weigh support for the name change, Equal Exchange posted a "friendly petition" online, and Oromos from around the planet have weighed in to voice their approval. From the petition site:

By changing the name of your "Organic Ethiopian" to "Organic Oromian", you will give an opportunity for the voices of the millions of oppressed Oromo people to be heard.

Recognition of the Oromo people will eventually improve the human rights situation in Ethiopia and improve stability in the Horn of Africa.

We families of coffee growers want our coffee should be named "Oromian organic coffee" and not Ethiopian organic coffee.

Over a thousand signatures have been gathered so far from Oromos and others in far-flung regions, from Australia, Canada, Kentucky, to Germany.

"This is their family," said Scott Patterson, coordinator of Equal Exchange's Minneapolis office, "but it's Fair trade, too. It's two white guys in a room of black folks, talking about social justice in Ethiopia. This is really what Fair Trade is all about."

Just the Beginning

Because Oromos live in the West Bank, St. Paul, and Mankato, Equal Exchange believes that Minnesotans are in a better position to understand the need for this name change than others. But it's Equal Exchange's hope that the co-op community here, in particular, will embrace this change and raise the profile of Oromos in America.

"Fair trade isn't a happy touchy feely story," Patterson said, referring to the hurt and injustice behind the need for this name change. "There are no illusions. It isn't fixed. Oromos know the reality, and it's important for us to face that with them. The story is just starting."

Black Gold (trailer) (YouTube)

"Freedom is Key", by Oromo rapper Epidemicthevirus (YouTube)

Human Rights Watch: Full Report on Ethiopia's Oromia Region

When migration results in degradation

When migration results in degradation

By: Mohammed Al-Jabri

Oromos live a miserable codition. YT PHOTO BY MOHAMMED AL-JABRI A young man proudly stands behind the Oromo flag in a small room where Jamal Abdu Wadai often spends hours discussing the social affairs regarding Yemen’s Oromo community. Wadai claims to be the leader of the Oromo community in Sana’a. The word “Oromo” is written boldly on the wall of another room where three mothers sit with their small children. On the other wall of the room is a poster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. A medium-sized television in the corner broadcasts Oromo programs. The Oromos gather in the first room with the flag after the second becomes too crowded and likely has no window for ventilation, which reflects their poor conditions. They begin speaking about their life and the problems they face in Yemen. Wadai explains that the Oromos are the largest refugee group in Africa, dwelling in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, South Africa and Somalia. Some have sought refuge in the United States and Europe, while there are more than 40,000 Oromos in Yemen. He continues, “We used to have our own independent state, but Ethiopia besieged our land 120 years ago. When the Ethiopians – whom we call Abyssinians – occupied our country, they changed the name of our capital, Finfinne, to Addis Ababa. Our country, Oromia, was rich in agriculture and natural wealth; thus, it was a land of blessings.” Oromos are an indigenous African ethnic group found in Ethiopia and to a lesser extent in Kenya. With a population of 25 million, they are the largest single ethnic group in Ethiopia. Oromo nationalists established the Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, in 1973 to promote the Oromo people’s self-determination against the Ethiopian government. Sereval Oromos find dificulties getting jobs in Yemen. YT PHOTO BY MOHAMMED AL-JABRI Wadai was an active member of the OLF, for which Ethiopian authorities detained him several times. Four of his fellow inmates died from torture, but he survived. “The last time I was imprisoned in 2005, I got out only after my relatives bribed the guards with $1,000,” he recounts, noting that he immediately came to Yemen. Hailing from a strong family that has struggled alongside the OLF for a long time, Wadai maintains that approximately 45 of his family members have died in the struggle for liberation since 1994. With three wives and four children, the eldest of which is a 21-year-old son, one wife lives in Djibouti while the other two remain in Ethiopia. “Because of my support of the OLF, my daughter, who is 17, was refused permission to study in Addis Ababa. Ethiopian authorities even threatened her with death and detained her mother for a month before releasing her on bail,” he recounts, describing how he misses them, “My eagerness to see them is immeasurable, but I’m helpless here.” He explains his badly injured left thigh, which has left him crippled, saying, “Ethiopian forces shot me when I joined the OLF in 1977.” Besides translating Arabic into Oromo back in his home country, Wadai also sold Harari qat – Ethiopia’s best – to Yemeni officials. “I sold qat from our qat fields to Yemeni officials through Yemen’s embassy in Addis Ababa, selling between 20 and 25 kilos per day. The Yemeni Embassy then transported it to Yemen by air, with each kilogram costing $50,” Wadai recalls. Many Oromo children attend public can’t schools. YT PHOTO BY MOHAMMED AL-JABRI r>Illegal immigrants Oromos began flowing into Yemen in 1991, the same time Somalis were fleeing to Yemen due to war in that country. While Yemen is a party to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it only grants automatic refugee status to Somalis. Other African migrants, including Oromos, are regarded as illegal immigrants and therefore, not granted refugee status. Only in exceptional cases does Yemen’s branch of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, grant Ethiopians and Eritreans refugee status. According to Ministry of Interior statistics, there are 800,000 African immigrants in Yemen, mostly Somalis. However, UNHCR estimates 113,000 Africans – again, mostly Somalis – registered in Yemen through the end of 2007; and, in fact, it says the number is even more because not all Africans entering Yemen register. More than 29,500 arrived at Yemeni shores in 2007 alone, with more than 1,400 dying or still missing – and presumed dead – while making the hazardous journey. “Oromos keep coming to Yemen, particularly after the Ethiopians defeated the Islamic Courts and entered Mogadishu,” Wadai notes. According to him, 380 Oromo migrants arrived to Yemen Jan. 27 on smuggling boats and 120 died when their boat capsized offshore. He maintains that the main reason Oromos come to Yemen is persecution by Ethiopian authorities, adding that Yemeni authorities arrest many of them and deport them back to Ethiopia. “When Oromos are deported, Ethiopian authorities treat them harshly, torturing them even harsher than Israeli forces torture Palestinians,” he claims. Oromos living in Yemen have menial jobs, with some working i A child from the Oromo Community sitting behind the Oromo flag. YT PHOTO BY MOHAMMED AL-JABRI n sewage works and women working as house cleaners. “Very few of us have good jobs, such as translators or medical lab specialists,” Wadai laments. Oromos also work in qat fields, particularly in Al-Beidha governorate. Hardships and trampled rights The biggest problem the Oromo community faces in Yemen is that they aren’t granted refugee status and, unlike Somalis, they don’t possess refugee cards. As Wadai explains, “When they [Oromos] seek work, they are asked to show their refugee card, which they don’t have; thus, they lose out on many job opportunities.” Further, he indicates that Oromo women also face problems in Yemeni hospitals because of not having a refugee card. “When a woman is sent to a government hospital to deliver a baby, health workers request to see her marriage contract and if she doesn’t have one, she’s arrested and accused of prostitution. In such cases, we intervene by obtaining a letter from the Yemeni leader of her neighborhood, affirming that she’s married. However, many married Oromo women don’t have a marriage contract,” he notes. For this reason, Wadai says many married Oromo women prefer giving birth at home rather than hospital deliveries. He cited another example of an Oromo woman who encountered problems on the job due to not having a refugee card, recounting, “Beginning in 2007, one Oromo woman worked as a maid for a Yemeni family for about a year. She received her monthly salary regularly, but they procrastinated giving her money during the last four months. In the end, she resorted to shouting outside their house, demanding her money, so they took her to a Sana’a police station.” He continued, “Because she had no employment contract, police jailed her, but then released her on bail shortly thereafter. However, when her husband went to file a complaint against the fam Oromo face a lot of handships in Yemen. YT PHOTO BY MOHAMMED AL-JABRI ily at another police station, they jailed him and took his refugee card, which had been issued by UNHCR. They demanded he pay $100 to get his card back and it remains there until now.” Wadai claims that the members of his community don’t enjoy their full rights because they aren’t recognized as refugees. “Getting a job is contingent upon a refugee card, the obtaining of which increases the chances of getting a job,” he explains. Renting a house is another problem for those without refugee cards, which only five or six out of every 100 Oromos in Yemen have, Wadai indicates. Oromo children can’t attend public schools in Yemen for the same reason. “Children are left home alone while their parents work or look for work. Their parents tie them up like dogs to ensure that they stay in the house. What kind of a life is this?” he asks. Despite all of these hardships, Wadai is exceedingly thankful that the Yemeni government at least has allowed those Oromos already in the country to remain. However, concluding his comments, he declares, “We call on international and local charities to assist us, in addition to Yemeni businesspeople to support us.” Yemen Times

