Justice for the Oromo People. Ethiopia's Under Reported Conflict

Justice for the Oromo: Ethiopia’s under Reported problem

Summary

The Oromos who despite their numerical superiority (approximately more than 35% of the total population in the Ethiopian empire alone), and contributing the lion-share in terms of foreign exchange earnings and domestic consumption, are to the present day reduced to a minority in the economic and political status by successive Ethiopian regimes. Not only they were denied of economic and political powers, their culture and language were also banned and replaced by the Abyssinian culture and language. Those Oromo nationalists who opposed to the injustice against their nation were murdered in broad-day light; many thousands more thrown into jail with life behind bars, hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their country and took refugee around the globe. Extra-judicial killings, torture, disappearance and displacement of Oromos have always been on the rise under successive Ethiopian regimes for the last one hundred years. If there would be prizes that would be given for which regime killed, tortured, and imprisoned more Oromos, each successive Ethiopian regime could have taken the worst regime award by the Oromos. It is estimated that there are about five hundred thousands Oromo political refugees who are scattered around the world including Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Eritrea, the Sudan, and the Middle East. Of these, few of them were re-settled in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Since it took its current shape and form at the beginning of the 20th century by incorporating independent nations like the Oromos and people in the south of the empire with the help of major European powers, Ethiopia has been a big prison house for nations and nationalities that lived within its borders. Of all the nationalities that reside within the border of current Ethiopia, the Oromos have been at the receiving end of the major atrocities and the human rights violations committed by all the Abyssinian rulers. The mistreatment of the Oromos in the hands of the Abyssinian rulers can only be compared to the injustice the majority Black South Africans endured during the Apartheid era.

The main purpose of this paper is to high-light the humiliation, the killings, torture, etc the Oromos have endured for the last one hundred years in the Ethiopian empire state. Also, the paper tries to demonstrate how the current Ethiopian state was formed, and how, despite testing challenges, both external and internal, that the Oromo people struggle for freedom and justice is gaining momentum.

Introduction

The Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa, also known as north east Africa is a vast geographical area that includes Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, and the Sudan. It is also believed to be as the origin of civilization, where there has been the peaceful co-existence of the two major world religions (Christianity & Islam) for over thousands of years. Recent archaeological findings regarding the origin of modern human species point to the Horn as being the birth place of the first sophisticated modern man like species who used tools and had both physical and biological characteristics similar to modern man.

The countries of the Horn have never experienced durable peace either within their boundaries or with one another. There were countless wars and conflicts among these nations as recently as the year 2008. The recent conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea (1998 – 2000), Ethiopia and Somalia (1975 – 1977), Kenya & Somalia, Eritrea & Djibouti, Sudan & Eritrea, etc) are good examples.

Currently, there is an open war between Ethiopia and the different Somali forces who are trying to oust the invading Ethiopian army from Somalia. Ethiopia and Somalia have fought each other at different times over territorial claims which were the result of colonial legacy. However, what makes the current war between Ethiopian and Somalia different from the previous wars are the use of “terrorism” and the “war on terror” as a pre-text by the Meles regime to destroy its opponents, the Oromos and the Ogaden liberation forces. The current Ethiopian regime is like many of the authoritarian dictators who jumped on the band wagon of war on terror after the September 11, attacks on the United States, and exploited the George W. Bush’s “you are with us or with the terrorists” rhetoric to their own advantage to suppress internal dissent. Therefore, the current war the Ethiopian regime is conducting in Somalia is not due to the threats the Islamic government posed to its national security as claimed by the regime, but to crush the Ogaden and the Oromo liberation forces, who are fighting the regime for freedom of their respective constituencies. The Second reason the Meles regime invaded Somalia in the year 2006 was also to continue receiving millions of dollars in financial and military aid from the United States and Europe, which his regime is using to fund the internal war with the Oromo and Ogaden people. Many international observers and human rights organizations have labelled the atrocities that have been committed by the Ethiopians in Somalia since the latest war as genocide.

The absence of peace in the region can be attributed largely to two main factors. The first being the artificial state configuration left behind by Europeans colonial legacy and, the second being, its proximity (geo-political) to the oil rich region of the Middle East, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

Like many countries in the continent, countries of the Horn have always been at war with the people they claim to be their own who are within their boundaries. This is mainly due to the lack or absence of good governance and the legacy of European colonialism which placed people of different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds into one or more geographical territories. In other words, the many civil wars in the continent are partly the product of colonial legacy which separated the same ethnic groups or nations into two or more geographical administration. These problems can only be resolved by dismantling the artificial state boundaries, and then empowering these people to claim their lost history and identity by establishing their own separate states. The internal war between the Northern and Southern Sudan, the Ethiopian and Eritrean war (pre-1991), the conflicts between Ethiopia & the Oromos, the Ogaden, and the Issa’s and the Afar people in Djibouti are some of the few good examples worth mentioning here.

