Monday 28 July 2014

ስበር ዜና ጅዳ ሳውዲ አረቢያ ህክምና ላይ የሚገኙት የአቶ በረከት ስሞኦን የጤነት ሁኔታ እያነጋገር ነው።

bereketእሁድ ከአዲስ አበባ አንድ የጦር ሃይሎች ሆስፒታል ዶ/ር አስከትለው በሼክ አላሙዲን የግል አይሮፕላን እኩለለሊት ጅዳ ስውዲ አረቢያ ለህክምና በሚስጠር እደገቡ የሚነገርላቸው አቶ በረከት ስሞኦን በተለምዶ ብግሻን እይተባለ የሚጠራ አንድ ሪፈራል ሆስፒታል ውስጥ የልቡ ደም ቧንቧ ለማስፋት የተደረገላቸው መሆኑን ከሳውዲ አየር መንገድ ምንጮቻችን ለማረጋገጥ ተችሏል ። የመንግስት ባለስልጣኑ ጤንነት በአሁኑ ሰዓት በመልካም ሁኔታ ላይ እንደሚገኝ የሚገልጹት እንዚህ ምንጮች ዛሬ ጠዋት ከመካ የዒድ አል ፈጠር የፀሎት ስረአት ባሃላ ሼክ አላሙዲን በስልክ እንዳነጋገሯቸው ይናገራሉ። አቶ በረከት ስመኦን ለህክምና ወደ ሳውዲ አረቢያ በድብቅ መምጣታቸውን የሚናገሩ እንዚህ የሳውዲ የአየር መገድ ምሲጥራዊ መረጃዎች ባለስልጣኑ በአሁኑ ሰዓት ጅዳ ሆስፒታል መተኛታቸው በተለያዩ የዜና ማስራጫዎች በመዛመቱ ህክምናቸውን በተረጋጋ ሁኔታ ሳይጨርሱ ወደ ሃገር ሊመለሱ እንድሚቸል ገልጸዋል።

እስካሁን የመንግስት መገኛኛ ብዙሃን በኚህ ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ባለስልጣን ዙሪያ ምንም ያሉት ነገር አለመኖሩን የሚናገሩ አንዳንድ ወገኖች የአቶ በረከት ስሞን ተደብቆ እንድተራ ሰው ጅዳ ሳውዲ አረቢያ ሆስፒታል ለህክምና መግባት ምናልባተም ለደህንነታቸው ሲባል የተወስደ እርምጃ ሳይሆን እንደማይቀር ይገምታሉ። ጅዳ ብግሻን ሪፈራል ሆስፒታል 4 ፎቅ ከበሽታቸው በማገገም ላይ እንደሚገኙ የሚነገረው አቶ በረከት ፍጹም መረጋጋት እንደማይታይባቸው የሚያመለክቱ መረጃዎች የባለስልጣኑ የደም ግፊት አለመስተካከል በልባቸው ላይ የሚያሳድረው ተጸኖ ወደፊት ለከፍተኛ የጤና መታወክ ሊዳርጋቸው እንደሚቸል ገልጸዋል ።

በሼክ አላሙዲን የግል አይሮፕላን ተደብቀው ለህክምና ትላንት ለሊት ሳውዲ ጃዳ ስለገቡት ከፍተኛ የመንግስት ባለስልጣን አቶ በረከት ስሞኦን በጅዳ የኢትዮጵያ ቆንስላ ጽ/ቤት ሆነ በሪያድ የኢትዮጵያ ኤንባሲ ዲፕሎማቶች ምንም የሚያቁት ነገር እንደሌለ ለማረጋጋጥ ተችሏል። አቶ በረከት አንድ ሴት ልጃቸውን እና ሚስታቸውን አስከትለው መምጣቸውን የሚናገሩ የአየር መንገዱ ምንጮቻችን ባለስልጣኑ በተረጋጋ ህክምና ላይ አለመሆናቸውን በተጨባጭ ማረጋገጥ ተችሏል ። ይህ በዚህ እንዳለ በአሁን ሠዓት መካ ፀሎት ላይ የሚገኙት ሼክ አላሙዲን ማምሻውን እኚህን የመንግስት ባለስልጣን ይጓበኞቻዋል ተብሎ ይጠበቃል። በአቶ በረከት ዙሪያ የሚደርሱንን አዳዲስ ተጨማሪ መረጃዎች እይተከታተለን የምናቀርብ መሆኑንን እናስታውቃለን ።
Ethiopian Hagere ጅዳ በዋዲ

Saturday 19 July 2014

Ethiopia: Drop Case Against Bloggers, Journalists.

hrw
(Nairobi, July 19, 2014) – The Ethiopian government should immediately drop politically motivated charges brought against 10 bloggers and journalists on July 17, 2014, under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law, Human RightsWatch said today.

The Ethiopian authorities arrested six of the bloggers and three journalists on April 25 and 26. They have been detained in Maekelawi, the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector in Addis Ababa. The court charged the nine with having links to banned opposition groups and trying to violently overthrow the government, local media reported. A tenth blogger, who was not in Ethiopia at the time of the arrests, was charged in absentia.

“Ethiopia’s courts are making a mockery of their own judicial system,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Hiding behind an abusive anti-terrorism law to prosecute bloggers and journalists doing their job is an affront to the constitution and international protection for free expression.”

The charges are part of an intensified crackdown in Ethiopia in recent months against perceived political opponents, Human Rights Watch said.

The six bloggers in custody are Atnaf Berahane, Befekadu Hailu, Abel Wabela, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnael Feleke, and Zelalem Kibret. Soliana Shimeles was charged in absentia. The three journalists are Tesfalem Waldyes, Edom Kassaye, and Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, an editor at weekly magazine Addis Guday.

