I was travelling with delegates from the EU Humanitarian Aid, the UN and Save the Children in South Wollo zone. It was then I met John Graham, the Country Representative of Save the Children Confederation in Ethiopia. The mission was to identify the scale of the drought impact on rural communities in Wollo Zone. It was deep inside the Amhara Region. The discussion was in Amharic. The communities perfectly speak Amharic and one of the visitors asked which ethnic group the communities belong – I was not quite sure why he mentioned the question. May be the desperate situation of the people’s lives instigated the question. The people are generally neglected and isolated from any development shares that a minimum service that people live for survival. As my role I had to talk with some community elders to learn the scale of the drought impact. It was between the conversation that I heard a Afaan oromo conversations here and there. I later on learned that the people are Oromos forced to be in Amhara region – now everything is clear why these people are neglected and totally marginalized from development share and even denied of the basic humanitarian assistance from the region. Luckily aid organization are there to save these people. In the first place politicians have decided to demarcate the territory to Amhara Region – but the area is inhabited by Oromos. It is time for the Oromia region and people to reclaim their territory and take care of their own people in all possible way. Well, if we cannot do this, let us take our people and settle them in our reach region. Let not people suffer becase of political decisions.
The repeated drought and negligence by the Government of Ethiopia has already been felt by marginalized and indigenous communities in Southern Ethiopia. The photo was taken just last month in Surma communities in South Omo.
Sunday’s protest in Ethiopia involving thousands of people in Gondar, a city in Amhara region, is a rare example of an anti-government demonstration in the country.
It was organised on social media but no group has taken responsibility for it. The demonstration comes two weeks after another protests in the city in which 15 people died, including members of the security forces and civilians.
What’s behind the protests?
At the root of the recent demonstrations is a request by representatives from the Welkait community – known as the Welkait Amhara Identity Committee – that their land, which is currently administered by the Tigray regional state, be moved into neighbouring Amhara region.
The Welkait committee says community members identify themselves as ethnic Amharas and say they no longer want to be ruled by Tigrayans.
Demonstrations began a fortnight ago but leaders of the Welkait community have been asking for the move for a year.
Amharas used to form the country’s elite and the language remains the most widely spoken in the country.
Is that the only issue?
Observers say that Ethiopia’s governing coalition is dominated by the party from the small Tigray region (TPLF), and some see the protests as a way of criticising the country’s government.
When Sunday’s demonstration was organised on social media, no mention was made of other issues, but during the protest banners could be seen expressing solidarity with people from the Oromia region.
Since November last year, the government has been dealing with a wave of protests in Oromia as people complain about alleged marginalisation. Those demonstrations began over a plan to expand the federal capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia. That plan has been dropped, but the issue highlighted grievances with the government which have not gone away.
The Oromos are Ethiopia’s most populous ethnic group.
People on Sunday were also calling for the release of a group of 18 Muslims who were imprisoned last year under controversial anti-terror legislation.
When the current government came to power in 1991 after overthrowing the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam it introduced a federal constitution aimed at decentralising power.
The regional states that were created were based on ethnicity and language.
That has meant that ethnic identity has come to the fore in disputes over where regional boundaries should lie. These tensions have been witnessed in other parts of the country, not only in Amhara and Oromia.
Is there a connection with other protests in the country?
There is no formal connection between the protesters in Amhara and those in Oromia, but it does appear to represent a growing boldness amongst some people to challenge the government.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionHuman Rights Watch estimated that more than 400 people died in the protests in Oromia
Ethiopia’s government has been criticised by rights groups for cracking down on protests and dissident voices and using anti-terror laws to silence people.
In Amhara, the demonstration two weeks ago was sparked by the imprisonment of members of the Welkait Amhara Identity Committee.
In the face of this apparent repression any anti-government demonstration can be seen as significant.
How serious is this for the government?
Two weeks ago, Ethiopia’s federal government accused neighbouring Eritrea of being behind the unrest and strongly warned the country to refrain from its “evil actions”.
But so far there has been no word from the authorities in Addis Ababa about Sunday’s protest.
They may prefer for this to be handled at a regional level, and the Amhara government has commented.
It said that the problems the protesters raised on Sunday were to do with good governance and it will try to address these.
This echoed the response of the Oromia regional government earlier this year when it said it would address the grievances of the people there.
For some observers, the Amhara protests appear to be part of a growing anti-government feeling, which the authorities are trying to contain.
But with no opposition parties represented in parliament, this feeling is manifested in sporadic bursts of activity rather than a concerted campaign.
This was what we exactly lacked in the last few years. The ethnic politics that targets to ‘divide and rule” tactics of the TPLF regime has been successful at least for over two decades. It now seems fading away at a light speed. Thank you for this great solidarity.
bitter mourning for the ones murdered brutal crackdown
Ethiopian security forces have killed at least 140 people taking part inmass anti-government demonstrations since November, activists say, according to US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The protests have been sparked by fears that a plan to expand the capital’s administrative control into the Oromia region will displace Oromo farmers.
HRW also called for the release of an Oromo politician arrested last month.
The government has accused Oromo protesters of links with terror groups.
Last month, officials said five people and an undisclosed number of security personnel had died in the protests.
