Another Tactic of the Colonizer: Attack on Oromummaa through Religion

May 5, 2012 at 7:46 pm · Gadaa.com

By Ibsaa Guutama*

Most Muslims in the empire are Oromo. For this reason, the raised issue concerns the Oromo more. Faith is ones own. Nobody who tried to impose faith on another by force had ever been fully successful. If not the corpse, it is impossible to control the spirit of someone. For instance, there was long ago a king of Abyssinia called Yohannis 4th. He threatened Northern Oromo people that he would cut the tongue with which they made azan (summon to prayer) unless they changed their faith to his type of Christianity. Some obeyed, some lost their tongues, and others fled the country. Yohannis got his head cut off for that sin. But, the faith is still flourishing in the same area.

It is the birthright for peoples to conduct their faith in the way they see fit. No one has the right or the ability to say one faith is better than the other. There are no world religions that are not divided into independent groups. For example, Christianity is split into Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran etc. Islam is also split into Shiite, Sunni etc. All have many independent sects. All make effort to increase their membership by all means. To reveal truth of their faith to people and attract believers is their business. It should not be the concern of the state. The role of the state is to safeguard human rights. It is not to pit one societal group against the others for its own advantage. In a multi-religious society, unless the role of state and faith are separated, there is a possibility of bringing unexpected catastrophe. That is why secularism becomes indispensable.

The Ethiopian empire had for long embraced one religion and suppressed others. The state and the religion belonged to one nation. That became the reason for several movements. Among them was the great demonstration of April 1974 that extended from Anwar Mosque in Markaatoo to the Parliament and was staged by Muslims in Finfinnee. Though many demands were made the major one was the demand for equality and to have roles in the country’s affairs. The force that came out in solidarity from other groups was no less than that of the Muslims. With that, it was realized that the support for justice and equality superseded all other differences claimed. To cool down the rage that was manifested, Islamic holidays were declared public holidays. The Imam of the Mosque was also made to sit on state occasions on equal level with the Patriarch. The remaining grievances later started to explode in different ways causing revolutionary whirlwind.

Though some advantages are given underhand for the traditional religion, there is no more officially declared ‘state religion.’ But, attack on Oromo religions had continued. Their agents were dispatched camouflaged as faith cadres to dissuade the youth not to fight against injustice. The earlier issued license for Waaqeffannaa was revoked. Next, they tried to create conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jimmaa and Gumaa areas. Now, they are threatening Muslims with terrorism, unless they embrace a sect they assigned them. Just like Yohannis 4th.

Each citizen has human rights to be respected for him/her. It is also his/her duty to uphold the constitution and laws proclaimed by their legitimate representatives. Whoever is in any religious group, he/she is individually responsible for breaking the laws, not collectively as a group. Therefore, to search for openings or to collect hearsay and interfere in others’ faith has other motives than the alleged incriminating religious issue.

Oromiyaa is a country of believers. It is the right of Oromo society to prophesy any religion in group or individually. If it wills, it should not be forbidden to choose from any Christian, Islam, Waaqeffannaa etc. sects or to believe in nothing. To try such a measure would only be taken as aiming to mess up peace of the region. So far, the Oromo people had never been accused of extremism in any form. That is their permanent character. They are peace loving people that do not invite problems, but only asks the recognition of its birth rights as a people. It prefers dialog rather than violence.

Now the government that has controlled the Habashaa power is instigating Oromo individuals and groups to be violent. However, it will not be successful. People who claim Gadaa culture cannot idly sit and clap their hands when a kin is brutalized for ones conscience. It is only the society that can discipline or pass judgment for competition within its religious groups. If a group tries to do injustice to another group or to undermine the honor, identity and unity of the nation, it knows that it cannot escape the wrath to come. It is up to individuals in religious or other groups to be careful not to transgress the laws. Oromo movements should not be judged by international ones. On this, they do not need the present government in power to lecture them.

Several campaigns were conducted against Oromiyaa since the present government came to power. Its merchants are denied equal accesses of competitions for market benefits. They have brought persons from outside and settled on its land. They have evicted farmers in mass and sold expansive tract of their fertile lands to transnational investors. They are polluting its rivers and soil with poisonous chemicals. With that, people, domestic animals and the natural environment are being destroyed. Education, health services and different benefits that could have been gained are all being crippled. The present campaign against a faith cannot be viewed separately. It is its continuation, a war taken to higher level.