The bloggers are part of a blogging collective known as Zone 9, which provides commentary on current events in Ethiopia. Zone 9 is the section of Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa where many political prisoners are held. The Zone 9 group had stopped blogging in February after security officials harassed the group and questioned them about their work and alleged links to political opposition parties and human rights organizations.

Zone 9 announced on Facebook on April 23 that they would resume blogging, and on April 25 and 26 the six bloggers were arrested. They were detained for over 80 days without charge, and remain in custody. Their lawyer, Ameha Mekonnen, has had only sporadic access to them, and family members were not allowed to meet with them until July 9. The lawyer plans to bring a civil suit about irregularities in the legal process, media reports said.

The bloggers and journalists are accused of connections to Ginbot 7 and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), two of five organizations designated as terrorist organizations in 2011 by the House of Federation, the Ethiopian parliament. Human Rights Watch has not yet obtained the charge sheets, but credible media reports say that the bloggers and journalists are alleged to have taken directions from Ginbot 7 and OLF, planning and organizing terrorist acts, and agreeing to overthrow the government through force.

Judge Tareke Alemayehu was reported in the media saying that the group “took training in how to make explosives and planned to train others,” accusing them of plotting “to destabilize the nation” and using blogging as a cover for “clandestine” activities.

Human Rights Watch and other organizations have repeatedly raised concerns about Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law’s overly broad definition of “terrorist acts” and provisions on support for terrorism. Its vague prohibition of “moral support” for terrorism has been used to convict a number of journalists. Since 2011, at least 11 journalists, and possibly many more, have been convicted for their journalistic activities, even though the Ethiopian constitution and international law protect media freedom.

Three of the Zone 9 bloggers were outside of Ethiopia when their colleagues were arrested. According to media reports, one of these, Soliana Shimeles, was charged in absentia with coordinating foreign relations for the group and coordinating digital security training with “Security in-a-box”, a publicly available training tool used by advocates and human rights defenders. Human Rights Watch has documented how the Ethiopian government monitors email and telephone communications, often using information unlawfully collected, without a warrant, during interrogations.

“The fact that bloggers used digital security isn’t terrorism but common sense, especially in a repressive environment like Ethiopia,” Lefkow said. “The government should drop these charges and immediately release these nine journalists and bloggers, as well as others who have been wrongfully prosecuted under the anti-terrorism law.”

Others caught up in the government’s recent crackdown are four opposition leaders affiliated with political parties – Yeshewas Asefa of the Blue Party, Abraha Desta of the Arena Tigray party, and Daniel Shibeshi and Habtamu Ayalew of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party. They were arrested on July 8, 2014, accused of providing support to terrorist groups, media reports said. They are scheduled to appear in court on August 14.

On June 23 or 24, Andargachew Tsige, a British citizen and secretary-general of Ginbot 7, was deported to Ethiopia from Yemen while in transit, in violation of international law prohibitions against sending someone to a country where they are likely to face torture or other mistreatment. He had twice been sentenced to death in absentia for his involvement with Ginbot 7. His whereabouts in Ethiopia are unknown. He has been detained for more than three weeks without access to family members, legal counsel, or UK consular officials, in violation of Ethiopian and international law.
Source: Human Rights Watch

Thursday 17 July 2014

The need for Oromo nationalists’ unity to end the colonial occupation of Oromiyaa.