Making exceptions for Ethiopia

Meles Zenawi thinks the west's attitude to Africa is unbalanced and unfair. But his country is being torn apart by human rights abuses

Tom Porteus

January 30, 2008

Western policy towards Africa is ill-informed and inconsistent. That's the message of Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in his interview in the Guardian last week. And there's some truth in what he says. But Meles should be careful what he wishes for.

If the west was better informed about the war crimes and human rights abuses committed by Meles' military forces in Somalia and Ogaden, western taxpayers might balk at the thought that their governments are providing Ethiopia with hundreds of millions of dollars of military and economic aid.

And if western governments were more consistent and less selective in their reaction to human rights abuses around the world, they might be less inclined to turn a blind eye to Ethiopia's failure to abide by international norms in pursuit of its military objectives in Somalia and Ogaden.

Last year, Human Rights Watch documented a disturbing pattern of abuses by all sides, including Ethiopia, in the dangerous armed conflict which erupted after Meles sent his army into Somalia to dislodge the Islamic Courts Union, a group which many say has links to international terrorists. In its subsequent struggle with Somali insurgents, Ethiopia has committed serious violations of the Geneva conventions including the carpet-bombing of residential districts of Mogadishu, the deliberate targeting of hospitals and arbitrary executions.

Human Rights Watch has also documented abuses by Ethiopian forces in its simultaneous counter-insurgency campaign against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the Somali region of southeastern Ethiopia. These include the systematic use of rape, torture and execution as a means of terrorising and collectively punishing the civilian population, a partial trade blockade of districts deemed sympathetic to the rebels and the destruction of villages.

There are good reasons why Ethiopia's western backers do not jump to condemn Meles with the same speed with which they rightly condemn, say, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Sudan's Omar al-Bashir. In his almost 20 years in power, Meles, a former rebel leader, has transformed Ethiopia from a war-torn, famine-prone dictatorship into a relatively stable state which combines elements of both democracy and authoritarianism. He has won plaudits from donors for poverty reduction and good economic stewardship.

Meles' supporters also make allowances for the fact that he is the key regional player operating in a tough neighbourhood. Somalia is a failed state; Eritrea is a closed dictatorship that has picked fights with most of its neighbours; Sudan defies the UN and the international criminal court in their efforts to secure peace and accountability in Darfur; and now Kenya is slipping into its worst political crisis since independence.

But above all western politicians and diplomats warm to Meles, because they concur with his analysis that he is a bulwark against the spread of Islamist militancy in the Horn of Africa. Meles plays this card well. He is helped by the fact that the influence of political Islam is strong and growing among the large Muslim populations of the region. Furthermore, Islamist militants, some with links to international terrorist organisations, are operating in Somalia, Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn.

But, while these considerations can help to nuance the west's diplomatic, economic and military relations with Meles, they can be no excuse for the war crimes and gross violations of human rights that Human Rights Watch has documented in Somalia and Ogaden. These unjustifiable acts are not only morally repugnant; they are also counterproductive. They serve to undermine international respect for the rule of law and they are likely to sharpen radicalisation and conflict in what is already one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

The west's failure to acknowledge the reality of what is going on in these remote and inaccessible places and its failure to call for full investigations and accountability leaves the impression that when it comes to counter-terrorism, anything goes. It is a shortsighted policy that is already backfiring in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon - and it will backfire here too.

Guardian Unlimited

Waldaan Maccaafi Tuulamaa deebi’ee hojii jalqabe

Waldaan Maccaafi Tuulamaa deebi’ee hojii jalqabe; waggaa 45ffaa isaas kabajate

Shira mootummaa wayyaaneen waggaa afur dura cufamee kana ture, Waldaan Maccaafi Tuulamaa deebi’ee hojii jalqabe. Waldaan kun yeroo deebi’ee banamettis waggaa 45ffaa isaa kabajatee jira.

Oduun Finfinnee irraa nu gahe akka ibsutti, biiroon WMT fi qabeenya isaa poolisii wayyaaneen bara 2004 keessa saamamee ture amma ammaatti waan hindeebifneef, waldichi biiroo biraa biraa kireeffachuun hojii isaa eegale. Biiroo haaraa kireeffates Dibata darbe,Amajjii 27, 2008 ifaan eebbisiisee hojii jalqabeera. Wayituma kanattis waggaa 45ffaa isaa ayyaaneffatuun sirnichaaf yaadannoo addaa kennuu isaa oduun nu gahe hubachiiseera. Biiroon kunis, seenaa Waldichaa keessatti kan marroo (marsaa) 3ffaa ta’uun galmeeffameera. Ayyaana kanarratti manguddoota waldicha bu'ureessan dabalatee miseensonni gameeyyii fi sabboontonni Oromoo biroo argamuun seenaa deemsa waldichaa akka ibsanis hubatameera. Namootni ayyaanicha irratti argamanis gammachuu isaanitti dhaga’ame irraa kan ka’e walitti maramudhaan imimmaaniin tokkummaa Oromoo akka agarsiisanis baramee jira.