The Oromo should not wait and see until this campaign on one of its religions advance to others. It has seen when yesterday they designated the vanguard of its struggle OLF as a terrorist and took the pretext to harass persons peacefully living in their homes. Though OLF is a secular organization, its members are from all regions and religions of Oromiyaa. They have one common kaayyoo, heroes and country. Its objective is to reestablish an independent Oromiyaa and a free people. The Oromo enemy knows this and has devised several schemes to sabotage the liberation struggle. This will not be its final trial, it will look what it thinks are weak links and put pressure to break it.

For this reason, all must wake up and stand guard for rights of their entire people. Some say that followers of Islam will not be less than half of the Oromo population. To aim at such a huge number should not be seen as different from aiming at the whole population. For this reason, it is essential to be vigilant and defend against the agents they have infused into the society. The blood of our nationals that spilled recently will not weaken our struggle, but rather it will strengthen it more. It is imperative to get prepared and defend against imprisonment and killings that could be carried out in all corners of Oromiyaa, be it for reasons told presently or by creating new ones. All the martyrs are Oromo heroes; with their blood, Bilisummaa shall flourish not fade.

Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our fore parents!

* Ibsaa Guutama is a member of the generation that drew the first Political program of the OLF

Source: Gubirmans.com

Ethiopia expels 2 Arabs amid tension with Muslims

By Kirubel Tadesse
Associated Press / May 5, 2012

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Ethiopia's government has expelled two Arabs who flew in from the Middle East after the pair went to a mosque and tried to incite violence, an official said Saturday.

The two men visited Addis Ababa's Grand Anwar Mosque on Friday and disseminated materials and made inflammatory statements, said Shimeles Kemal, state minister of communications.

"The Ethiopian government found them to be persona non grata and they were immediately deported," he said. The men's nationalities were not made public.

The deportations come one week after security forces arrested a Muslim religious leader in the Oromia region accused of radical statements. A group of Muslims tried to free the imam and clashed with police. Four of the demonstrators were killed and 10 police were wounded, Shimeles said.

"A number of suspects are in police custody. The elders in the community there have helped contain the situation and it remains peaceful since the incident," Shimeles added.

The country's Federal Ministry on Thursday issued a statement accusing the unnamed group of trying to declare jihad against the government and incite violence in a number of mosques across the country. The statement said a dozen suspects were recruited by the group from the country’s Oromia, Tigray and Amhara regions to carry out illegal activities are now in police custody.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on April 17 told the country's parliament that a few Salafis formed clandestine al-Qaida cells in the Arsi and Bale zones of the country's southeastern region and are trying "to erode the age-old tradition of tolerance between traditional Sufi Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia."

Ethiopia borders Somalia, where al-Shabab militants have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida.

More than half of Ethiopians are Christian. About a third are Muslim.

 

Source Alleges Group-7 in Canada to Lay the Groundwork for Takeover of OSFNA by Ethiopian Sports Federation

May 4, 2012 at 8:33 am · Gadaa.com

According to EthioMedia, a delegate of Group-7 (the recently created “new OLF”) will hold a meeting with its Ethiopian fans in the capital city of Canada, Ottawa, over the weekend (May 5, 2012).

Part of the mission of the delegation of Group-7 to Ottawa, Canada, according to an unconfirmed source from Toronto, is to lay the groundwork for the takeover of the Oromo Sports Federation in North America (OSFNA) by an Ethiopian Sports Federation. According to this source, OSFNA had been deliberately weakened and made irrelevant over the last three years – attracting less and less number of people each year – as “part and parcel” of the ultimate alleged takeover of OSFNA by an Ethiopian Sports Federation.

Gadaa.com has contacted OSFNA management to verify if the above serious allegations are being undertaken with OSFNA’s knowledge; Gadaa.com will post OSFNA’s response as soon as it becomes available. The source in Toronto said “OSFNA management has no knowledge of the takeover plan for OSFNA,” but it had changed its traditional dates of the tournament from end of July to beginning of July (to be specific, June 30 – July 7, 2012).