Since the late 19th century the Oromo people have been under Ethiopian colonial occupation, domination, and exploitation. This means, our people have been suffering a century of humiliation and exploitation. It began with Goban Daaccee’s treason in his collaboration with Menelik II in his conquest of Oromiyaa that stretched to the present day OPDO’s collaboration with Meles Zenawi and his the fascist Tigrayan regime of TPLF to maintain Menelik II’s colonial empire. Having created the OPDO, the TPLF has institutionalized a client-patron relationship in Oromiyaa through political and economic devices. Since its creation, the OPDO has been fighting local battles- political and military for its patron. In the prison cells in Oromiyaa, the TPLF has built methods of human destructiveness. It is here, the torturers, concentration camp guards, and death squad members have been undertaking series of brutalizing acts against their Oromo victims to dehumanize them before killing them. The unity of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is the first step in the struggle to end this colonial occupation and its crimes.
The unity of the OLF factions that announced on 28th of June 2014 in Berlin, Germany has ended the split of 2001 that weakened the struggle for independence of our beloved nation. Now, the unity has surely ushered a new beginning in the struggle; it planted a seed of hope in the nation and set in motion the ray of light to shine over Oromiyaa in the struggle for independence. In this unity, the Oromo see a great hope- a hope for a re-birth of new Oromiyaa. As it is oftentimes said, the journey of a thousand mile begins with one step and so the unity of the OLF factions is the first step in the journey to independence. Now, it is time for all the Oromo nationalists to join this unity and take the struggle forward. Here, we must understand that nobody can bring freedom, liberty, justice, peace, and liberation to Oromiyaa but ourselves. So, we either move forward toward unity for the independence of Oromiyaa or we move apart and leave Oromiyaa under the colonial occupation. In this unity, the OLF choose the first one. The second option is a choice of defeatist and cowardice. Defeatism and cowardly are enmity to the Oromo struggle for liberation and independence. Politics of empire federalization is a politics of defeatism and cowardice. In this struggle of national liberation, it is time for the Oromo nationalists to speak with one voice; to stand up together, to unite and fight together against the enemy of Oromiyaa and the Oromo people. If we fail to unite, history will condemn us and it will not absolve us forever.
We are in a people’s war for independence. People’s war means a war against colonial occupation, alien domination and exploitation. In order to win a people’s war, it is imperative to build the broadest possible unity which will ensure the fullest mobilization of the broad masses as well as the unity of all the forces that can be united against colonial occupation. In its unity in Berlin, Germany, the OLF has set a great example. Now, this is the right time for the other Oromo nationalists to follow suit. Unity is strength. And strength lies in unity. Hence, it must be clear that strength lies not in number, but in unity. For instance, our population is sufficiently large in number to repel the forces of colonization, but we could not repel it because we did not turn that large population into organization, into a unity. Hence because of unorganized state of the Oromo population that the Abyssinians colonized Oromiyaa; maintained colonial occupation over it, ruled, dominated, and exploited its people-the Oromo people. It must be clear to us that under present condition of our struggle, we can neither be received nor heard nor listened to by the international community unless we are united and organized into a mighty force to change the balance of force in the struggle. For this, the Anti-TPLF national unity must embrace all the anti-colonial Oromo nationals. It is the unity of those Oromo nationals who share a common interest in fighting Ethiopian colonial regime- an interest that forms the basis of our unity. It must be clear that our fight targets the colonial State machinery- including its bureaucracy, its army, its security, its police force, its judiciary and its modern means of communication. The unity is based on Kaayyoo/objective –the establishment of a free, independent sovereign Democratic Republic of Oromiyaa and in the firmness in fighting the TPLF colonial regime.
It must be understood that our people have been facing the enemy they have never seen or faced before. It is the most savage and vicious enemy. It is the enemy that has engaged in a deliberate and willful strategized physical mass extermination of the Oromo people. It is an enemy that has been and is mowing down the Oromo workers, peasants, students, women and children, and intellectuals, businessmen and women with cruelty. It has brought upon our people untold horrors and sufferings and plundering and plaguing of resources. Along with these, it has been and still is accelerating the destruction of environment, soil, water, air, flora and fauna affecting all the fundamental conditions of life in Oromiyaa. It is, therefore, crystal clear today the Tigrayan regime of TPLF has presented a clear and present danger to the future of Oromiyaa and its people. This has to be combated. For this, it is incumbent upon the Oromo nationalists to unite and fight against this enemy. In this fight, we must promise to ourselves and to the world community that neither we, nor our people will ever reconcile with such a mortal enemy.
In the face of such enemy, the principal form of the Oromo struggle is armed struggle combined where possible with peaceful means. However, as we have seen time and again, the enemy has made peaceful political activities impossible for the Oromo people and has deprived them of all political freedom and democratic rights. For this, the armed struggle remains the only viable means for the colonized people to bring the enemy to its knees.
History shows that when confronted by ruthless colonialist aggression and its monstrous crimes, nationals must hold aloft the national banner and, using the weapon of the unity, rally around itself the masses and the patriotic and anti-colonial people of a country’s population, so as to mobilize all positive factors, unite with all the forces that can be united and isolate to the maximum the common enemy of the whole nation. It is time to uphold national banner-independence from colonial occupation.
Without a people’s army, the people have nothing to defend themselves against. For this, we have to build and strengthen the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Every Oromo nationals must join the fighting against the colonial army. It is only the war of national liberation that can end the colonial war. The colonial war reduces the colonized nation to a subject status and to humiliation. It attacks on collective pride, collective identity and collective and individual will of a colonized people. It is only the war of national liberation that changes such situation. Hence, in a colonized country such as Oromiyaa, the liberation army, the civilian population, men and women, old and young must fight; every single village in the country must fight. For this, the entire Oromo society has to be mobilized to throw off the colonial force, to deny its movement inside Oromiyaa, and to denounce its policies and actions through writing and public denouncement.
Oromo have no friends. For this, in this war of liberation struggle we have to rely mainly on our own efforts. Our struggle is based on self-reliance. For this, we depend on our own efforts, on our own resources, on the creative power of the Oromo liberation army and the entire Oromo nation. The Oromo people are a great, heroic people. They do not pin their hopes on the lackeys of the colonial regime for liberation and independence. The time has come to recognize the false prophets of federalization of empire- those the leaders of disunity, rattle shaking, and the political unfit leaders with split tongues. Empire federalization is an ideology of neutralization of the Oromo nationalists and the Oromo people. It is time for those Oromo nationals who have been misled never to walk again in the dishonorable footsteps of those preachers of empire federalization or empire democratization or with whatever their mask is labeled with, for to walk on such dishonorable footsteps of those preachers would be to dishonor the memories of fallen Oromo heroes and heroines in this war of national liberation.
On the contrary, ours is an ideology of liberation, freedom, nationalism, independence, liberty, peace and justice originated in the Oromo Gada socio-political and economic system- a universal model. With these, it must be borne in mind that being a colonized nation, the Oromo people have an inalienable right to self-determination to be independent from Ethiopian empire. To this effect, ours is a war of national liberation. War of national liberation is politico-military assertion of right to self-determination. This right of nation to self-determination has been a political, legal and fundamental basic human rights guaranteed to all colonized peoples by the UN Charter. In this struggle of ours for national liberation, we are guided by national pride and our glorious history.
All in all, our people have the courage, patience, perseverance, and political will to shoulder the heavy burden of combating and scoring glorious victory over the TPLF- the most ferocious enemy of our people. The time has long overdue to end its narcissistic insatiable desire for colonial domination, humiliation and exploitation of the colonized people. With our unity, this fascist TPLF regime will finally be burned to ashes in the blazing fires of the people’s wars of national liberation.
Oromia Shall BE Free!

Why Ethiopia’s Oromo Are Angry At KTN.


