A Peaceful Demonstration by Oromo Youth in Washington D.C.

Press Release from the
International Oromo Youth Association

March 30, 2009

The ever increasing repression of Oromos and other people in Ethiopia has become a big concern for Oromo youth across the globe. The disturbing news that rarely gets reported by international media is a daily occurrence for the Oromo mass in Ethiopia and neighboring countries which compelled us to get up and march in hopes of bringing public awareness to the alarming human rights violations in Ethiopia. As recent as March 5, 2009, the Ethiopian government brutally beat many Oromo students and arrested over 80 of them from Bahir Dar University merely for asking certain individuals be brought to justice for their derogatory remarks towards Oromia and Oromos as well.

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More than 80 Oromo Students Arrested and Under Severe Beating in Bahir Dar University

More than 80 Oromo Students Arrested and Under Severe Beating in Bahir Dar University

(OLF News, March 9, 2009) The brutal Woyane regime of Ethiopia once again targeted the Oromo students learning at colleges and universities of the Empire and arrested over 80 Oromo students from Bahir Dar university alone OLF News correspondent reported from Finfinnee (Addis Ababa). The Ethiopian government ordered their gun men, brutally beaten many Oromo students and arrested over 80 of them simply because they peacefully requested that some individuals who are obsessed with throwing derogatory remarks over the Oromo Nation should be brought to justice according to the law of the land.

OLF News reporters added that the Woyane governments Federal police and security forces are still searching to apprehend more Oromo students in Bahir Dar which is the capital city of the Amhara regional state. It has to be noted that almost all of the Oromo students who are now assigned to the Amhara regional state for university education were educated in Afan Oromo and English alone, and hence do not speak Amharic at all, and even those who can barely speak Amharic can easily be identified and are seen as aliens in the Bahir Dar town and in the entire Amhara regional state. Consequently, the students have no where to escape and are being brutally beaten by the forces of the regime in their dormitories. Our report added that many female students have also been brutally beaten and thrown into jail. Those who are wounded are left with out any medical treatment the report added.

The Oromo students in Bahir Dar University appealed to governmental, non-governmental and humanitarian organizations in general and to the Oromo people in particular to raise their voices on their behalf and rescue their lives.

Meanwhile one student was killed and many others wounded and thrown into jail in Gedo high school Western Shoa zone of Oromia regional state when high school students protested against a similar deragotary remarks thrown to the Oromo nation. Stay tuned with OLF News for the details of this report.

It is to be recalled that the current TPLF led Ethiopian government is notoriously known for harassing Oromo students for asking the right of the Oromo nation. Several hundreds of students were killed and tens of thousands jailed and brutalized since 2005 when a popular protest known as “Revolt Against subjugation” or “Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa”, which had rocked the entire Oromia regional state, flared up and continued all over Oromia for about two years.

It is also to be recalled that the Ethiopian government discriminately dismissed 330 Oromo students in 2004 for peacefully protesting the decision made by the so called Oromia regional state, which is a puppet of the TPLF led government, to move the capital of Oromia from Finfinnee to Adama.

OLF News

Ethiopian Regime Troops Killed, Injured Oromo High School Students in Western Oromia

Meles Zenawi Mercenary Troops Kill, Injure High School Oromo Students

March 7, 2009

In Oromiya regional administration, west Shawa Zone, government forces killed Wondimu Damana, a 12th grade Gedo High School student. The soldiers also injured Belay Motuma and another female student.

“During the shooting incident, one student was killed, two were injured; and over 30 students, 1 teacher and 1 development assistant of Oromo national origin were taken into custody,” MP and leader of the Oromo People’s Congress Dr. Marara Gudina told the VOA.

Asked about the cause of the attacks, Gudina said that students discovered a derogatory letter written in Amharic in the school.

Students said the letter was intended to incite conflict between students of Amhara and Oromo nationalities.