The second factor, the geo-political factor has a huge impact for the destabilization of the region. The proximity of the area to the oil rich regions of the world and the opening of the Suez Canal as a simple trade route to the Indian Ocean and beyond attracted opposing super powers for control of the region. This has been the case between the Soviet Union and the USA & its allies including Israel during the Cold war (1945 – 1990), and now between China, political Islam and the West. Gadaa Melbaa (1980: pp126) describes the Horn of Africa as follows:
“The Horn of Africa, because of its geo-politics and strategic location at the crossroads to Africa and Asia and proximity to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean sea lanes, has been considered vital to the interest of super-powers. As a result, the Horn has been the scene of confrontations, diplomatic manoeuvring, and conquest ……among the big powers of the day all vying for its control. The Portuguese, Turks, Egyptians, Italians, French, British and lately the United States and the Soviet Union have competed to dominate or maintain their influence directly or indirectly in the area.”

European Colonial policies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America & the Ethiopian Colonial policies & Practices in Oromia.
To understand the nature of Ethiopian colonialization in Oromia, and why it has managed to survive to the present day, it is very crucial to understand and explain the three colonial practices used by the Europeans in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This will enable us to understand and untangle the brutal and inhumane practices of Abyssinians colonial rule over Oromia and the southern people which have taken place over a century a go.

Europeans championed three types of rules in their former colonies in order to maintain control of their new found territories and plunder and exploit their natural resources. These three practices of European colonialism in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were: indirect and direct rules, and settler rules policies. While the British practiced indirect rule as a way of administering the new territories, the French, Germans, Belgians, and the Portuguese, on the other hand ruled through indirect system of administration. The British system of colonial administration was guided and implemented on the simple logic of incorporating the traditional local structure or part of into the colonial administrative structure. Championed by Frederick Lugard (High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria 1899 – 1906), “indirect rule” was a system whereby external, military, and tax control was operated by the British, while most every other aspect of life was left to local kings or chiefs who sided or collaborated with the colonizers. Morris & Read in their essay titled “Indirect rule and the search for justice: essays in East African legal history”(1972) describe “indirect rule” as follows: “indirect rule is based on two postulates only one of which is self-evident. First, if you are going to administer territory acquired through military conquest, you must have the assistance of local collaborators whose function is to exercise day-to-day control over the inhabitants. Secondly, if you want to exploit the wealth of the conquered territory you must not only ensure your access to the labour and resources of its people, but you must at the same time prevent them from developing the consciousness and the technical skills necessary to end their own exploitation”.

On the other hand, the French, Germans, Belgians, and the Portuguese ruled their colonies by resorting to direct and assimilative policy, where the local chiefs or kings were deprived of their traditional ruling status and reduced to taking and implementing orders from the new colonial rulers.

The third and final system of Europeans colonial rule in Africa and elsewhere was known as the “settler rule”, where a significant number of immigrants from Europe were settled in these new colonies with special political and economic powers at the expense of the local indigenous population. The settler rule is known for its harsh and inhumane policies towards the local population. The apartheid era in South Africa was a recent memory. This mode of rule was more evident, particularly in Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North America including Canada, and Latin America. The point here is that Abyssinians ruler’s one after the other adopted the above mentioned European colonial policies in order to maintain their grip on the colonized people of the Oromo to the present day.

All successive Ethiopian colonial rulers deployed and employed all the three colonial practices in Oromia, which they always labelled it reunification. This assertion distorted and hidden the suffering and exploitation of the Oromo people under alien Abyssinian rule.
They often justified their grip on Oromia and other peoples by producing biased and false written documents by the Orthodox Church and some Europeans, who at the very beginning supported them with the forceful annexation of the Oromo land. However, the truth is that the Oromos and the southern people were never part of the present Ethiopia before the beginning of the 20th century. After the arrival of the Abyssinians, the Oromos and other southern people were stripped of their independent existence and reduced to a second class status, which can only be compared to the manner in which black South African were treated during the era of Apartheid. Gadaa(1988) states that “ to hide the true nature of their empire and to create justification for its existence, Abyssinian rulers and historians and their foreign collaborators described the process of Abyssinian colonization as reunification…..the uniqueness of Ethiopia in the continent is widely acclaimed. It is presented and accepted as the only country in Africa, which withstood European colonialism and maintained its independence for thousands of years”.