Dhaamsi ayyaana kana irratti darbes miseensota waldichaa rakkoofi dhibdee jiruun fagaatanii sirnicharratti argamuu dhabaniif “ ulfinni olaanaa bakka jirtanitti isaan haa ga’u!” jedheera.

Sirni sagantaa gabaabaan milkaa’e kunis, sagantaa bal’aan yeroo biraa walitti deebi'uuf beellamatee akkuma eebbaan banametti eebbaan xumurameera.

Waldaan Maccaafi Tuulamaa shira mootummaa wayyaaneen bara 2004 keessa cufamee ture. Hoggantoota Waldichaa keessaas,ob. Dirribii Damisee, ob Gammachuu Fayyeeraa,ob Sintaayyoo Warqinaafi ad Ayyaluu Ittisaa gara laafina tokko malee mana hidhaatti darbatamii turuun isaanii kan yaadatamuudha. Yeroo ammaallee hoggantoota Waldaa kanaa keessaa gariin biyyaa bahanii, gariin immoo mana hidhaa wayyaanee Qaallittii keessatti dararamaa jiran.

Miseensota Koree Hoji raawwachiiftuu WMT biyyarraa baqatanii biyya ambaatti dararamaa jiran keessaa Ob Gammachuu Fayyeeraa, Ittaanaa Dura Taa’aa, Ob Sintaayyoo Warqinaa Abbaa herregaa, Ob. Naggaa AbbaaFiixaa, Qabduu Maallaqaati. Miseensota boordii WMT baqatanii biyya ambaatti dararamaa jiran keessaa Ob Sisaay Sooressaa, Ob Alamaayyoo Qubee, Ob Fiqaaduu Jireenyaati. Miseensota boordii WMT mana hidhaa Qaallittiitti dararaa argaa jiran keessaa Ob Salamoon Baqqalaa,Ob Tsaggaayee W/Yohaannis, Ob Isheetuu Asaffaa , Ob Taaddasaa Dagafaa, Ob Mangistuu Danstaa Barreessaa WMT ti.

Waldaan Maccaafi Tuulamaa bara 1963 hundeeffamuun seenaa Oromoo keessatti waldaa eenyummaa Oromoo barsiisuufi dammaqsuu keessatti qooda olaanaa bahe, waldaa madda Oromummaati. Waldaan kunis sababa dhimma Oromoo irratti xiyyeeffatee hojjataa tureef hidhaafi gidiraa arguu danda’e. Murtii dabaa Oromoo Finfinnee irraa buqqisuuf mootummaa wayyaaneen Adoolessa 12,2000 labsamee tures kanneen dura dhaabbatanii morman keessaa tokko WMT ture.Adoolessa 12 guyyaa murtiin dabaa sun itti darbes “guyyaa gaddaa” jedhee moggaasuun isaas kan yaadatamuudha.

www.oromoliberationfront.org

Silence essential in Ogaden

29 January 2008, SA

Degahabur - In this remote Ethiopian trading town, people speak of the fight between the government and separatists furtively, in snatches.

They are trapped in the middle, silence and anonymity their only shield.

A woman crouched in a tailor's shop, mending a pair of trousers, said: "We have problems with the (rebels) and the government, both of them,"

"They harm us. People have run away from the city because of the clashes between the two parties."

She looked around as she spoke, wary of being overheard by government agents.

In May, the Ethiopian government launched an offensive against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which in April attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in Ethiopia's southeastern Somali region, killing 74 workers.

Eight-month siege

The ONLF, founded in 1984, is fighting for independence for a large part of Ethiopia's Somali region, known as the Ogaden.

Most of the group's members are part of the large, mostly nomadic Ogadeni clan, the region's predominant clan.

The government claims that an eight-month siege has decimated the rebels, but residents say fighting has not subsided.

Determining what is happening in the Ogaden is difficult.

The government usually keeps outsiders out, citing security fears.

Government officials closely monitored a group of foreign journalists allowed to tour the region earlier this month after criticism from human-rights, aid and other groups that a government crackdown on the rebels had led to systemic abuses of civilians.

Women gave accounts of rapes, mass arrests and attacks by government soldiers.

One man said four college students had been arrested and had their throats slit by government soldiers.

Another told of the arrest of an 80-year-old man, shocking in a culture in which elders are venerated. Hurried, whispered conversations often end with the same refrain, "We are very frightened."

Leslie Lefkow, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on the Horn of Africa, said her organisation, which the Ethiopian government accuses of bias, has had to gather information on the Ogaden from refugees who have fled the region and other sources.

ONLF fighters accused

"We know that there are ongoing clashes, we know there are abuses of civilians, but it's very difficult to know the exact number of people who are affected," Lefkow said, accusing the government of launching "a campaign of terror intended to terrorise the people who are believed to be supporters of the ONLF".

High-level military officials in the region did not speak to reporters, and reporters were not allowed to visit detention centres in which officials said they were holding ONLF members.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has denied charges his troops are violating his citizens' rights. His officials say it is ONLF fighters, not government soldiers, who have terrorised the Ogaden.

Regional security chief Abdi Mohammed Umar said the guerrilla group had killed 200 civilians in the last two months.

Private conversation overheard

Abdullahi Hassan, the top government official for the region, called the rebels "anti-peace elements" who had killed religious elders and women and mined roads.

Anyone speaking openly of support for the rebels could end up jailed _ at one point during the government-organised tour, the region's security chief quoted details of reporters' private conversations with locals.

Most residents said they supported neither the rebels nor the government.

Lefkow, of Human Rights Watch, described the ONLF uprising as "classic rural insurgency," with clan ties affecting support for the movement.

