By Hashim Adam*

The propaganda video that was released by the Ethiopian Television (ETV) about the Muslim movement in Ethiopia reminded me of the unfounded accusation that the TPLF made against the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in order to terrorize OLF’s supporters in early 1990s.

It was several years after 1991, and I was in middle school when the government agents were busy working on defamation campaign against the OLF. There were meetings almost every other week in villages, towns and schools. On these meetings, they did Saaxileessaa, literally means disclosing secrets.

Before the Saaxileessaa meetings, the government agents would equip couple of people with all the accusations against the prisoners. The accusers presented themselves at the meeting as if they were victimized by the OLF. The prisoners, suspected of financially supporting and sympathizing with the OLF, would be brought to the stage and the drama would start. The prisoners were severely tortured before the meetings and instructed to confess, and they would be frightened that had they refused to confess they would face the consequences afterwards. The torture was so harsh that, even the innocent person whom had never heard of the name OLF, would admit to the charge. Close relatives of active members of the OLF received the worst treatment of all.

The audience at the meetings was also misinformed about the OLF’s mission. The youth and uninformed were the main targets of propaganda, and it seemed like the truth was buried and completely covered with all the lies and false accusations. It was hard to identify the agents from the victims. Everyone was suspicious of the person next to them at the meetings. So, even though most people knew the truth, very few individuals would stand up and confront the TPLF agents.

Videos and set-up Saaxileessaa agents were used to spread the propaganda. One prime example was the incident when I was in the 7th grade. Mr. Danyachew, vice administrator of Bale Zone at that time, came to our school and held a daylong meeting with us. He brought with him a video for us to watch. The content of that video was very disturbing. It showed people getting burnt in a house, being thrown into a deep gorge and being hung from the tree, and so many evil things.

After the video was shown, Mr. Danyachew stood up from his chair and explained, “Look at them,” Danyachew spoke shamelessly and made it worse for us – the audience of that excellent propaganda, “this happened in Baddannoo. And, it was the work of OLF, they butcher people, hung people and burn people.” And he continued, “You know who they are doing this to?” he tried to label the OLF as brutal which would do such horrible things even to their own brothers and sisters. We were very young, but what we watched awaken us all of a sudden. We were irritated and could not wait until he got off the stage. Instead, he kept going on and on about it. What he did not know was that those young kids could analyze things way better than he could.

After the long and boring explanation about the video, in soliciting for support from the audience, he gave a chance to few people to speak. One young brave boy, I still remember him, raised his hand and was given the chance to speak. The boy was nervous at the start, but picked it up as he spoke, “Ok, I have one simple question, who recorded this video? Whoever recorded this video must have done all the crimes committed. This looks like a movie to me; instead of recording it, how come they did not save those innocent people? And, I heard that OLF fights for freedom; why would they commit such crimes?” And, then he sat down, all the sudden everybody was clapping.

Mr. Danyachew was furious, and he jumped up from his chair and shouted, “Shut up now,” and turned around and looked at teachers who were sitting right next to him, and furiously spoke, “There must be some remnants of OLF among you,” banging on the table right in front of him. Probably, he did not expect the 7th grader to challenge him. It took him a while until he later on collected himself and answered the question. Even though I don’t recall the exact answer, I remember him leaving that school scratching his head wondering who the hell taught those kids.

That video was so fictitious that even people as young as middle school students knew how the producers of that video were the best writers of the same fictions. They create a story, set up characters, practice the lies very well, and narrate it like it is true. They want to create confusion and mistrust among different ethnic groups, religious sects and even among brothers and sisters. They have been doing this since the first day they secured power in that country, and used this system to defame leaders and to frighten supporters of the true cause.

Now, leaders of the Muslim Community are the victims of this fiction. The same technique, that has been used against the OLF, the ONLF and other opposition parties, is being used against Muslim leaders of today. The Muslim leaders are being accused of attempting to create an Islamic Government in Ethiopia like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and causing violence in the country. On the contrary, we have witnessed one of the most organized and peaceful demonstrations ever led in Ethiopia. These leaders should have been actually recognized as leaders of peaceful social changes in that country. The shocking thing is how ETV personals shamefully lie to the people, who happen to know their leaders very well. Can they even think? Do they think that the viewers of ETV programs are stupid?

ETV is truly a propaganda machine that accuses innocent and peace-loving people of crimes they did not commit. It uses any possible lie it can fabricate in order to brainwash, confuse and try hard to distance the people from true freedom fighters and peace-loving organizations. However, it has been unsuccessful, and it will never deter our generation from pursuing the freedom that millions are yearning for!

* Hashim Adam is the former President of the International Oromo Youth Association/IOYA (2010-2011) and former President of the Oromia Student Union at UMN (2009-2010).