With my Cameraman Eric Okoth covering OLF rebels in Southern Ethiopia in 2009
With my Cameraman Eric Okoth covering OLF rebels in Southern Ethiopia in 2009
July 16, 2014 (Scribles by Yassin ) — The arrest of foreign assassins after serial killings and terror attacks in a frontier town like Garissa at a time when Kenya is facing a myriad of insecurity incidents has indeed all the characters of a “juicy” story that would sell good for any journalist.
And that is exactly what one Kenya based correspondent for the Chinese state news agency Xinhua realised. But only to realize later that he had made a major blander in asserting who the suspected assassins were angering Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo nation.
Monday, July 14, 2014, NAIROBI (Xinhua) — The Kenyan police said Sunday they have arrested five key suspects behind a spate of insecurity which has rocked the northern Kenya, particularly Garissa town, scarred by previous terrorist attacks.
Detectives have also released identities of the serial killers who have claimed five lives within two months. Regional Criminal Investigation Department commander Musa Yego told Xinhua that the police are interrogating three Ethiopians and two Kenyans in the last two days with regards to bomb and grenade attacks in Garissa town.
“We are happy that we have made a breakthrough to unravel unexplained killings that have thrown our town into security scare in the last two months,” Yego said.
“Among those arrested are three Ethiopian suspected to be from the Somali region (Ethiopia), while two others were Kenyans, a taxi driver and a landlord,” he added.
Yego said the taxi driver was helping to transport the killers to their destination during their killing spree in the town, while the landlord had been giving accommodation to the foreign criminals by renting his houses to them without informing the security agencies of their illegal presence in the country.
The investigators are being helped with investigation by one of the assailants, who was arrested last Wednesday by members of the public shortly after killing a prominent businessman along Gulled hotel area.
Yego said the police have recovered some vital documents, including an Ethiopian passport and communication tracks, that indicates there are teams of people believed to be security officials from the Somali region of Ethiopia sneaking into the country through Moyale and Mandera border points on a mission to kill people they suspect to have associations with a rebel group back at home and cause tribal clashes in the county.
“The passport carried by the suspected killer who was arrested in Garissa briefly after killing a businessman indicates he entered the country through Moyale border before heading to Nairobi, where we believe he met some people, before traveling to Garissa to cause a felony,” he noted.
Yego urged the residents in northeast region to be on the look out and avoid embracing people from other countries and giving them accommodation without first establishing their motive in the country.
Two of the assassins, Khalif Hassan, 38, and Abdirahman Abdi, 40, who are the team leaders are among those in custody at Garissa police station now.
While speaking to Xinhua on phone from London, the Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) foreign secretary Abdirahman Sheikh Mahdi blamed the attacks in Garissa on Ethiopian intelligence officers of changing their tactics to fight them by carrying out criminal activities inside friendly country to discredit them.
“They want to carry out killings inside Kenya and in turn blame on us so that Kenya, which has been hosting hundreds of thousands of our refugees and asylum seekers, can turn hostile against our people,” he said.
Source: Xinhua
I have no problems with the report until the correspondent quotes someone he says is the Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) foreign secretary Abdirahman Sheikh Mahdi.
The first question any one familiar with Ethiopian politics would ask is if there is any political group by the name of Oromo National Liberation Front (ONLF) in Ethiopia ?
Hell no. As far as my memory serves me good I never heard of an Ethiopian political group going by the name the Oromo National Liberation Front.
It is clear that the correspondent must have gotten himself mixed up with the acronyms ONLF. The only ONLF I know is the OGADEN National Liberation Front which has been fighting for the self determination of the Somali region or Region 5 or Ogaden in Ethiopia
Ethiopia's Oromo Liberation Front OLF rebels
Ethiopia’s Oromo Liberation Front OLF rebels
Xinhua however was not far from the truth in suggesting through London based Mahdi’s quote and that of the Kenya police that they suspect the assassins had been sent by Ethiopian authorities.
There was a rush for the story by the local media after the Xinhua scoop … but the local media just messed up with the facts reporting a sensitive issue in reckless manner.
This is how The Star read by “Smart people” reported the story.
Garissa county commissioner Rashid Khator has once again warned suspected assassins and their accomplices from neighbouring Ethiopia behind recent killings in Garissa that the government will firmly deal with them.
Khator said the hit men are hired to carry out assassinations in Garissa because they don’t support the government of the day in their country (Ethiopia) will not be tolerated.
The rebels who are opposing the government are from Oromo Liberation Front[OLF]. His warning comes just two days after the arrest of one of the killers who has been carrying out attacks in the town.
The man was cornered and handed over to the police by members of the public after as he fled after killing a businessman in the town. Two of his accomplices escaped.
Khator said that the suspect was providing crucial information that will assist apprehend his accomplices and also nail those behind the attacks.
Khator who was speaking during a peace meeting held at Garissa primary playground urged members of the public to continue cooperating with the police to end the insecurity bedeviling the town.
By Jacob Songok

The Star suggests that its the Oromo Liberation Front members been targeted by the assassins.
And KTN reports that those arrested are actually Oromo rebels! Check out the intro to this story.

Wednesday 16 July 2014

በሃረማያ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ዓመፅ ተጀመረ…!!!

mqdefaultየሃረማያ ዩኒቨርሲት የድህረ ምረቃ ተማሪዎች የመመረቅያ ፅሑፍ ክፍያ ከዕጥፍ በላይ በመጨመሩ ዓመፅ ኣስነስተዋል።
ተማሪዎቹ ከትናንት በስትያ ሰኞ ሓምሌ 7 /2006 ዓ/ ም ክፍያው 3000ብር እንደሆነ ከዩኒቨርስቲው ሬጅስትራር የተፃፈ ደብዳቤ የተሰጣቸው ቢሆንም ዩኒቨርሲቲው ሃሳቡ በመቀየር ክፍያው ወደ 8700 ብር ከፍ በማድረግ በቦርድ ለጥፎዋል።
ተማሪዎቹ ተሰባስበው ወደ ዩኒቨርሲቲው ሃላፊዎች የሄዱ ሲሆኑ ክፍያው ከዕጥፍ በላይ እንዲሆን የተደረገበት ወሳኔ ኣግባብነት እንደሌለውና ወደ ቀድመው መጠን ካልተስተካከለ እንደማይመዘገቡ ኣሳውቀዋል።
እንደምጫችን ኣገላለፅ ከሆነ ክፍያው ባንዴ ከእጥፍ በላይ እንዲሆን የትደረገው የመንግስት ሰራተኞች ደምወዝ ጭማሪ ተደርገዋል የሚል እንደሆነ ኣረጋግጠዋ።
የሁኒቨርስቲ ኣስተዳደር በጉዳዩ ኣስቸኳይ ስብሰባ እያካሄደ እንደሆነም ለማወቅ ተችለዋል።
ሃረማያ ዩኒቨርስቲ ልማታዊ መንግስታችን ስግብግብ ዩኒቨርሲት ብሎ ታፔላ እንደሚለጥፍለት ይጠበቃል።
“ስግብግብ ነጋደዎች” ነው…! ያለው በኢቲቪ እየተናገረ የሰማሁት ኣንዱ ቱባ ባለስልጣን።
ዓመፁ በኣግባቡ ይፈታ ይሆን? ወይስ እንደ ተለመደው መቺ ሃይል ይላካል…?