News24

FOON AJAAWAA (Walaloo Saartuu Oromoo)

FOON AJAAWAA

Foonuma Koo Natti hammaate
Dhukkubni isaa natti jabaatee
Fayyuu hin deemuu maal naaf wayyaa
Akkaan hin murree foon kiyyaa

Na tortorsee na ajeessee
Laalaan isaa na dhukkubsee
Wulii hin qabu mala biraa
Ciqqaaweetiin mura firraa
Akka hin miidhamne qaamni fayyaa
Kan tortore darbuu wayyaa
Hanga yoomiitiin sossobaa
Hamaa foonii mureen darbaa
Isa irraa hin eeggadhu fayyaa
Eega tortore wahi kiyaa

Kanaaf je'ee hin irradhuu
Hedduun qaba kan abdadhuu
Qaama fayyaa kan na boonsuu
Kan eenyummaa koo mul'isuu
Hin rifadhuuf foon ajaawaa
Jira dawaan isaa billawa

**********

Injifannoo Ummata Oromoof!!!
Gadaan Gadaa Bilisummaati!!!
Gantuu fi xawalwaalleenn Hallayatti!!!

Saartuu Oromoo

TPLF Crime Family (one family ruling Party)

TPLF Crime Family (One family ruling party)

The Meles crime family

01• Meles Zenawi
Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) chairman, TPLF Politburo chairman, Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) chairman, and Prime Minister.

02• Azeb Mesfin
(Meles Zenawi's wife)
former head of Mega Enterprises, currently a member of parliament and chairperson of the Social Affairs Committee.

03• Sebhat Nega
TPLF Politburo member, Meles Zenawi's personal advisor, behind the scene controls the Endowment Fund For Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), an NGO in name, but a TPLF business conglomerate in realty, controlling some of the largest industries in the country

04• Kidusan Nega
(Sebhat Nega's sister)
Mekele Mayor and TPLF Central Committee member.

05• Tsegay Berhe
(Kidusan Nega's husband)
Tigray Killil president and TPLF Politburo member

06• Aberash Nega (Sebhat Nega's sister)
Ran for Addis Ababa City Council in May election (with her two cousins) but not elected.

07• Arkebe Okubay
(whose sister is the wife of TPLF Central Committee member Adis Alem Balema)
a member of the TPLF Politburo, an advisor to Meles Zenawi, and former Mayor of Addis Ababa

08• Berhane Gebre Kristos
(brother of Arkebe Okubay's wife Nigist Gebre Kristos)
TPLF Central Committee member, former Ambassador to the USA and current Ambassador to Brussels, Belgium.

09• Tirufat Kidane Mariam (Abay Woldu's wife)
Meles Zenawi's justice and security chief, and TPLF Central Committee member.

10• Abay Woldu
(Turufat Kidane Mariam's husband)
a TPLF Politburo member

11• Mulugeta Alemseged
Meles Zenawi's nearest family member, Meles Zenawi's security chief and personal body guard

12• General Berhane Negas
Meles Zenawi's palace security chief and the Godfather of Meles Zenawi's daughter

by Tolossa GK

Source: Abbay Media

If Bari (Walaloo Aaddee Oromtittii Bahaa)

If Bari

Qoradhu seenaa kee
Beeki eenyummaa kee
Falmadhu mirga kee
Jabeessi aadaa kee
*
Namayu hin fakkaatin
If tahuu hin qaanfatin
Kijiba hin dubbatin
Dhugaa irraa hin deebu'in
*
Waaxiqqo dubbadhu
Hedduu dhaggeefadhu
Dubbii addaan baafadhu
Qaceellotti hubadhu
*
Waraani diina kee
Eegi tokkummaa kee
Cimsi jaarmaya kee
Jaaladhu saba kee
*
Diinaaf garaa hin laafin
Na'aba hin tuffatin
Waan gaarii hojjadhu
Seenaa bareefadhu
*
Diina jala hin deemin
Saba kankee hin ganin
Alagaa hin abdatin
Kaayyoo kee hin dagatin
*
Kabaji hayyuu kee
Eagadhu seera kee
Tiysi naamusa kee
Booniin eenyummaa kee
*
Bu'aaf hin dagamin
Aangoof hin bololin
Diinaa karraa hin banin
Aara kee hin mul'isin
*
Icitii kee hin baasin
Waan deemtuuf hin himin
Hundaaf eegee hin lulin
Jaldeemtuu hin tahin
*
Bilisummaaf ka'i
Harka tokko ta'i
Biina irratti bobba'i
Saba keetiif ta'i
*
Akkanaan guddata
Diina kee moohatta
Qabsoon bilsoomta
Biyya tee dhunfatas
*
Injifatno Ummata Oromoo!!!

***
Oromtittii Bahaa irraa
***

Ethiopia’s Dirty War

Somalis living in Ethiopia are caught in the crossfire between the government and rebels.

By Jason McLure | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Jan 22, 2008

It was early one morning in July when 400 Ethiopian soldiers came to Ridwan Hassan Zahid's village of Qorile, 120 miles southeast of Degehebur, Ethiopia, a dusty market town. The small settlement of ethnic Somalis in eastern Ethiopia was suspected of supporting separatist rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), and the government troops were out to exact revenge. They took Zahid, another woman, and eight men to the nearby village of Babase, where, she says, the soldiers chased away residents and burned the village to the ground. "I became like plastic," she says. "I couldn't feel a thing."

On the third day after her capture, the soldiers divided the prisoners into groups. As the other captives looked on, soldiers hung one man from one of the parched region's few trees; another was taken out of sight. Soon it was Zahid's turn. A small group of soldiers dug a hole in the sandy ground. They forced her into it and pinned her down by pressing the barrel of an AK-47 to her throat. As she tried to choke out the words to a final Muslim prayer, she heard two other captives screaming for mercy nearby as a noose was slipped over her head. Two soldiers jerked up on the rope, lifting her out of the hole by her neck, and she lost consciousness.

In Ethiopia's Somali region, a long-simmering rebellion by the ONLF, a separatist group seeking an independent state for Ethiopia's Somalis, is boiling over. Rebels, taking advantage of chaos in neighboring Somalia, attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration site in April, killing 74 people and triggering a massive crackdown by Ethiopia's ethnic-Tigray-dominated government. Government forces have since burned villages, blocked trade routes and carried out summary executions in an effort to quell the rebellion. Nine months later Ethiopia's government appears to have gained the upper hand, but only by essentially declaring war on virtually the entire Ogadeni clan of Somalis—a group that makes up the about half of the region's 4.5 million people.

Hundreds of civilians have died in the fighting (the ONLF estimates 2,000 killed by the government in the past year, though one independent estimate suggests the figure is less than half that), and 1.8 million more may be at risk, as an Ethiopian blockade has cut off commercial food shipments from neighboring Somalia and prevented the region's nomadic people from selling their livestock. Ogadeni clan elders who have tracked the fighting say people from more than 250 villages have been forced to flee the violence.