The Formation of the Ethiopian Empire, 1870 – 1900.

The present geographical contour of the Ethiopian state came into existence at the end of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. With the introduction of guns to the area by Europeans, Emperor Menelik managed to change the balance of power in his favour and brought the areas inhabited and governed by the Oromos and beyond under his imperial control between 1870 – 1900, which the Oromos and the southern people rightfully label as colonization and, the Abyssinians and their European collaborators call reunification.

Prior to this period, there was no sovereign country or nation state called Ethiopia with defined geographical boundaries and state structure similar to the present one. The then “Ethiopia” rather refers to a generic name given to peoples of a burned-face or black people that inhabited a geographical area to the south of Egypt, generally known as North East Africa and beyond by the Greeks. During their rule of Egypt, the Greeks, for the first time came into contact with people of a different colour from their own skin and gave them the name Aithiops” – meaning the land of the people of the burned face or the black people, without referring to any geographical territory. According to (Gadaa,1988) and (Ibssa,2003) the geographical area or land the Greeks were referring to as Ethiopia were all the lands lying to the south of Egypt or North East Africa, in the absence of any real geographical knowledge, and the people, imaginary or real, became known as Ethiopians. Associating the name Ethiopia with current Ethiopia appeared when for the first time the Bible was translated from the ancient Greeks to Geez – the then official language of the Abyssinians and the then Aksumite empire, who treated both “Abyssinia” and “Ethiopia” as one and the same. The effort by the Abyssinian clergies to claim and adopt the name “Ethiopia” for “Abyssinia” and vice versa in their chronicles was not a mere accident but it was a cleverly designed move to claim all the history that belonged to all the black people that existed beyond the south of Egypt. By doing so they claimed the “biblical references and historical heritages of ancient Ethiopia” Gadaa Melba in his book Oromia: an introduction to the history of the Oromo People (1988), has said the following on how Abyssinians exploited the term “Ethiopia” to their own advantage:
“Even though Abyssinia and Ethiopia were never one and the same, several historians and geographers fell into the traps laid by the Abyssinian monks and rulers and used Abyssinia and Ethiopia interchangeably until the two became synonymous and finally the latter replaced the former. It is this usage of Ethiopia for Abyssinia that gave rise to the Ethiopian ruler’s claims that Ethiopia, as a country and under their rule, existed in Biblical times and also to the historical myth that it maintained its independence for over 3000 years. On the basis of this myth, which the Abyssinian historians and clergy and their European supporters presented as a true story, they justified their colonization of the Oromo and other peoples. More than anything else it is this substitution of Ethiopia for Abyssinia that led the colonized peoples such as the Oromos to reject the term Ethiopian when applied to them”
This period was marked as the period when the then European powers (Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy) under the agreement reached at the Berlin conference, known as the treaty for “the scramble for Africa” (1884/85), declared their intention to colonize Africa in search of cheap labour and material resources for their growing industrialisation. Describing the historical formation of Ethiopia, Ibssa & Holcomb (990) argue that “Ethiopia is the name that was eventually given to the geographic unit created when Abyssinia, a cluster of small kingdoms in northeast Africa, expanded in the mid-1800s by conquering independent nations in the region using firearms provided by European powers”.

Who are the Oromos?

The Oromos are the single most dominant national group in Ethiopia and in the Horn of Africa, who share the same social and psychological makeup, speak the same language, and practiced the same culture and religion. Before the arrival of the Abyssinians, their mode of life was guided by the gada principle of administering themselves - a system of governance where leaders are elected into public office every eight years irrespective of wealth, status, or affiliation, but only on the basis of merit and leadership qualities. In Oromo Gada system, all men are grouped on the basis of age and genealogical generation where everyone in the group will be trained in different skills such as animal husbandry, the art of war and leadership. One has to go through the five gada stages which take 40 years to complete the cycle of eight calendar-year periods. This would enable a given Gada group to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to be in leadership role. Edmond J.Keller in his article “The Ethnogenesis of the Oromo nation and its implications for politics in Ethiopia, (The Journal of Modern African Studies, 33, 4 1995, pp.624) describes the Gada system as follows: “at any one time, there existed five Gada parties or generation groups, and once in the system it took each 40 years to complete the cycle of eight calendar-year periods. At each stage the members were educated in Oromo history, military strategy, law, and governance. Every eight years they moved from one Gada level to the next, and a nine-member presidium entering the highest was elected on the basis of adult male suffrage”. For Oromos, one can only be elected into office when he reaches 40 years of age, widely believed as the stage where one can exercise wisdom and mature leadership.