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Ethiopia: UK Aid Should Respect Rights.

hrwJuly 14, 2014, London (Human Rights Watch) – A UK High Court ruling allowing judicial review of the UK aid agency’s compliance with its own human rights policies in Ethiopia is an important step toward greater accountability in development assistance.
In its decision of July 14, 2014, the High Court ruled that allegations that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) did not adequately assess evidence of human rights violations in Ethiopia deserve a full judicial review.
“The UK high court ruling is just a first step, but it should be a wake-up call for the government and other donors that they need rigorous monitoring to make sure their development programs are upholding their commitments to human rights,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “UK development aid to Ethiopia can help reduce poverty, but serious rights abuses should never be ignored.”
The UK high court ruling is just a first step, but it should be a wake-up call for the government and other donors that they need rigorous monitoring to make sure their development programs are upholding their commitments to human rights. UK development aid to Ethiopia can help reduce poverty, but serious rights abuses should never be ignored.
Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director
The case involves Mr. O (not his real name), a farmer from Gambella in western Ethiopia, who alleges that DFID violated its own human rights policy by failing to properly investigate and respond to human rights violations linked to an Ethiopian government resettlement program known as “villagization.” Mr. O is now a refugee in a neighboring country.
Human Rights Watch has documented serious human rightsviolations in connection with the first year of the villagization program in Gambella in 2011 and in other regions of Ethiopia in recent years.
A January 2012 Human Rights Watch report based on more than 100 interviews with Gambella residents, including site visits to 16 villages, concluded that villagization had been marked by forced displacement, arbitrary detentions, mistreatment, and inadequate consultation, and that villagers had not been compensated for their losses in the relocation process.
People resettled in new villages often found the land infertile and frequently had to clear the land and build their own huts under military supervision. Services they had been promised, such as schools, clinics, and water pumps, were not in place when they arrived. In many cases villagers had to abandon their crops, and pledges of food aid in the new villages never materialized.
The UK, along with the World Bank and other donors, fund a nationwide development program in Ethiopia called the Promotion of Basic Services program (PBS). The program started after the UK and other donors cut direct budget support to Ethiopia after the country’s controversial 2005 elections.
The PBS program is intended to improve access to education, health care, and other services by providing block grants to regional governments. Donors do not directly fund the villagization program, but through PBS, donors pay a portion of the salaries of government officials who are carrying out the villagization policy.
The UK development agency’s monitoring systems and its response to these serious allegations of abuse have been inadequate and complacent, Human Rights Watch said. While the agency and other donors to the Promotion of Basic Services program have visited Gambella and conducted assessments, villagers told Human Rights Watch that government officials sometimes visited communities in Gambella in advance of donor visits to warn them not to voice complaints over villagization, or threatened them after the visits. The result has been that local people were reluctant to speak out for fear of reprisals.
The UK development agency has apparently made little or no effort to interview villagers from Gambella who have fled the abuses and are now refugees in neighboring countries, where they can speak about their experiences in a more secure environment. The Ethiopian government’s increasing repression of independent media and human rights reporting, and denials of any serious human rights violations, have had a profoundly chilling effect on freedom of speech among rural villagers.
“The UK is providing more than £300 million a year in aid to Ethiopia while the country’s human rights record is steadily deteriorating,” Lefkow said. “If DFID is serious about supporting rights-respecting development, it needs to overhaul its monitoring processes and use its influence and the UK’s to press for an end to serious rights abuses in the villagization program – and elsewhere.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Saturday 12 July 2014

Safuu, the Oromo moral value and doctrine.

by Rundaasaa Asheetee Hundee | July 13, 2014

Safuu
 is the principle of deep moral honor and accountability that was fostered by Waaqayyo fearing people of Oromia. “Yoon maqe, Waaqni na arga” is the principle rooted in each Oromo proven to be worthy of wholesomeness, to have virtue, and love other. These type of people have a desire to understand and live by traditional values.