It’s to be noted that it was only a group of 7 individuals, who conspired, without the knowledge of the larger OLF-J group, to change the Kaayyoo of the Oromo struggle on January 1, 2012 (WBO’s Day) with an announcement at Kelly Inn in St. Paul, Minnesota. That a similar decision could be made regarding the OSFNA takeover, without OSFNA’s knowledge, can not be ruled out.

In the recent The Washington Post story, a representative of Group-7, Obbo Taha Tuko, had expressed dissatisfaction with the existence of “youth groups for Oromo college students, Oromo cultural festivals and Oromo Singles, a dating Web site.” The change, being advocated by Group-7, is coming, not only to the politics of the Oromo, but also the daily life of the Oromo: “This could mean big changes and small, both in politics and daily life,” (The Washington Post)

OSFNA – the Past, Current and Future
According to OSFNA’s website, OSFNA was founded in 1996 – with the first tournament held in Toronto, Canada; the participating teams were Rissa of Minnesota, Madaa Walabuu of Seattle, Oromia of Toronto, Odaa of Scarborough, Barisaa of Atlanta, Georgia, and Bakalcha of Ottawa, Canada. Over the last 16 years, OSFNA has become the reflection of Oromo society in the Diaspora (exile) – attracting all Oromos, regardless of religion, region and political beliefs.

One observer, who was asked by Gadaa.com about the serious allegations of OSFNA takeover, said, “OSFNA is a people’s organization; the Oromo community all over the world, especially, in North America, must save this organization from humiliation and collapse now. I have faith in the OSFNA management that they will not allow any takeover of OSFNA by an outside group.”

OSFNA, in addition to holding the annual soccer tournament, is also a venue for the major Oromo community events of the year, such as family and friends get-togethers, a pageant show, music shows by major Oromo artists as well as civic meetings by Oromo political organizations and the Oromo Studies Association (OSA). Moreover, a number of vendors come out to the OSFNA soccer field to sell their goods and services to the festival attendants. In short, OSFNA holds a paramount place in the Oromo life, and arguably, the only place in the world where Oromummaa is celebrated in freedom with the attendance of thousands of festival goers. The alleged takeover of OSFNA by any group that does not represent Oromummaa will have a devastating effect on the Oromo nation.

Hunger and hope in Ethiopia

In parts of this vast country, fields are dry and people are without food. But it's not like the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands died of starvation. Today, intervention efforts have led to success

 

By Don Cayo, Vancouver Sun May 5, 2012

 

Four years ago, when hardly anyone outside this region was even noticing the serious food crisis developing in the Horn of Africa, hunger was already stalking the dry valley floor just outside the boundaries of this southern Ethiopian town.
Cattle died. Husbands left their wives and boys left their fathers to try to find work in the towns. Whole families fled to new lives of urban poverty.
Today, the climate instability underlying the ever-present threat of famine has grown worse.
Rainfall is less and less predictable, and more and more likely to come at the wrong time. In many parts of this vast country of 83 million, fields grow only thistles, which at least slow soil erosion until - maybe - enough rain comes to make it worthwhile to plant something the people and their animals will be able to eat.
Yet on the outskirts of Kutcha today, hunger - that once-frequent visitor - is just a memory.
Despite hard times all around them, eating well has never been so easy for more than 200 families descended from the peasants who were coerced or forced to resettle here 30 years ago by the Derg, Ethiopia's hard-line Communist government of the day. What was then dense jungle, populated by dangerous predators and disease-bearing parasites, has been transformed into what is, by the standards of Ethiopia's challenging geography, a new Eden.
What happened to turn things around so completely?
The short answer is small-scale irrigation. A longer answer, which requires some context, is that food aid has done its magic in this little corner of a country where, in any given year, up to 20 million people - more than one citizen in every four - can't grow or buy enough to eat.
Food aid today involves much more than the old stereotype of throwing grain sacks from the back of trucks, explains Jim Cornelius, the Winnipeg-based head of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, who led a tour of five Canadian journalists to food-challenged areas of this chronically hungry land.
The most recent food aid program in this part of southern Ethiopia may be more dramatically successful than those in most other places, but how it unfolded is typical. It started four years ago as a government-sanctioned, Foodgrains Bank-funded, locally run make-work program that exchanges food - usually big sacks of maize - for labour on community projects.
A big gang of workers - in this case, 260 of them - were identified by their neighbours as members of the most needy families in the community. They were equipped with rudimentary tools and set to work diverting some of the flow from a nearby river to 65 hectares of flat, fertile land that had never been occupied because, without irrigation, it was too dry to farm.
The result?
In an area where once people grew only nourishing but not very lucrative maize - and in the drier years not much of that - they can now experiment with tasty new cash crops as diverse as peppers, beans, onions, and more.
Soon, when recent plantings mature, they'll also have bananas to truck to market - a big money-maker for those few who can grow them in this difficult climate.