Before the introduction of Christianity and Islam into the area, the Oromos had one religion known as Waqaa (God). Since their incorporation to the Ethiopian empire, however, they were forced to embrace the culture, language, and religion of the Amhara ruling class. Despite their numerical superiority and advanced system of governance, they were treated as a minority in the economic and political status of the empire by successive Abyssinian rulers.
An accurate population figure for Ethiopia is hard to obtain and often available data that exists is misleading for the mere reason that the governments of the day exploit population figures for their political gain. All Ethiopian regimes distorted and presented the population figure of the country to hide the superiority in numbers of Oromos. According to the 1996/97 Population and Housing Census, the projected population of the oromia region was estimated at 25,098,000 in 2004, accounting for over 35 percent of the population of the empire. This demonstrates that they (the Oromos) are the largest ethno-national group not only in Ethiopia but in the Horn of Africa as a whole. Their homeland Oromia (Biyya Oromo) borders Abyssinia in the north, Ogaden and Somalia in the East & south-East, Sudan to the West and Kenya in the South (Bulcha, 1994). Despite having superiority in numbers and being the backbone of the empire’s overall economy, they remain the most marginalised majority who are reduced to a minority status in political, economic and social structures of the state, whilst their language, culture and history has been suppressed and underdeveloped.

On the other hand, prior to their forceful incorporation into the Ethiopian empire, there was not much love lost between the Oromos and their Abyssinians neighbours, who fought each other for more territory and dominance. According to many Oromos scholars, this constant war between the Oromos and the Abyssinians that were fought for many decades could not have allowed either of the two to have a total control over the other. However, the arrival of Europeans with modern guns, in search of resources from the continent during the “scramble for Africa” (1884/85) has changed the balance of power in favour of the then the Shaw king named Menlelik, who was able to defeat his enemies (the Oromos) and expand south. Bonnie K. and Sisai Ibssa (1990) summarized the historical situations of the time as follows:
“Ethiopia is the name that was eventually given to the geographic unit when Abyssinia, a cluster of small kingdoms in northeast Africa, expanded in the mid-1800s by conquering independent nations in the region using firearms provided by European powers. Having occupied the rest of Africa, they clashed over occupation of the region that was strategic due to its location near the recently opened Suez Canal and the headwaters of the Blue Nile. The solution to this conflict was to encourage, up to certain limits, the expansionist ambitions of the leaders of various Abyssinian kingdoms, then to establish a collective agreement among themselves to recognize and assist the resultant entity as dependent colonial empire, claiming that an ancient “neutral” sovereign state existed there. Such a defence became the basis for the mythology of ‘Greater Ethiopia”.

Language

The Oromo’s speak and share one common language known as Oromiffa or Afaan Oromo. Their language (Afaan Oromo) is categorized as a Cushitic language, similar to that of the ancient Nubians, and it shares a common vocabulary and grammar with Afar, Sidama, Somali and other Cushitic languages. According to Gadaa (1988) it is the third most widely spoken language in Africa, after Arabic and Hausa. It is also a lingua Franca in the whole of Ethiopian empire except the northern part.

Religion

The Oromos practice three major religions, namely Christianity, Islam, and Waqaa or God – a traditional Oromo religion, which was once the dominant religion before Islam and Christianity were introduced into the area. Gadaa (1988) defines the traditional Oromo religion as follows: “The Oromo Waaqa (God) is one and the same for all men. He is the creator of everything, source of all life, omnipresent, infinite, and incomprehensible, he can do and undo anything, he is pure, intolerant of injustice, crime, sin, and falsehood.”