Young Oromo children often spoke about the fundamental principle that telling the truth, respecting nature, being trustworthy, and standing for the right thing is natural to human beings. As an Oromo, we were taught these values and it made us women and men of such noble character.
Not only our characters were shaped by Safuu Oromo, even the process of Seera tumu (law making) was inspired by this principle and the Gadaa system was framed on the basis of Safuu. Basically then, Safuu is the principle of restoration of human dignity in a significant way. Because of Safuu, Birmadummaa and honesty is expected from each Oromo so that we all can live virtuous life of divine purposes.
When the Oromo people lived according to the Gadaa system, they dominated the horn of Africa and established their republic, and the Oromoo Foollee turned into statesmen and defended the norm of Gadaa governance. Because they believed in being honest, true, benevolent and virtuous in doing good to humanity, they demanded no money for their work and time. They worked on their farms but served their country as abbaa Seeraa, abbaa Alangaa, abbaa Caffee, abbaa Bokku and as Hadha sinqee etc..
Because of Safuu, the Oromos are inspired to respect nature and committed to deal justly with humankind! That’s why we are indebted to freedom-loving individuals everywhere who had the integrity necessary to build the foundations of human societies upon safuu’s fundamental moral values. Only in an atmosphere of freedom and trust could values like honesty and integrity truly flourish.
Safuu Oromo therefore is an expectation that people must rise above self-interest and act in the public interest with wisdom and courage both on the national and the local political scene.
One reason for the decline of Safuu in Oromia to day is that people invented new standards that constantly changes and undependable moral conduct. As a result, individuals define good and evil as being adjustable according to each situation but doing so is in direct contrast to the Safuu standard.
The vast majority of so called educated Oromos speak or think based on this mindset where right and wrong are calculated to either remain neutral or to be liked by others at the expenses of own value, the Safuu. In the process, our people lost their ancestral knowledge of what is right and what is wrong and went astray by longings for luxury and leisure that they think will be found in the western world style of living and thinking.
The devastation that comes from such fraudulent life style and self misrepresentation is immeasurable. It leads to a false belief that they can worship anything they want following the rules they set for themselves.
However, the continued survival of a free and open society is dependent upon a high degree of divinely inspired values and moral conduct (safuu), as stated by the Oromo Ayaantus. People must have trust in their institutions and in their leaders. Hence, a great need today is for leadership that exemplifies truth, honesty, and decency in both public and private life.

Honesty is not only the best policy, it is the only policy according to Safuu Oromo.
There are several things we can do to develop SAFUU.

Tuesday 8 July 2014

LESSONS AND THE FUTURE OF THE #OROMOPROTESTS.


July 8, 2014 (OPride) — In his book The Dictator’s Learning Curve, journalist William Dobson writes, “revolutions, if they are to be successful, require planning, preparation, and an intelligent grasp of how to anticipate and outwit a repressive regime that thinks of little beyond preserving its own power.”
As activists around the world get more sophisticated with the use of technology and out-organize repressive states, governments have also learned to wait it out and sup momentum out of otherwise formidable movements.
In a sense, time seems to be the worst enemy for activists. Too often passion burns out and social movements falter as quickly as they begin. In the last five years, horizontal movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring used social media to mobilize a critical mass and proved more effective than states. However, they failed to overcome this test of time.
#OromoProtests
In one of the least connected corners of the world, students in Ethiopia’s Oromia region have also uncovered and harnessed this power of technology. Beginning in mid-April, Oromo students across various campuses in Oromia began to peacefully protest the expansion of that country’s capital — quickly getting images, videos and firsthand accounts of government crackdown out on social media.
Ethiopia criminalizes all forms of dissent and heavily monitors independent reporting. As such, the world only got a glimpse of the government clampdown on protesters via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Oromo-centric websites and blogs. With ongoing global solidarity rallies and petitions, the growing Oromo diaspora was instrumental in amplifying the students’ voices. From Malta to Melbourne, South Dakota to Toronto and anywhere in between, silence was not an option. Activists used #OromoProtests and #FreeOromoStudents across various social media platforms to draw attention to the repression and demand mainstream media coverage.
But, as with other social movements, the passion seems to be burning out. The government continues to hunt and imprison anyone suspected of organizing these protests, as the students begin to lose control of their movement, #OromoProtests seems to be losing more steam. Amid major world news events such as the turmoil in Iraq and Brazil’s World Cup, the ongoing arrest and alleged torture of Oromo students is not receiving the attention it so deserves. Hundreds of students have gone underground to avoid arrest. The lack of access to prison records and difficulty of getting facts on the ground weakens diaspora’s efforts to generate awareness. On June 27, the International Oromo Youth Association launched a three-day social media campaign to draw attention to ongoing arrests and demanding justice for those who were killed in the crackdown. While the group’s creative use of various modes of communication including a short documentary in English is commendable, judging from the reception even among the Oromos, momentum is clearly running out.
Future of #Oromoprotests
The road for Oromo recognition has not been easy. Under the circumstances, Oromo students can take solace in the amount and quality of the media coverage their movement garnered. Ultimately, politics is a game of patience and activism is fueled by passion. Coordination and centralized leadership is key to sustaining the movement, especially in a country as repressive as Ethiopia.
All successful non-violent movements had one similar characteristic: strong leadership. When leaders effectively articulate the goals and hopes of the movement, it creates a central message and a sense of unity. Take the Ethiopian Muslims movement for example. In early 2012, the movement appeared on the cusp of winning major concessions from the government through disciplined nonviolent movement. The activists were trained in nonviolent ways of resistance and responded peaceful to government provocations. Unable to slow down the resistance, the government arrested the protesters representatives (the Committee) in July 2012. The silent protests and sit-ins continued for months. But, with the central leadership languishing in jails, once the most sustained nonviolent movement in Ethiopia’s recent history (if not ever), it is now all but dead.
Nevertheless, the experiences offer valuable lessons for Oromo students. First, the student movement needs to solidify the non-violent stance. Nonviolent resistance requires coordination, discipline and patience to respond peacefully to an act of aggression. As such, even if the government responds with violence, the movement must respond with more peace, for violent reaction would only exacerbate the situation.
Second, the Oromo diaspora must also do more than holding rallies, writing press releases, changing profile pictures on Facebook and sending out few Twitter updates a day. A peaceful movement feeds off of ideas and intellectual conversations. Besides, given the ubiquity of information on social media networks, in order to make journalists and the international community understand the students’ position, reliable information should be gathered, synthesized and organized into easily accessible formats. The OromoProtests.com website was a great stride in that direction. But more can be done.
There were also other encouraging efforts (in places such as Minnesota) to hold community forums to discuss the best way to respond to the crisis. But those sessions must not be for mere therapeutic purposes where we express our anguish. Protesting in our respective communities gets the story out, but without a unified message the story fades. The #hungerstrike and resolutions passed by Minnesota legislature because of the community’s efforts are worth noting. While efforts to organize global day of action was also commendable, there appeared very little communication and coordination between the organizers. It would have had more effect if all Oromo activists across the U.S. went on hunger strike at the same time, and more local resolutions were passed. This would have undoubtedly received more media coverage and better response from U.S. lawmakers.
Third, have a clear message. The message should highlight the lack of human rights and less of the factional politics. The focus should be on getting the story of innocent student massacres into the international news cycle.
There were also moments where different factions of Oromo leaders sought to own the narrative. This is wrong. The students had legitimate grievances and their call for the respect of the constitution was unambiguously clear. We must put away our political ambitions and differences and focus on getting the information out to a broader audience.
Finally, it is important to seek out and build solidarity across ethnic lines. The government propaganda equates the struggle for Oromo rights with Oromo attempts to takeover the government. While many in Ethiopia fear an impending Oromo domination, Oromo students raised legitimate, constitutional and fundamental questions of group rights. This message of peace needs to be stressed to ensure all freedom advocates and those who feel unfairly marginalized or unjustly treated by Ethiopian government can join in efforts to make Ethiopia into a democratic nation. The EPRDF regime thrives by making different ethnic groups to fear one another. Instead of playing into government hands and perpetuating tyranny, rights advocates in Ethiopia must build bridges on common principles of human rights, freedom and justice. Patience and passion channeled into rational actions can go a long way in bringing change to Ethiopia. Factionalized outbursts of heated reactions benefit only the regime.
Source: Opride