Amid a sea of crises in neighboring Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya, the plight of Ethiopia's vast Somali region—an area twice the size of England with just 30 miles of paved highway—has been largely ignored in the West. After barring the foreign press from the region for months, the Ethiopian government recently took NEWSWEEK and a group of other foreign reporters on a tightly controlled tour of parts of the region. Amid scenes of malnourished children and whispered stories of government atrocities, the defining impression was of a population gripped by fear.

One 30-year-old man selling clothes in the marketplace in Degehebur says he came to the dusty town five months ago after Ethiopian troops burned his village of Leby, 18 miles southwest of the town. Fifty civilians were killed, he says. "At the time I had a shop, a good house," he says, refusing to give his name out of fear of government reprisal. "We are in trouble. We are caught between the Ethiopian government and the ONLF … between two guns."

Such stories, of course, are almost impossible to verify. Ethiopia has firmly denied reports of atrocities and has placed the blame on the ONLF, which it considers a terrorist organization backed by archfoe Eritrea and Islamist militias in nearby Somalia. In his last public remarks on the subject, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters in late November that he was "absolutely confident that there hasn't been any widespread violation of human rights" in the region. Reports of army atrocities amount to "baseless allegation[s] and a smear campaign against our government," says Abdullahi Hassan, the regional president of Ethiopia's Somali region. "This is our people, and we cannot abuse human rights. That has never happened and this can never happen." Speaking to reporters in the town of Gode in one of the region's more stable districts, Hassan says development in the area is on the rise, trade routes to Somalia are open, and "the situation is completely calm now." The government has "completely destroyed" the ONLF.

Most residents—interviewed in the presence of government translators—voice a similar assessment. But not all do. In a village west of Gode, at a development project where the government is trying to settle nomads on irrigated farmland, a 35-year-old man says violence in the region is continuing. "The Ethiopian government, after they fight the rebels, they often turn on us and kill women and children," he says. "We're very scared. I'm afraid speaking to you now. There's lots of spies. They're everywhere." He estimates that more than two dozen civilians are killed monthly in the area around Gode, before abruptly cutting off the interview as a crowd gathers.

A blockage of commercial traffic with neighboring Somalia has also contributed to malnutrition. The embargo, together with locusts and drought, have forced grain prices up—many Somalis say prices have doubled in the past year. The one doctor in the hospital in Gode, Zilalim Eschetu, estimates that 75 percent of the children who visit the hospital are malnourished. "It's a visible crisis," he says. Among the patients in Eschetu's malnutrition ward is two-year-old Sugah Hash, whose emaciated legs curl helplessly on her mother's lap. "We had no food for a few months, so we had to run to this hospital," says Mariam Ali, her mother.

Ethiopian government officials say the embargo was imposed to keep arms and supplies from reaching the rebels and insist that Ethiopia has lifted most trade restrictions. Human Rights Watch, however, suspects that the government has been deliberately targeting its Somali population. "There is no question that in the last eight months the Ethiopian military went on a very intensive scorched-earth campaign," says Leslie Lefkow, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who has tracked the crisis. To be sure, the ONLF has also committed atrocities in the region. Somali clan elders in the regional capital of Jijiga say the rebels have mined roads, launched grenade attacks on civilians, and stolen livestock from herders. However, analysts say the government has committed the lion's share of abuses.

Western governments don't seem to have put much pressure on Ethiopia to ease the situation. Ethiopia has been a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism. Zenawi's government has allowed the CIA and FBI to interrogate foreign terror suspects flushed out of Somalia in secret prisons in Ethiopia, as the Associated Press first reported in April. The U.S. military has also trained Ethiopia's army and in 2006 sold $6 million in weapons to Ethiopia, according to the U.S. defense department—more than any other African country. In December, with U.S. intelligence and logistical support, Ethiopia invaded Somalia to oust an Islamist government that briefly controlled southern Somalia. Somalia has been in chaos ever since, as supporters of the former Union of Islamic Courts government have joined clan militias in battling Ethiopian troops and forces loyal to the U.N.-backed transitional government.

One Ethiopian security official says Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militias have played a key role in fueling the ONLF insurgency in Ethiopia, providing funding and arms to the rebels. A spokesman for the ONLF denies any such connection, and Western diplomats say it's unclear whether the two insurgencies are connected.

Via the United Nations, the United States been providing food aid for the Somali region, but privately international aid officials say the assistance isn't reaching the worst-affected areas. They have good reason to be discreet: earlier this year Ethiopia expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross from the Somali region, accusing both the country's expatriate and Ethiopian staff of funneling support to the ONLF.

The U.N. has also been tight-lipped about troubles in the Ogaden. In September it sent a secret assessment of the human rights situation in the region to the Ethiopian government and called for a wider probe of alleged atrocities. Nearly five months later, says Frej Fenniche, a spokesman for the U.N.'s High Commission on Human Rights, "we are waiting for the answer from the government."

Meanwhile, the ONLF, fuelled by money from Ethiopian Somalis living in the United States and Britain, vows to continue its guerrilla fight by launching surprise attacks on Ethiopian troops and then melting back in to the region's nomadic communities. "It's a cat-and-mouse game," says Abdi Rahman Mahdi, a rebel spokesman.

As recently as last week, Mahdi says, Ethiopian forces burned a village southeast of Degehebur. Verification of his claim is difficult given the region's scant communication links and travel restrictions. But in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, hundreds of miles to the west of the fighting, Ethiopia's dirty war is barely visible. The lone state-run television agency shows only Potemkin-like pictures of development projects in the Somali region, and the country's tightly restricted private newspapers are effectively prevented from reporting on the situation.

The conflict has been visible enough for Ridwan Hassan Zahid, who miraculously survived her would-be executioners. Left for dead, she was found the next day by Somalis from a nearby village who came to bury the corpses. The other nine were not so lucky. Some had been hung from trees, others hung over holes in the ground like Zahid. Some of the men had been stripped naked and their tongues had been cut out.

Zahid hid in the countryside for three days, but eventually she was told the army had learned she was still alive and was searching for her. Then began a two-week odyssey on foot, camel, and finally by truck to safety in a neighboring country, which she asked NEWSWEEK not to disclose.

She complains that her neck still pains her and she can't use her right hand. "We never had links to the ONLF," she says of her fellow captives.

"I am worrying still," Zahid says. "When I sleep at nights I have dreams."

For those caught in the middle of Ethiopia's dirty war, even sleep, it seems, is no respite.