Land

Oromia or biyya oromo is approximately located between 2 degree and 12 degree N and between 34 degree and 44 degree E. The land area is about 600 000 square kilometres. The physical geography of Oromia is quite varied. It varies from rugged mountain ranges in the centre and north to flat grassland in most of the lowlands of the west, east and south. Among the many mountain ranges are the Karra in Arsi (4340 m), Baatu in Baaie (4307 m), Enkelo in Arsi (4300 m), Mui'ataa in Hararge (3392m) and Baddaa Roggee in Shawa(3350m ). Similarly, there are many rivers and lakes in Oromia. Many of the rivers flow westwards into either the Blue Nile or the White Nile, and others flow eastwards to Somalia and Afar land. Among the large rivers are the Abbaya (the Nile), Hawas (Awash), Gannaallee, Waabee, Dhidheessa, Gibe and Baaroo. For the peoples of Egypt, the Sudan and Somalia, life would be impossible without these rivers. They carry millions of tons of rich soil to Egypt, the Sudan and Somalia every year. (Source: Oromo Liberation Front, 2008).
The bulk of agricultural and grazing land in the Ethiopian Empire is located in Oromia. According to estimates, 80% of Ethiopia’s foreign exchange earnings are derived from the Oromo region. Such produce includes coffee (60%), hides, skins, pulses and oil seeds. Oromia is also known for its rich mineral deposits such as gold, platinum, nickel, tantalum, iron ore, marble, bauxites, and many other minerals. It’s the sources of major rivers and lakes and the country is dependent on these rivers and lakes for its energy supplies (OLF, 1999). It is ironic, however, that a people with the economic power house of the empire are denied a meaningful role in the political and economic sphere of the empire. They are also denied the right to develop their own language and culture and forced to learn the Amhara language and culture. Many prominent Oromo leaders and political groups argue that the Oromos are the victims of their own resources. Gadaa (1988) describes the brutal experiences of the Oromo people under Ethiopian colonization in the following way: “In spite of all these advantage, a century of colonization by Abyssinia (Ethiopia), a backward nation itself, has meant that the Oromo people have endured a stagnant existence where ignorance and famine have been coupled with ruthless oppression, subjugation, exploitation and above all, extermination.”
Emperor Menelik 1889 – 1913 – was the first Abyssinian king to conquer the Oromo land and territories in the south with the help of Europeans. Immediately following the annexation of the Oromo areas, Menelik placed his war generals in powers in charge of administering these newly acquired territories, and decreed all lands and its resources including the people inhabiting them as the sole property of his new empire. All of Oromo land was appropriated and divided to the new chiefs and the foot soldiers. He officially declared that any one who kills an Oromo can not be prosecuted. As a result of this decree, all those who refused to accept Menlik as their leader were killed. A campaign of denying Oromos future leaders and future generation were unleashed, which resulted in the death of around five million Oromos.Gadaa(1988) & Ibsaa Guutama(2003). If Menelik was alive today, he could be the first Abyssinian king that could have faced the International Criminal Cout of Justice. Menlik did not only receive guns to subjugate the Oromo, but he also divided the vast Oromo land into eleven different administrative regions to divide and rule. He also re-instated those Oromos who collaborated and accepted his hegemony in some lower state structure of the state.
Emperor Haile Selassie (1916 – 1974) also intensified his predecessor’s policy of treating Oromos as subjects and consolidated a more centralised power in the centre or direct rule, and gave extra powers to the settlers who moved, removed and displaced local Oromo people from their locality at will. Although Menelik used some Oromo collaborators as chief administrators in some of the Oromo areas, Haile Sellassie replaced all Oromo rulers with Amhara ethnic groups and intensified the oppression and exclusion of Oromos in any affairs including their own local issues. Menelik might take much of the credit for expanding the realm of the Empire, but it was Haile Selassie who aggressively implemented many of Menelik’s policies. Amharic, the language of the ruling class and Orthodox Christianity was declared the only official language and religion of the empire. Oromos were told that their culture and language were inferior to the Amhara culture and language, and were told to be ashamed of their own culture, language and history.