Upon the realization of the denigrating nature of the letter to the Oromo people, students from both groups requested the school director to investigate the source of the letter.

On 3 March 2009, the students gathered in the school to hear the outcome of the investigation from the school director, when the elite force suddenly surrounded the school and opened fire.

Chaliya district’s local administrator, Mr. Galata Nagasa commented that government forces took the action to “protect the constitutional order”, which is always cited by government officials to justify violence.

“Fatino Darash” is the name for locally stationed government elite/special forces, established to squash dissent and disband rallies. They are notorious for taking similar actions against students and peaceful dissidents in west Shewa zone in particular and Oromiya in general.

Ethiopian soldiers enjoy impunity after carrying out brutal and segregationist attacks. In fact, they are known to have been rewarded for discriminating and killing Oromo students and opponents of the Ethiopian government over the last 18 years.

The rewards take forms of promotion to higher military ranks, salaries and reassignments to other areas.

The 2009 US State Department report on human rights in Ethiopia, documents widespread extra-judicial killings, arrests, and imprisonment of Oromo students and dissidents in Oromiya regional state in Ethiopia.

See the 2008 State Department country report on Ethiopia

Source: VOA Afaan Oromoo Program on March 5, 2009.

MOA

Oromia Support Group Press Release: February 2009 No. 2

Oromia Support Group in Australia - 2/18 Forster St Noble Park, Vic. 3174
Ph: (03) 9547 4525 e-mail: humrightosga@yahoo.com ABN: 95 941 300 944

PRESS RELEASE
FEBRUARY 2009 No. 2

Leggesse Wogi’s family, a senior Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel field commander who martyred on a war against Meles’s regime [Ethiopia] troops for liberation in October 2008, escaped prosecution by Ethiopian government securities and left the country for exile. Weyineshet Getahun (Leggesse’s wife), Netsanet Leggesse and Frihewet Leggesse (daughters), and other family member Embet Gezahegne were the few lucky Oromos to escape the extra- judicial killings.

Mostly the Meles regime made OLF as culprit for the bombings occasionally occurred in the capital city Addis Ababa which Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) denies as a false and set up allegation. In October 2008 Meles Zenawi told parliament that the government had confirmed that all bombings this year in Addis Ababa were the work of the OLF. Apart from the cases noted above, no credible evidence has been presented to verify these claims. Meantime the civilians were the victims both in the accident and in the move the Ethiopian security forces took actions under the label of investigation. Consequently, human right abuses reported by humanitarians and human right organizations, at local and international levels for years, included unlawful killings, torture, beating, abuse and mistreatment of detainees and opposition supporters by security forces, usually with impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of suspected sympathizers or members of opposition or insurgent groups (Refer U.S. Department of State, 2008 Human Rights Reports: Ethiopia, February 25, 2009).

In September 2008 more than hundred Oromos were arrested including opposition party leaders and put to jail in charge of supporting Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). The Ethiopian government accuses categorically Oromos by ethnicity supporting OLF. Harassment, detention and mass arrest usually occurs as a result. As Meles’s government and armed conflict supporters remain hostile human right violations are proliferating across the country.

Back Ground Information:

After the military junta [Derg] regime was ousted from power in 1991 by armed struggle from Tigrayi, Eritrea, Oromo, Amhara, and southern Ethiopian peoples, Tigrayi – led Ethiopian government was established. Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which yielded bedrock support from their respective nations, were forced out of the transitional government that paved way for Tgrayi People Liberation Front (TPLF), which is a minority to control all political, military and economic power in Ethiopia. Since then OLF and ONLF remained in armed conflict with Meles regime. The government faced armed opposition from the Oromo liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) both gaining mass support of the people. Thousands of the people remained in indefinite and mainly incommunicado detention without charge or trial in connection particularly with the armed conflicts in Oromia and Somali regions, and arbitrary and mass arrest continued. In connection with general election held May 2005 thousands were put to jail, and more than hundreds were shot dead on the street of the capital city.

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