Monday 7 July 2014

A Summary of Oromos Killed, Beaten and Detained by the TPLF Armed Forces during the 2014 Oromo Protest Against The Addis Ababa (Finfinne) Master Plan.


qeerroo2

Compiled by: National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (NYMFD) aka Qeerroo Bilisummaa

July 05, 2014

Background

It is a well-documented and established fact that the Oromo people in general and Oromo students and youth in particular have been in constant and continuous protest ever since the current TPLF led Ethiopian government came to power. The current protest which started late April 2014 on a large scale in all universities and colleges in Oromia and also spread to several high schools and middle schools begun as opposition to the so called “Integrated Developmental Master Plan” or simply “the Master Plan”. The “Master Plan” was a starter of the protest, not a major cause. The major cause of the youth revolt is opposition to the unjust rule of the Ethiopian regime in general. The main issue is that there is no justice, freedom and democracy in the country. The said Master Plan in particular, would expand the current limits of the capital, Addis Ababa, or “Finfinne” as the Oromos prefer to call it, by 20 folds stretching to tens of Oromian towns surrounding the capital. The Plan is set to legalize eviction of an estimated 2 million Oromo farmers from their ancestral land and sell it to national and transnational investors. For the Oromo, an already oppressed and marginalised nation in that country, the incorporation of those Oromian cities into the capital Addis Ababa means once more a complete eradication of their identity, culture, and language. The official language will eventually be changed to Amharic. Essentially, it is a new form of subjugation and colonization. It was the Oromo university students who saw this danger, realized its far-reaching consequences and lit the torch of protest which eventually engulfed the whole Oromia regional state.
For the minority TPLF led Ethiopian regime, who has been already selling large area of land surrounding Addis Ababa even without the existence of the Master Plan, meeting the demands of the protesting Oromo students means losing 1.1 million of hectares of land which the regime planned to sell for a large sum of money. Therefore, the demand of the students and the Oromo people at large is not acceptable to the regime. It has therefore decided to squash the protest with its forces armed to the teeth. The regime ordered its troops to fire live ammunition to defenceless Oromo students at several places: Ambo, Gudar, Robe (Bale), Nekemte, Jimma, Haromaya, Adama, Najjo, Gulliso, Anfillo (Kellem Wollega), Gimbi, Bule Hora (University), to mention a few. Because the government denied access to any independent journalists it is hard to know exactly how many have been killed and how many have been detained and beaten. Simply put, it is too large of a number over a large area of land to enumerate. Children as young as 11 years old have been killed. The number of Oromos killed in Oromia during the current protest is believed to be in hundreds. Tens of thousands have been jailed and an unknown number have been abducted and disappeared. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, who has been constantly reporting the human rights abuses of the regime through informants from several parts of Oromia for over a decade, estimates the number of Oromos detained since April 2014 as high as 50, 000.
Full Document in PDF

Saturday 5 July 2014

አዜብ መስፍን በጠና ታመዋል፤ የአባዱላ ገመዳ ልጅ አረፈ ..