The military junta (also known as the Derg) 1974 – 1991 took power through a military coup by disposing Emperor Haile Selassie. The Ethiopian student’s movements of the 1960s, and the revolt of the Ethiopian masses aided by the great famine of the 1970s, brought the downfall of the imperial rule of Haile Selassie in September of 1973/74. At the time, there were no legally recognised and organized political parties in the empire that were capable of filling the power vacuum due to the sudden collapse of the imperial regime. The military junta manipulated the situation to its own advantage and then ushered to power as the transitional military government. The junta then promised to stay in power until such a period when the government of the people by the people could be elected through free and fair elections. While in their early days, the military rulers addressed some fundamental questions of the student movements and the peasantry, such as abolishing landlordism and acknowledging the existence of two categories of “Ethiopians” (the citizens and the subjects), the “Citizens being the Abyssinian ruling class and the “subjects” –the colonized peoples like the Oromo and others. The military junta was the first Ethiopian regime to admit that the so called modern Ethiopia was an empire that was built by colonizing independent states like the Oromo and others. This recognition of Ethiopia as an empire allowed them to enjoy popular support, particularly from the Oromo masses and some progressive sections of the Ethiopian society. However, after consolidating power, they reneged on their early promise of handing back the power to elected bodies and decided to rule the empire the same old way as their predecessors. The banning of political parties and broken promises led to confrontations between the military, the political parties, and the ethnic based political parties. This and other factors gave the military junta a green light to eliminate all its opponents under the campaign known as the “red terror”, which consumed tens of thousands of lives. There was no official figure on how many bright, innocent people were killed and tortured during this period, but the estimates are in tens of thousands. The Oromos were no exemptions to this terror campaign, and as a result many Oromo intellectuals and nationalists, who thought the rights of the Oromos might be respected by the military, were caught unguarded and some faced extra-judicial killings, while others who survived were tortured and sentenced to life behind bars. Oromo farmers were forced to form farm cooperatives and were required to pay taxes to the state for nothing in return, while their sons and daughters were forcefully recruited to a military that used as human fodder against mines in the war between Ethiopia and Somalia (1982 – 1984), and the war with the Eritrean Liberation Front. These and other factors convinced few Oromo nationalists to form a clandestine organization that paved the way for the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 1973. The OLF is the first pan-Oromo organization that mapped the future state of Oromia that shall be formed by dismantling the Ethiopian empire structure using both political and armed struggle.

The Formation of the Oromo Nationalism

With the arrival of the Abyssinians in their country, the Oromos were reduced to second class citizens in a way that can only be compared to the treatment that Black South Africans received during the Apartheid era. Their culture, language, and history were labelled as backward, banned and replaced by the Amhara language, culture, and history. Their resources been exploited at the will of the new masters with no or little regard to its owners. They were prosecuted for demanding their rights to the ownership of their country Oromia and its resources respected. The mistreatment of the Oromo at the hands of the Amharas had a profound effect upon them, and according to Edmond Keller (1995) this was the main factor for “the sharpening of their sense of ethnic identity.” It was this mistreatment that is continuing to the present day which has given rise to the development of Oromo nationalism. Describing why Ethiopian colonialism continued to the present day, Gadaa Melba (1980) argues that, Ethiopian colonialism continued in the colonies not because of her superior military and political power but because of the support she enjoys from foreign forces, mainly the United States and Western Europe. To put it In the author’s own words:

“The process of decolonization that started nearly half a century a go in Africa, Asia and Latin America concluded in the independence of the colonized territories from their European rulers. On the contrary, Ethiopia continues rule over her colonies with continuous material, political and military support from foreign forces. No where in history a colonizer gave up its colonies peacefully and Ethiopia is can not be different.”

Why it took so long for the development of Oromo nationalism?

The relationship between Oromos and the Abyssinians, even before their conquest by the latter has been based on continuous conflicts and wars. Describing the relationship between the Oromos and the Abyssinians prior to the 20th century, Asafa Jalata (1993) argues that “Oromos and Ethiopians fought one another between the 16th century and the last decades of the 19th century, with neither able to impose colonial establishment over the other.” As indicated by Edmond Keller (1995) that sporadic local revolts and uprisings were endemic throughout the period of Ethiopian colonialism in areas such as Azebo-Raya during 1928-30 by the Wollo Oromos and in Bale during 1964-70, where an organized form of Oromo nationalist movement did not take place until the first half of the 1960s. Of the several factors that were impeding the development of Oromo nationalism were; 1) the divide rule policies of the Abyssinians (who divided the huge Oromo land into separate administrative areas); 2) the settlement of alien population among the Oromo villages and hamlets (settler rule); 3) the death of prominent Oromo leaders in the hands of the new rulers; 4) the displacement of Oromos from their own land and being made landless; 5) the replacement of Oromo language, religion, and culture by the Amhara language, religion, and culture. Last but not least is the deprivation of Oromo children to formal education.