Prominent Oromo intellectuals “who they feel have influence over the population” have also been targeted by the government, HRW researcher Felix Horne said in a statement.
Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), was arrested on 23 December, HRW said.
“He was first taken to the notorious Maekalawi prison, where torture and other ill-treatment are routine,” it said.
“The 54-year-old foreign language professor was reportedly hospitalised shortly after his arrest but his whereabouts are now unknown, raising concerns of an enforced disappearance.”
The OFC is Oromia’s largest legally registered political party, but holds no seats in parliament, the rights group said.
Two journalists were also arrested in December – it is not clear on what charges but the country criminalises any reporting considered by the authorities to be an encouragement to terrorism.
Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest region, surrounding the capital, Addis Ababa.
The government says other views are being taken into consideration for the “master plan” to integrate parts of Oromia into Addis Ababa.
BBC Africa correspondent Alistair Leithhead says demonstrations are rare in Ethiopia and the current Oromo anger over urban planning is an expression of much older complaints over a lack of political and economic inclusion.
At the last census in 2007, the Oromo made up Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, at about 25 million people out of a population at the time of nearly 74 million.
The following video shows as the Ethiopian Federal Police, known as Agazi and part of the elite force of the ruling Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), shooting at Haromaya University’s Oromo students – who were out protesting against the Addis Ababa Master Plan in late November 2015. The students were protesting against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, whose goal, they say, is to expand the City of Addis Ababa by many folds by evicting Oromo farmers from their land around the City of Addis Ababa in Oromiyaa.
The Oromo people, especially students, have been expressing their protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, ever since it was unveiled by TPLF officials in April 2014. As a result of the Oromiyaa-wide protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, over the last year and half, more than a hundred Oromos were killed by the Agazi force, including the four who had been reported dead at the recent Haromaya protest.
The students, pronounced dead and those protesting, come from all sections and all zones of Oromiyaa for their higher education at Haromaya University.
Haramaya University students clashed with police as a series of protests takes place across Ethiopia’s Oromia region.
The first of the protests was reported in Ginchi town (Western Shewa zone) on November 19 and 20, which appears to have been mainly triggered by local officials transferring part of the school land for another use.
Major regional and national demands gained prominence last week as the protests spread to several small towns including Mendi, Ambo, Jarso, Guliso, Kiltu, Kara, Nejo, Jeldu – located in central and western Ethiopia.
On Monday, protests were reported in Haramaya University, in the east.
The controversial draft plan forintegrated development of the capital Addis Ababa and the surrounding Oromia towns featured in the protests.
The demand to make Afaan Oromo a federal language, maladministration, taxation, and others were raised by protestors, which comprised elementary, high school students, and local residents at varying proportions.
Haramaya University students who staged protests on Monday also demanded the release of people detained from other towns last week.
An instructor of the university told HornAffairs, a group of students started protesting on Monday at dawn, while others rushed to leave the compound. University officials met with the students, promised to the deliver their demands to the government, and asked the students to disperse.
The students wished to continue their demonstration, but local police blocked the road to the gate, the instructor narrated demanding his name be withheld. At 8:30 am, federal police entered the campus and dispersed the students chasing them all the way to dormitories. Students resting in their dorm rooms were beaten, while one student running away for the police jumped from the third floor of the building. Three students are said to be in critical condition receiving treatment in nearby hospital.
The instructor claimed to have seen several injured students in the campus clinic and later transported to hospital by ambulance. He also witnessed an office building which had most of its glass window smashed apparently by rocks thrown by students.
An official from OPDO/EPRDF, the ruling party’s regional wing, vehemently opposed this narrative in a phone remark to HornAffairs. According to the official, who did not wish to be named, the students were not as calm as portrayed and provoked the clash as the police urged them to disperse.
He added, “we are not supposed to wait until the situation escalates rather control it at the earliest possible moment. There is only one direction the situation could have gone – we know from past experience, and we have obligations to other students as well.”
The official claimed, the federal police was invited by and acted in coordination with them. Only one student had his hand broken as he jumped from building and about fifteen students were detained, while several police officers were injured. He argued, the situation was handled responsibly given the circumstances.
The following is a statement from the Oromo Community of Minnesota.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
94 rue de Montbrillant
Geneva, Switzerland
Subject: Urgent Appeal on Behalf of Oromo Refugees Stranded in Yemen
The Oromo Community of Minnesota (OCM) is sending an urgent appeal to all governmental, non-governmental and UN humanitarian agencies, on behalf of Oromo refugees stranded in Yemen due to the ongoing fighting in that country.
The Oromo in Minnesota, the largest Oromo community outside East Africa, is following the plight of refugees in Yemen with great trepidation. Our compatriots make the difficult decision to flee from their beloved homeland due to rampant and persistent persecution by successive Ethiopian regimes. Their choices are either to stay in their country and remain silent over the daily injustices or speak up and get sent to prisons for the simple reason of asserting their inalienable rights; dare to oppose…
This was what we exactly lacked in the last few years. The ethnic politics that targets to ‘divide and rule” tactics of the TPLF regime has been successful at least for over two decades. It now seems fading away at a light speed. Thank you for this great solidarity.
'BECAUSE I AM OROMO' 