ከባለቤታቸው ህልፈት በኋላ ከፖለቲካው መድረክ እየተገለሉ የመጡት ወ/ሮ አዜብ መስፍን በጠና መታመማቸውን ቅርበት ያላቸው ታማኝ ምንጮች አስታወቁ። በስኳር ህመምና በደም ግፊት እየተሰቃዩ የሚገኙት አዜብ መስፍን የሰውነት ክብደታቸው እንደቀነሰና የመጎሳቆል ሁኔታ በገጽታቸው እንደሚታይ የጠቆሙት ምንጮቹ ለስኳር በሽታ በየእለቱ ከሚወስዱት መድሃኒት በተጨማሪ ለደም ግፊትም እንክብሎችን እንደሚወስዱ ምንጮቹ አረጋግጠዋል። አዜብ በመኖሪያቸው አብዛኛውን ቀናት እንደሚያሳልፉ የጠቆሙት ምንጮቹ በፖለቲካው የደረሰባቸው ኪሳራ ብስጭት ውስጥ እንደከተታቸውና ለበሽታ እንደዳረጋቸው አያይዘው ገለጸዋል።
ቦሌ ከሳይ ኬክ ቤት ወደ ውስጥ ገባ ብሎ የሚገኘውና አቶ ስዩም መስፍን ለ19ዓመት የኖሩበት እንዲሁም አቶ ሙክታር ከድር ለሁለት አመት የኖሩበት መኖሪያ ቪላ ውስጥ የሚኖሩት አዜብ መስፍን ከዚህ በተጨማሪ ቦሌ ሩዋንዳ መታጠፊያ ላይ የሚገኘውን የቀድሞ የደህንነት ቢሮ ለአዜብ በቢሮ መልክ እንደተሰጣቸው ምንጮቹ ጠቁመዋል።
azeb
ቀን ቀን በዚህ ቢሮ ለብቻቸው ያሳልፉ የነበሩት አዜብ መስፍን በጠና ከታመሙ ወዲህ ላለፉት አምስት ሳምንታት ወደዚህ ቢሮ ገብተው እንደማያውቁና በቤታቸው እንደሚያሳልፉ ያስታወቁት ምንጮቹ አክለውም ፓርቲው በሚያካሂዳቸው ስብሰባዎች መገኘት እንዳቆሙና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ የተገኙት ከሁለት ወር በፊት ኢህአዴግ ባካሄደው መደበኛ ጉባኤ ላይ መሆኑን አስገንዝበዋል። በዚሁ ጉባኤ ከተሰብሳቢው ኋላ ለብቻቸው ተቀምጠው የታዩት አዜብ ምንም ሳይናገሩና አስተያየት ሳይሰጡ ስብሰባውን ከመጨረሳቸው ባሻገር ከስተውና ተጐሳቁለው እንደነበር ምንጮቹ አስታውሰው ከዚያ ወዲህ ህመሙ እየጠናባቸው እንደሄደ አያይዘው ገለፀዋል። አዜብ የባለቤታቸውን ቦታ በመተካት የጠ/ሚ/ርነቱንና ፓርቲውን የመምራት እቅድና ምኞት በተቀናቃኛቸው ስብሃት ነጋ ከከሸፈባቸውና የሚተማመኑባቸው የደህንነት ባለስልጣናትና የፓርቲው ቁልፍ ሰዎች እስር ቤት መወርወርና መባበረር ለከፍተኛ የሞራል ድቀትና ለበሽታ እንደዳረጋቸው ምንጮቹ አመልክተዋል። አዜብ የኤፈርት ኤክስኪውቲቭ ዳይሬክተር ተብለው ቢሰየሙም ምንም አይነት የአመራር ሚና እንደሌላቸው የጠቆሙት ምንጮቹ በነስብሃት ተመድበው ተቋሙን ሲመሩ የቆዩት አቶ ብርሃነ ኪዳነማርያም ወደ ራዲዮና ቴሌቪዥን ስራ አስኪያጅ እንደሆኑና ከርሳቸው በኋላ ደግሞ የአርከበ እቁባይ ታናሽ ወንድም ጌታቸው እቁባይ እየመሩት መሆኑን አያይዘው ገልፀዋል።
ከአዜብ ጋር በተፈጠረ ያለመግባባት ከኤፈርት ለቀው የቆዩት ጌታቸው እቁባይ የአቶ መለስ ዜናዊን ሞት ተከትሎ እንዲመለሱ መደረጉን አመልክተዋል። አዜብ ወደ ትግራይ -መቀሌ ከተጓዙ 6 ወር እንዳለፋቸው አክለዋል። በኤፈርት ውስጥ የአዜብ ደጋፊዎች በነስብሃት ተለቅመው መውጣታቸውን ያስታወሱት ምንጮቹ በቅርቡ ኤክስኪውቲቭ ዳይሬክተር የሚለውን የአዜብ ስልጣን በመግፈፍ ሊያባርሯቸው መሆኑን አረጋግጠዋል። …ይህ በእንዲህ እንዳለ የአባዱላ ገመዳ ልጅ ወጣት ኮሚያስ አባዱላ ከዚህ አለም በሞት እንደተለየ ታውቋል። የ26 አመቱ ወጣት ኮሚያስ አባዱላ በጉበት በሽታ ምክንያት ወደ ታይላንድ- ባንኮክ ተልኮ ለአንድ አመት ሲታከም ከቆየ በኋላ ሊድን ባለመቻሉ ከአራት ሳምንት በፊት ህይወቱ አልፏል። በባንኮክ ለአንድ አመት የሆስፒታል ቆይታው ለህክምና ብቻ ከ880ሺህ ዶላር ወጪ እንደተረገለት ታውቋል። በተመሰሳሳይ ሶስተኛ ታናሽ እህቱ (የአባዱላና ራሄል ልጅ) ከአምስት አመት በፊት በገጠማት የሳንባ፣ የአንጀትና የአእምሮ በሽታ በባንኮክ ሆ/ል ለሁለት አመት ህክምና የተከታተለች ሲሆን፣ ለህክምናው ጠቅላላ የወጣው 2.5ሚሊዮን ዶላር እንደሆነ ከዚህ ቀደም ይፋ በተረገው መረጃ መገለፁ ይታወሳል። ይህ ሁሉ ገንዘብ ከህዝብ የተዘረፈ ለመሆኑ አያጠያይቅም። ይህቺ ናት አገሬ! ..ለማንኛውም የአባዱላ ወንጀል ልጁን አይመለከተውም። ወጣት ኮሚያስ በአባቱ ድርጊት ነፃናነት ስለማይሰማው – በየእለቱ አልኮል ይጠጣና ይበሳጭ እንደነበረ ቅርብ የሆኑ ጓደኞቹ ተናግረዋል። የጉበት በሽታውም መንስኤ ይኸው ነው። ነፍስ ይማር!