NewsWeek

Criminalizing, detaining, killing and dismissing Oromo students in Ethiopian Universities

Criminalizing, detaining, killing and dismissing Oromo students in Ethiopian Universities

Photo: one of oromo university students killed by the TPLF regime

I am writing this article to remind the world, particularly Human rights groups, to pay more attention and stop the rising gross violations of human right against Oromo students in Ethiopian Universities.

The history of discriminating and attacking Oromo students has extended over four decades now. My interest here is not to cover the plights of Oromo students over this length of time but it is to illustrate when, how and why the Ethiopian state attacks Oromo students on campuses. Especially, ever since the minority regime has ascended to power via undemocratic means in 1991, targeting Oromo students as ‘enemies’ of the state has been increasing every year.

I will use a few instances from 2008 to illustrate the nature of the tactics the government uses to demoralize and to disrupt students from focusing on their educational goals. On January 1, over 200 Oromo students were arrested and a few sustained injuries from live ammunitions. This happened at Arbaminch University. The reason they were attacked was because they were found celebrating January 1 as a new year. The attacks were justified by alleging that the students were promoting ‘subversive’ Oromo Liberation Front agenda. Several ethnic groups are represented in Ethiopian Universties but the only group who is always exclusively victimized are the group of Oromo students belonging to the Oromo tribe, for mere reasons of belonging.
People everywhere do not choose what tribe, what race they want to be born and be. It is just natural; you are one or the other. But in Ethiopia this is crime for Oromo students. Mass arrests are spontaneous and they do not involve court arrest warrants. Once students are arrested out of say the 200 students, a few who are picked by government spies as ‘front-runners’ will disappear without due process of law, maybe some as long as the regime is in power.

The other form of human rights violation against Oromo students takes a form of arbitrary complete academic dismissals. As an example for this, on the 18 January 12 Oromo students were given complete dismissals at Jimma University and coerced out of campus by heavily armed federal police. Because the students wore T-shirts with the map of Oromia and Oromo heroes, including sports heroes, printed on them, the universities board decided them exclude them from there education. Then, in the same way, the students were accused of being sympathizers with the Oromo Liberation Front and that justified their segregation. Incidents of this nature are so widespread that it seems to be a normal process. Both the Oromia regional state and the central governments are found to turn blind eyes to this.

The other form that the attacks against Oromo students take is provocation by students affiliated ethnically and politically to the state. These provocations mostly come by calling Oromo students derogatory names that dehumanizes and insults their tribe, Oromo. This has been a major cause of exchange and fight between tribally divided students. Then, security forces intervene in favor of students affiliated to ruling party and again Oromo students are victimized. The justification is simple. University administrators together with security forces, pull out one phrase “Member of Oromo Liberation Front’. To a worrying degree, this has been going on viciously.

What happens once Oromo students arrested?

If it is a mass arrest in several hundreds, the majority will be suspended for one year from their school, a few others given academic dismissals, and a few will be thrown behind bars without access to fair trial for unlimited period of time. Of course, some unfortunate ones are shot dead at the early stage of unrest.

When do attacks take place? They happen usually one or two weeks before final examinations. While students who are by origin from the Prime Minister’s tribe got to study for their exams undistracted, Oromo students are often traumatized by the knowledge that they can’t take their exams or don’t have enough time to study if they are released 2 days before exams.

Implications of the plights

Trauma caused at once will have a lasting impact of demoralizing the Oromo students as a result of which one may expect a decline in their academic performance. Besides this psychological warfare, Oromo students sustain bodily injuries and some will die. This would affect their poor parents who have had a dream of seeing their son, daughter finish University and help them alleviate their poor living conditions. If these attacks happen only once to all groups of students, it can be called an accident. But given the increasing gross violations against Oromo students from year to year, the state bears the responsibility for this.

Call on the FDRE and Oromia State Governments

It is incumbent on the Prime Minister’s office to stop making the universities battle grounds and instead making them where every Ethiopian child regardless of its ethnic origin enjoys full academic privileges/the rights to education. Exclusively detaining, killing and dismissing Oromo students while other students learn undisturbed are dangerous scenarios which can further divide the already divided Ethiopian people. Students come to universities for books and not for bullets. Oromia State is presently failing to protect the interests of students from its region in Ethiopian Universities despite the claims and propaganda that it stands for the interests of the Oromo people.

Call on the Human Rights Watch Groups and the International Community I personally appreciate the reports that have so far been produced on human rights abuses in Ethiopia by organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Genocide Watch. I further appeal for more attention to Oromo students who continue to suffer gross violations of human rights, in manners that are clearly discriminatory in nature, as opposed to students from tribes of previous and present Ethiopian ruling regimes. The pressures that the International stakeholders put on Ethiopian government
has a substantial impact on making Ethiopia move towards reconciliation and ‘true’ freedom and democracy. Democratizing and stabilizing Ethiopia will then contribute not only for its own development and progress but to stabilizing the Horn of Africa region.

Qeerransoo Biyyaa

An Advice for Revolutionary Oromos

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

January 21, 2008

Through my extensive correspondence with Oromos allover the world, and through careful study of the number of hits received in every Oromo – related article of mine, I understand that there is a point missing in the fight in which the entire Oromo Nation – hereditary of the Noblest Traditions of Meroe and Kush – has been engaged from the first moment of the barbaric Amhara Abyssinian invasion of the Oromo Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century. This missing point is the subject of this article.

Photo: OromiaTimes Collection

As a matter of fact, the most popular article among all my Oromo-related articles was the historical analysis of the ´Meroitic Ethiopian Origins of the Modern Oromo Nation´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/21760). This means that the search for the Greatness of the Kushitic past, and the inquiry about the origins of the Kushitic Values, Soul, and Diachronic Identity is greater than the interest in the ongoing fight for independence and secession.

It shows something more critical; it demonstrates that the complete separation of the Oromos from the Amhara and the Tigray Abyssinians is not viewed by the Oromos in simple terms of political independence but as a Supreme Cultural Divide between Civilization and Barbary.

The Search for Oromoness

This is true; the Oromo secession from Abyssinia is not a matter of simple and superficial difference of political – ideological character, but the natural consequence of an immense gap between what outsiders would call ´profound difference between two cultures´, whereas experts would simply characterize it as conflict between Civilization (Kushitic Oromo) and Barbary (Semitic Amhara).

Even the term ´Oromo secession from Abyssinia´ that I have just used is not accurate; in fact, the correct term is ´expulsion of the Amhara invaders from the Oromo Ethiopian lands and Finfinne´ (fallaciously named Addis Ababa) in particular.