The first and exciting indication of the growing momentum of Oromo nationalism was ushered in when, for the first time the “Mecha-Tullema Self-Help Association” established in 1963 with the aim to promote education and revive the language and culture of the Oromo in all Oromo areas. This Association and its leaders were embraced by millions and the formation of the organization was quickly spread by the word of mouth through out the vast Oromo land. The association was headed by a famous Oromo nationalist named General Tadesse Biru, who was also the head of the Ethiopian Police and the army. According to Asafa (1998) the mecha-Tullema Self_Help association had two major objectives:
Firstly, “the establishment of schools and health clinics and the construction of roads in Oromo regions, and secondly, the construction of churches and mosques for Christian and Muslim believers. The first set of objectives was designed to improve the welfare the Oromo people, and the second designed to mobilize the Oromo toward a common goal by challenging the Ethiopian colonial policy of divide and rule on the bases of region and religion.”

Within a short period of time, this Association managed to bring all Oromos of different region and religion together, which sent a shockwave to the Amhara ruling elites who decided to destroy it before the movement “engulfs” the empire. And as a result its leaders were thrown into prison in 1967. The banning of the Association and other Oromo groups convinced other Oromo nationalists to continue their struggle in a clandestine form. This led to the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) -a pan-Oromo movement.

Although the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was the brain child of the Mecha-Tullema Self-Help Association and other Oromo organisations, its original founders and leaders were a mix of Oromo University students of the 1960s and some of the Mecha-Tullama Asscoiation, who escaped from authorities. It should be noted that it was in the 1960s that anti-colonial movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were formed and intensified. It was also during this period that famous human rights movement and the demand for equal treatment of blacks in the USA and around the world reached its climax. It was also during this period that these educated and nationalist Oromo students formed the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is the independent Oromo organization that for first time clearly articulated the demands and aspirations of the Oromo People. At the top of the list of demands and aspirations of the Oromo people, the OLF declared that the relationship between the Ethiopian empire and the Oromo people since 1900 was based on that of a colonizer and the colonized. Therefore, this relationship can only be altered by dismantling the existing empire structure and establishing a free and democratic republic of Oromia. In other words, it defined Ethiopia as an empire state that must be dismantled. Such programme or policy of the OLF clearly stipulated how such a goal of dismantling the empire can be achieved, that is, through armed and political struggle. This revolutionary stand of the OLF enabled it to be embraced and revered by the majority of the Oromo people and caused panic among the enemy camps (the Abyssinians) and protectors of the empire state. Every available tool since was used to destroy the OLF by the successive Ethiopian rulers, but the OLF still remains the dominant and revered organization of the Oromos among the hearts and minds of the Oromo people.

Oromia under TPLF Rule, 1991- In the last one hundred years since Ethiopia took its current shape, by incorporating independent people like the Oromos; power has never been transferred from one regime to the other peacefully. All regime changes occurred in a bloody and violent manner. Immediately after the death of Menelik, Haile Selassie ascended to power by violently disposing of his opponents’ and the apparent heirs (emperor Taitu and her son Liji Iyasu). The military junta seized power in 1974 by disposing the imperial regime through a violent means. In Ethiopia, ascending to power always involved chaos, violence and the loss of life, where the group with the most guns overthrows the incumbent and begins the same journey of maintaining the empire. The only difference that distinguishes all of the Ethiopian regimes, past and present was the degree of violence and brutality they use of to cling to power against the subjugated people like the Oromo’s.

It should also be noted that there were so called elections in the empire from the period of Menelik to as late as the year 2005. Like many African countries, in Ethiopia, all elections that were conducted have not brought changes of governments. They were rather sham elections which the results were all pre-determined and decided by those who were already in power. The so called democratic elections that were held in Ethiopia can be described as a periodic exercise either to appease their foreign backers or legitimatise their illegitimate administration as if they were voted into office by the public. However, these elections, although branded as democratic, are mired with fraud and violence, where the aspirations of the masses to have a voice in forming their own governments are ignored and the same old dictators remain in power. The tragedy about elections in Africa (except few Southern African states) is that they not only involves the abuse of citizen’s rights but also the abuse and misuse of the meagre resources of the country that could be allocated to more dire aspects of the social, economic, and educational sectors of those countries.

Meles Zenawi, 1991- as far as the Oromos are concerned, the uneasy, and most often violent and conflict based relationship between them and the Abyssinian (for over the past one hundred years) turned for the worst under the current regime of Meles Zenawi’s government. Many Oromos compare the regime of Meles Zenawi, who rules their homeland with impunity with that of the Musharaf of Pakistan. Like Musharaf, Meles used the war on terror as a disguise to kill and imprison Oromos under the watchful eyes of Western governments. Rather than condemning and demanding respect for human rights violations, the regime has been continuously rewarded with military and economic aid worth billions of dollars over the last 17 years from major donors and western powers.