Already, a farmer named Abera has gone from one of the poorest in his community to the envy of his neighbours: he made 1,000 birr ($60) from one crop of peppers alone.
His combined earnings from this and his other irrigated crops have bought him a team of oxen as well as good food and new clothes for his family. He had 80 birr to spare to contribute to improvements at the community's school.
Most others who participated in the project have been just as successful - and just as generous in their support of the school, which is a priority for Ethiopian parents.
"We are tired of living on aid from others," said another farmer, named Philemon. "We want to live on our own production."

Read more:http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Hunger+hope+Ethiopia/6572140/story.html

Oromia-Ethiopia: No Right Without Popular Might!

May 4, 2012 at 6:39 pm · Gadaa.com
  
Press release by: United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa (ULFO).

 The TPLF-led regime of Ethiopia has demonstrated yet again its barbaric action in massacring in a broad daylight peaceful prayers at a mosque, in Oromiyaa. On April 27, 2012, in the southeastern region of Oromiyaa, in Asaasaa town, forces of the regime went on rampage and terrorized prayers at a local mosque in the town. Various reliable media sources reported that the TPLF forces had indiscriminately fired on prayers killing 10, wounding 60, and arresting and taking over 100 people to unknown location. The United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa (ULFO) is outraged by the callous act of the regime. The ULFO condemns the TPLF regime that has orchestrated and perpetrated such a crime against humanity in all stern terms possible and holds the regime accountable for its heinous crime.

Just as usual, to hide its sinister actions, the regime is spreading its crafted stories regarding the cause of the Asaasaa incident. However, the fact remains that the incident is a making of the regime. The TPLF.s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, who is notoriously known for concocting pretexts to conveniently target his prey, in his briefing to the rubber stamp parliament two weeks ago, alleged that there are Al Qaeda cells in Arsii and Baalee . in the area where the incident coincidently occurred. His briefing report is totally unfounded. It is a farfetched fiction. This fiction is a common lucrative currency that Meles Zenawi has been using all along to trade for political support from western governments and arm his state machinery that is continuously quashing potential enemies of his regime.

Meles Zenawi’s regime had to use the “discovery of Al Qaeda” in the area as a basis for launching the attack on innocent people. Among the ones his forces killed are a 6-year old boy and an elderly in his 70s. Did they really happen to be members of the Al Qaeda cells he is referring to? Not by a long shot. The only crime of the victims of the Asaasaa incident was that they attempted to protect their Imam who the police had humiliated, tortured, and arrested just because he happened to be not the Imam of the regime’s choice. The people of Asaasaa collectively opposed the unjust treatment and the flagrant human rights violation of a religious leader of their community. This stand made them the enemy of the regime. At the moment, the all out enemy of Melles’s regime are the likes of the people of Asaasaa across Oromiyaa, in particular and the Ethiopian empire at large, who stand up for their rights and resist the tyrannical rule of his regime. With his regime edging to descend to the dust bin of history, Meles Zenawi is desperately unearthing any means that prolong the lifespan of his regime. One such survival means he chose to toy with is the card of instigating religious conflicts. In the past, his regime attempted sparking conflicts between followers of two religions (Christianity and Islam) that have peacefully thrived side by side for over a millennium. Lately, his regime has been meddling and creating undue tensions among followers of different Muslim sects and denominations of Christian faith. All this scheming is merely to buy time for his despised regime. By pitting people of different faith and/or ethnic groups with one another, he is hoping to divide and destruct them from collectively standing against his dictatorial rule.