This personal experience of mine is in fact corroborated by what any simple reader who would search about the Oromos in the existing international bibliography would find; the books published about the Kushitic Oromo Nation, the articles, the analyses, the features and the reports elaborated about all things Oromo are characterized by a vibrant search for the Oromoness, the National Kushitic Oromo Identity. As a matter of fact, a great number of bibliographical items pertain to the Waqefanna, the traditional, monotheistic and aniconic, Oromo religion, and the Gadaa, the traditional Oromo social organization system.

At the Antipodes of the Oromos: the Amhara Evildoing

In fact, the reasonable and unbiased interest for a nation´s own past is a great proof of high cultural standards; it is very important to make our position clear. By ´reasonable and unbiased interest´, we mean an interest for true historical assessment, not historical falsifications machinated for political use.

To give an example, I will share my personal contact with hundreds of otherwise unknown (to me) Oromos who contacted me to thank me or ask various points of clarification; I never noticed the slightest nationalistic extremism in their interest about Ancient Meroe and the historical Ethiopia that is limited in the north of today´s Sudanese territory. Not a single sign of irredentism! This is a sign of high cultural level.

What is barbarism? Barbarism is to promote and diffuse the eradication of the ´Other´ in order to fallaciously portray your own self as (supposedly) ´larger´, ´bigger´, ´greater´, ´more important´, etc.

An excellent example is the Neo-Nazi barbarism of the ignorant and unqualified authors of the disreputable forgery published in Wikipedia under the title ´Habesha people´ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habesha_people). They are certainly typical racist Amharas covered by anonymity.

In that entry, all the subjugated and mercilessly tyrannized nations of the dictatorial realm, the Oromos, the Ogadenis, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Agaws, the Kaffas, the Kambattas, the Shekachos, the Anuak, the Wolayitas and others are mendaciously considered as ´Habesha people´, thus ridiculously raising the total Habesha population to 80 million!

I would call at this point every concerned Oromo, Ogadeni, Sidama, Afar, Agaw, Kaffa, Kambatta, Shekacho, Anuak, and Wolayita to write, protest, denounce, deplore, disparage, rebuke, refute, castigate and condemn the racist lies published in the aforementioned inconsistent text – forgery.

Similar attitude is demonstrated in the totally fallacious entry ´Ethiopia´ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) whereby almost every sentence is a construction of lies and forgeries. This is a brilliant sample of History falsification geared for Neo-Nazi political purposes.

However, historical self-determination is not the best tool for a revolution that would end up with the Oromos as an Independent and Free Nation.

Interconnection

The missing point, which will prove to be key to success in the revolutionary process and the noble path of Independence, has one name: Interconnection.

Interconnection among oppressed and tyrannized peoples throughout Africa and the entire world. Certainly, interconnection presupposes study, contacts, knowledge, information, and establishment of parallels.

Oromos must first become extremely concerned with the Ogadenis, the Sidamas, the Anuak, the Afars and all the other tyrannized peoples of the Cenotaph Abyssinia. As the largest nation, in terms of population and socio-economic, educational, and political development, the Oromos should stretch a hand of help and cooperation to all the rest, particularly those with smaller population and with inexistent elite.

Oromo Sponsorship of Smaller, Tyrannized Nations

There are plenty of Oromo doctors, engineers, lawyers, and intellectuals in the Diaspora; but how many Sidamas? how many Afars? how many Anuak? It is the Oromos´ task to help selected Shekacho, Kaffa, Agaw, Kambatta, Wolayita and other youth get out of the Hell of Abyssinia, study and work abroad, and organize from there their nation´s struggle against the Neo-Nazi Amhara pestilence.

The Oromo struggle for global community awareness and the Oromo effort to illuminate the tragedy of Abyssinia´s subjugated nations and the Genocide committed by the successive Amhara and Tigray elites of murderous racists and merciless gangsters will be met with greater success when in parallel with the Oromos, the Ogadenis, the Afars, the Sidamas, the Anuak, the Shekachos, the Kaffas, the Agaws, the Kambattas, the Wolayitas have the possibility to get engaged in the demolition battle of the World History´s bloodiest and most criminal tyranny, fake ´Ethiopia´.

The numerous Oromo political parties and liberation fronts, organizations and associations, which – unfortunately – have not found thus far common ground and have not set up a common program of activities to destroy and dismantle the gangster state of fake Ethiopia, have still the possibility to cooperate in a first, most honorable project: the selection and the education of five youngsters from each oppressed nation of Abyssinia. Perhaps the Ogadenis should join this effort as they consist in the only other oppressed nation of Abyssinia with a numerous, educated and fully engaged, Diaspora elite.

Interconnection with Other Oppressed Kushitic Nations

This is just a first point of interconnection; there is more. Oromos, and Ogadenis of course (the method is actually key to success of any oppressed nation and its struggling elite), should be interconnected with the engaged elites of all other oppressed nations, who fight for Independence, Freedom, and Dignity.

The Furis of Darfur, the tyrannized Bejas of the Eastern Province of Sudan, the Dinkas and the Nuers of the Sudanese South with their traumatic experience of almost 50 years war against the Pan-Arabist, barbaric regime of Khartoum, are rich in experience neighbors. They need the Oromos as much as the Oromos need them.

Interconnection spans across Africa, and the Oromos´ Western brethren are the terrorized Berbers of Kabylia, in Algeria. The coordination of the oppressed Kushitic nations is of primordial importance.

Exchange and Cooperation between Oromos and Aramaeans

Interconnection is critical for political coordination, awareness campaign, international support, and experience exchange. The Oromos can gain tremendously from an exchange with the Aramaeans of the Middle East, who faced terrible prosecution from the English and the French missionaries in the Ottoman and the Persian Empires.

The false national name affair, so dramatically experienced by the Oromos because of the Abyssinian usurpation of the historically Kushitic Name of Ethiopia, would be highlighted as a typical means of colonial bias useful for the promotion of preconceived colonial schemes of disastrous consequences for the targeted nations.

In the case of the Oromos, the Abyssinians by usurping the Fair Name of Ethiopia tried to diffuse a historical forgery according to which Oromos and Amharas would be one people, just fake ´Ethiopians´ who speak Amharic and believe the anti-Christian, Monophysitic heresy of the Abyssinian Church. This would trigger the extermination of the Oromo Nation. It is a clear, merciless and inhuman, intention to perpetrate a Genocide.