According to the 2007 Oromia Support Group ( OSG) report - a non political organisation which attempts to raise awareness of human rights abuses in Ethiopia, between the year 1992 – 2007, 3981 extra-judicial killings and 943 disappearances of civilians suspected of supporting groups opposing the government. Most of these have been Oromo people. Hundreds of thousands were driven to into exile for fear of arrest and imprisonment, torture, killing by Ethiopian government’s security forces. However, this blatant mistreatment of the Oromos in the hands of the minority government of Meles Zenawi has received little or no attention from the Western democratic governments, except the human rights organizations such as the Human rights Watch, Amnesty International, who documented large scale of human rights violations of the Oromos by the Meles regime. It is ironic that western governments and their media outlets did not report much about the Oromo issue. Lots of reasons can be given why the Oromo issue did not received much media coverage. Among the many reasons, western countries and their media outlets are only interested in a region or a place where their geographic and economic interests are under threat. The second factor is that western governments and their media only pay attention to conflicts and human right abuses after much blood-shed has taken place or the regime they support is under threat. Commenting on why the abuses of the Oromo as conducted by the Ethiopian governments have not received much media coverage, P.T.W. Baxter (1978) puts it this way:
“the difficulties that Ethiopia has been enduring in the Horn have received fairly full news coverage, ….but the efflorescence of feelings of common nationhood and aspirations for self-determination among the cluster of peoples who speak Oromo has not been much commented upon. Yet the problem of the Oromo people has been a major and central one in the Ethiopian empire ever since it was created by Minilik in the last two decades of the nineteen century. If the Oromo people only obtain a portion of the freedoms which they seek then the balance of political power in Ethiopia will be completely altered.”

The current regime of Meles Zenawi is from a minority Tigre Ethnic group who form5% of the total Ethiopian population. The Tigre ethnic group were also the junior partners with Menelik during the conquest of the Oromo land by the Amharas under Menlik. Unlike its predecessors, who practised the assimilationist colonial policy in Oromia (the French and Portuguese colonial policy in Africa), the current regime resorted to the indirect-rule (British colonial policy in Africa, Asia) using the surrogacy of an Oromo speaking organization called OPDO (Oromo People Democratic Organization). Using these Oromo speaking collaborators, the regime declared war on the Oromo population who are against his rule and resorted to the assassination of known business men and women, intellectuals, and university students. Mass arrest, kidnappings, extra-judicial killings, and torture of the Oromos reached its climax under the present rule of the TPLF minority government. The current regime reversed the direct and settler rule policies of its predecessors with that of “indirect rule” policies where local Oromo speaking individuals are used not only to bring Oromos under strict control, but also to exploit their resources at will.
Arundhati Roy, a famous Indian writer and human rights campaigner, explaining what constitute a” genocide” once said “genocide” is not only putting people into camps and gassing them but, it is also a “genocide when authorities deliberately deny or cut resources from people and let them die a slow death”.

Her comments were made in relation to the ongoing conflict between the Maoist’s insurgency and the Indian government, where the government supported the local militia and allowed them to kill sympathizers of the insurgent at their will by shooting or denying them access to food and shelter. The Other side of India: Dateline: SBS TV, July 23rd, 2008)
Between 1992 – 1994, in one military camp called Dedessa alone, over 20,000 Oromos were rounded up for being sympathisers and supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front and held in inhumane conditions without any food or adequate medical facilities. Unknown numbers of those held died of poor health and starvation. There are three more such military facilities in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Oromia, where unknown numbers of innocent people and sympathisers of the Oromo Liberation Front were incarcerated. In May of this year, in Western Oromia alone, four hundred innocent Oromos were killed or burned alive in their homes by a governments sponsored militia. Since early November, 2008, according to the Oromia Support Group (OSG) report, under the disguise of “war on terror” more than ninety four Oromo business men and women, intellectuals and university students were rounded up and taken to the notorious central investigation prison. All of them were arrested under the pretext of supporting the OLF and planning to carry out terrorist activities.

The regime of Meles Zenawi is using mass imprisonments, torture, assassinations, and deprivations of access to basic necessities, like farm in-puts and other goods necessary for survival as a weapon against the entire Oromo population. This regime is committing out these atrocities under the cover of “war on terror” and “terrorism” against the Oromos, which according to Arundhati Roy’s and many Oromos can and should be labelled as genocide and crime against humanity.








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Sorenson, John. History and identity in the horn of Africa. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic publishers; 1992; 17: 227-252.