The Asaasaa incident may be presented to appear isolated. However, that is not the case. The incident epitomizes the grand design of the TPLF regime. The design is to impose the Muslim sect of its choice, Al-Ahbaash, on the Muslim community with the aim of creating division among them. Through its political cadres/agents armed with both guns and the teaching of the .newfound version of Islam., the regime is frantically imposing the teaching of the Al-Ahbash sect all across Muslim communities. Imams are forcibly indoctrinated with this version of Islam and ordered to teach it to their mosque prayers. Those who accept the order will thrive and others will face the merciless retribution – the kind that the peaceful people of Asaassa encountered on that fateful Friday.

It is such an outrageous state intrusion in the faith of ordinary citizens that has presently caused the uproar all across the Muslim communities in the Ethiopian empire. Given the track record of the regime, the ULFO is deeply concerned that the likes of Asaasaa incident could reoccur. The Muslim community will justifiably continue rejecting the forced indoctrination of new sect presented to them like a cocktail. On the other hand, to fulfill its agenda, the regime appears to be bent on implementing this bizarre project of “faith planting” in a country that is not hungry for belief systems but food, education, human rights, freedom, and social and economic development. The ensuing clash between the people and the regime would undoubtedly worsen the down spiraling and deepening crisis in the country.

As stated earlier, the prime agenda of the regime is to stay in power by any means necessary. On the other hand, the people of Oromiyaa have no choice but to stand together and struggle for their inalienable rights, human rights, democratic rights, freedom of religion etc. No right is respected where there is no popular might – the power of people. Therefore, the ULFO urges the people of Oromiyaa to transcend all superficial divides imposed on them and remain united as a people with the same destiny against the fascist regime of Meles Zenawi. We remind all to be mindful and watchful of pitfalls the regime is dragging our people into in order to arrest the liberation movement of the Oromo nation.

The ULFO appeals to the international community and the western powers to duly see into and help restrain the unbridled crime the regime of Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia is committing against the Oromo people. In light of the current crisis that is besieging his regime, Meles Zenawi could desperately unleash his forces for rampant killing of people who voice for their rights. We urge all who have a stake in the security of the region not to remain acquiescent with the usual reckless actions of his regime.

Oromiyaa shall be free!!!

Unity is strength!!!

The United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa

South African Cabinet minister dies while visiting Ethiopia

By Associated Press, Published: May 5

 

JOHANNESBURG — A South African Cabinet minister died while attending an African Union meeting in Ethiopia, South Africa’s president said Saturday.

In a statement Saturday, President Jacob Zuma did not give a cause of death for Roy Padayachie, 62, who died Friday in the Ethiopian capital, where the AU is headquartered.

“No amount of words can express this loss that the government and people of South Africa feel,” Zuma said.

Padayachie had been moved from minister of communications to minister for public service and administration in October in a Cabinet shuffle that became necessary after other ministers were caught up in corruption scandals.

Zuma’s governing African National Congress called Padayachie a veteran member “whose life was defined by his continued activism and his work amongst the poorest of our communities.”

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s main opposition party, praised Padayachie’s leadership of the public service ministry, which oversees government workers. The Democratic Alliance said Padayachie’s work “demonstrated his commitment to service delivery excellence.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/south-african-cabinet-minister-dies-while-visiting-ethiopia/2012/05/05/gIQA95o02T_story.html 

 

Meddling in the Affairs of the Oromo Is Not the Way Forward

May 3, 2012 at 1:13 am · Gadaa.com

 Before we raise the purpose of this brief reminder, let us make clear its premises.

The overriding objective of the Oromo people’s struggle for freedom is to bring back the dignity and liberty that our nation lost before 125 years. Nothing less, nothing more. The army of Menilik, supported by some western nations, is to blame for this horrible act of subjugation.

The benefits of this subjugation is being harvested by different groups of minority Abyssinian ruling elites over the last 125 years. To sustain this subjugation, the Abyssinian ruling elites have been killing, imprisoning and looting the Oromos; they have undertaken an act of acculturation that has humiliated our nation. And above all, they tried to persistently weaken the resistance struggle by dividing the Oromos. This last issue is the point of our focus. The Abyssinian ruling elites know well that nothing will stand in the face of united Oromos. 

read more http://gadaa.com/oduu/13609/2012/05/03/meddling-in-the-affairs-of-the-oromo-is-not-the-way-forward/