In the case of the Aramaeans, the English and the French missionaries diffused historical falsehood among Araamaeans, who seeking protection against their own state (either the Ottoman Empire or the Safevid / Qadjar Iran) rejected their denomination to either become Catholic or adhered to Anglican Christianity. More specifically, the Anglican missionaries convinced those who adhered to their version of Christianity that they were not Aramaeans but descendents of the (extinct before 2600 years) Assyrians, and these Aramaeans started being indoctrinated with the forgery that their national identity was ´Assyrian´. The Catholic missionaries convinced those who accepted the Roman Pope´s primacy that they were not Aramaeans but Chaldaeans, who according to later, 20th century Assyriology were proven to be just one of the Ancient Aramaean tribes. The result was the current trichotomy of the already decimated by Sassanid Persian Shahs and various Islamic Caliphs Aramaeans, into Aramaeans, ´Chaldaeans´ and ´Assyrians´.

Oromos, Scots, and Tibetans

The Aramaeans are just one example of how Oromo interconnection with other colonially targeted nations can help deeper understanding and trigger cooperation. The Kosovars, the Turkmens of Iraq, the Baluchis of Iran and Pakistan, the Tibetans and the Turkic peoples of China, the Catalans and the Basks of Spain, the Corsicans of France and the Loris of Iran are other brethren of the Oromos in the Long and Holy Path of the National Independence.

One can enumerate many more peoples about whom the Oromos must first study and with whom they must ultimately cooperate at the international level. Who could be the Kushitic Oromos´ best ally if not the Scots, who have lost their national independence before 300 years, but preserved their hope, and are today very close to their ultimate goal?

In our world, with so many small nations still living under deplorable conditions of inhuman totalitarianism and dehumanizing deprivation, there are plenty of immoral politicians, diplomats and statesmen who deny independence to small nations just because they are small. Scotland gives the best answer to this incredible pledge.

In the Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April 1320, which was submitted to the Pope of Rome by a delegation of Scottish noblesse, as a means to proclaim the Independence of Scotland as a sovereign state, it was stated that even if only 100 Scots were left in life, they would never accept to be under English rule!

Economic viability is not an issue for the authors of the text, namely two Scottish priests. The Ideal of Independence is highly portrayed in the text through examples from the – known through the Bible only at those days – 2nd millennium Antiquity, namely the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. It is to say few thousands of people, or even more markedly, as we said, 100 people suffice to shape an independent state!

That´s how Oromos and Anuak, Sidamas and Bejas, Iraqi Turkmens and Tibetans, Kosovars and Catalans will gain a lot through their interconnection with the Scots and all the nations that strive for National Independence.

And how great it would be, if some Oromo Elders traveled abroad to meet with the Dalai Lama, discuss similarities and parallels between Waqefanna and Buddhism, and envision the great perspectives of the Afro-Asiatic brethren, the Oromos and the Tibetans!

Note

Picture: Traditional Oromo Leather Shield; today´s best shield for the Oromos is interconnection with other nations striving for Independence.
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Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

Ethiopians caught between army and rebels

By Barry Malone

OGADEN, Ethiopia, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Mariam Qorana had worried about getting caught between the Ethiopian army and separatist rebels even before a bullet flew through the wall of her hut and hit her below her right breast 10 days ago.

"I was afraid," says the mother of 10, struggling to speak to foreign journalists who have arrived at her bedside in the remote Gode Hospital in Ethiopia's Ogaden region.

The 24-year-old low-level insurgency in the vast, ethnically Somali area flared in April, when Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels killed 74 people at a Chinese-run oil field and warned foreign companies not to invest.

Ethiopia responded with a swift offensive, and accused the ONLF of being "terrorists" sponsored by arch-foe Eritrea. Both sides accuse each other of human rights abuses, which both deny.

Qorana has no idea which side shot at her hut.

Taking journalists -- accompanied by government minders -- on the first tour of the region since the flare-up, the Ethiopian government says the conflict is over, development is on the rise and Ogaden is tasting real peace.

"The situation is very calm now. We have completely destroyed [the ONLF]," Regional President Abdullahi Hassan told journalists on the recent trip.

The ONLF denies that, and there is little doubt armed conflict and suffering have not gone away.

Zelalem Eshetu, the doctor treating Mariam at Gode Hospital, said he has admitted 12 people with gunshot wounds in the last three months, mostly civilians.

Aid groups have said the fighting is blocking vital trade routes and creating refugees and that as a result of conflict and bouts of flooding and drought, some 953,000 people need aid.

Around the hospital, several women sit cradling their severely malnourished children. Reporters crowd around one two-year-old whose emaciated face stirs memories of the 1984 famine that briefly brought Ethiopia world attention.

Under international pressure, the government last year licensed 19 groups to work in the region and let the United Nations open three relief offices.

'I HATE THEM BOTH'

The government took journalists to irrigation projects, dams, roads under construction and nomad settlement projects. Development officials are enthusiastic in explaining their work.

But many locals say development has been hampered by fighting and that the vital trade in animals is still affected.

At the Gode animal market, nomadic herders, the majority of the Ogaden's population, arrive to trade goats, sheep and camels, many having travelled long distances on foot.

Those interviewed through official interpreters say there are no problems, prices haven't risen in the last year, trade routes have not been blocked and they've seen no fighting.

But one young man walks close to the group and whispers that he speaks English.

"Business is very difficult for us," he told Reuters. "Because there is fighting between the government and the ONLF we can't move our animals. We are stuck."

He starts to walk backwards, his eyes darting around the watching faces in the crowd.

"Government soldiers are here," he says. "And people who talk are thrown in prison or killed."

These fears are repeated right across the sandswept region whenever people are approached by foreigners or catch sight of the ever-watchful government guides, one of whom wears a hat bearing the slogan "Our dreams, our future."

In Dega Habur town, men sit lazily chewing narcotic khat leaves in the searing afternoon sun, while soldiers armed with AK-47s stroll around, some also chewing the drug.

"My sister was raped by three government soldiers," says an old woman who refuses to give her name. "They burned her village and she had to run far away."

The government is not the only source of fear. Locals say the ONLF steals food and forces people to fight by killing those who refuse. Elders in the regional capital, Jijiga, blame the ONLF for assassinations and regular grenade attacks in town.

"They slaughter livestock, burn farmland and make people miserable," says Salub Abdallah Mohammed, a 50-year-old elder.

At Gode Hospital, a young man who has come to visit his sister is in no doubt who is to blame for the Ogaden's plight.

"I hate them both," he said, refusing to give his name. "The government and the ONLF. They should take their fighting far into the desert and continue with it until they are both gone. Then we can stop being frightened."

Reuters