DW Amharic

ልጃገረዶቹ ከቤት ወላጆቻቸውን አስተኝተው ሲወጡ በሙሉ ነፃነት ነው። በኢትዮጵያ የኦሮሞ ልጃገረዶች ካላገቡ ወጣት ወንዶች ጋ እኩለ ሌሊት ላይ በአንድነት ተሰባስበው የሚዘፍኑበትና የሚጨፍሩበት ባህላዊ ክንዋኔ። ይህ ባህል ከጥንት ጀምሮ ሲወርድ ሲዋረድ የመጣ ትውፊት ነው።

የተለያዩ ባህላዊ ዜማዎችን ከተቃራኒ ፆታ አቻዎቻቸው ጋ ሆነው ሌሊት ላይ ከሚከወነው ጭፈራ እየሰሙም እያዜሙም ያደጉ ኦሮሞዎች ዛሬ ምን እንደሚሰማቸው ማወቁ ይከብዳል። ምክንያቱም ይህ ባህላዊ ጭፈራ በሂደት ክንዋኔው እየደበዘ በመምጣት ላይ ነውና። በጨረቃ ብርሃን የሚከወነው ይህ ባህላዊ ጭፈራ በተለያየ ቦታ የተለያየ ስያሜ እንዳለውም ይጠቀሳል።

የኦሮሞ ልጃገረዶች ካላገቡ ወንዶች ጋ ተሰባስበው ሌሊት ላይ የሚያከናውኑትን ባህላዊ እንቅስቃሴ ለ15 ዓመታት ግድም በቅርበት የተከታተሉት አቶ በቀለ ለሙ ክንዋኔውን እንደሚከተለው በዝርዝር ያብራሩልናል።

በእዚህ ባህላዊ የሌሊት ጭፈራ ላይ የሚሳተፉ ወንዶች ዕድሜያቸው ከ18 እስከ 30 ሲደርስ የልጃገረዶቹ ደግሞ ከ16 እስከ 24 መሆን አለበት እንደ ዶክተር ገመቹ መገርሣ ገለፃ። ዶክተር ገመቹ የዶክትሬት ማዕረጋቸውን በኦሮሞ ባህል ጥናት ላይ የሰሩ የስነ-ሠብ ተመራማሪ ሲሆኑ፤ ለረዥም ዓመታት በዩኒቨርሲቲመምህርነት አገልግለዋል። ይህ ባህላዊ ክንዋኔ ከቦታ ቦታ የተለያየ ስያሜ እንዳለው ጠቅሰው የሌሊት ጭፈራው ዘርፈ-ብዙ ነው ይላሉ።

ወጣቶቹ ወንዶች ከቀርቀሃ ተቦርቡሮ የተሰራውን ፋጋ የተሰኘውን የሙዚቃ መሳሪያ ሌሊት ላይ መንፋት ይጀምራሉ። ይህ ጥሪ በአካባቢው የሌሊት ጭፈራ መኖሩን ማብሰሪያ ነው። ያኔ ልጃገረዶች ከጎረቤት ወንዶች ልጆች ጋር ተያይዘው ፋጋውን ወደሰሙበት ለመድረስ ይጣደፋሉ። ወንዶቹ ለጭፈራው የሚረዳቸውን ረዣዥም ዱላዎች አለያም ጦሮች ይይዛሉ። ሴቶች በሚገባ በሹሩባ ተጎንጉነው ነጠላ ያጣፋሉ፤ ነጠላዋ በኋላ ላይ ተጨማሪ ፋይዳ ይኖራታል። ክንዋኔው በሳምንት ሁለት ወይንም ሶስት ግዜም ሊደገም ይችላል በማለት አቶ በቀለ ለሙ ድርጊቱን በምናባችን እንድንስለው ለማድረግ ይሞክራሉ ።

በጨረቃ ብርሃን ታግዘው

እስኪ አሁን ደግሞ በዚህ የሌሊት ጭፈራ ላይ ከሚዜሙ ዜማዎች መካከል የተወሰኑት ምን አይነት ትርጓሜ እንዳላቸው እንመልከት። አቶ በቀለ ለሙ ይቀጥላሉ።

በዚህ ትውፊታዊ ክንዋኔ ከዜማና ጭፈራ ባሻገር ወጣቶቹ በነጠላ ተሸፋፍነው ከንፈር ለከንፈር ቢሳሳሙ ቤተሰብ ቅሬታ አይሰማውም። በእርግጥ ድርጊቱ ፈፅሞ ከመሳሳም ባሻገር እንዲዘልቅ አይፈቀድም። በስህተት ከመሳሳም ያለፈ ድርጊት የፈፀመ ወጣት ከማኅበረሰቡ የሚደርስበት ቅጣት እጅግ ከባድ እንደሆነ ዶክተር ገመቹ ይገልፃሉ።

የኦሮሞ ባህል እንደ ብዙው የዓለም ማኅበረሰብ ባህል በስልጣንና በአስተዳደር ረገድ ወንዶችን ቀዳሚ የሚያደርጉ ነው። ሴቶች በዚህ መሰሉ ባህላዊ ክንዋኔ መሳተፋቸው በወንድ እና በሴት መካከል ያለውን ልዩነትም ለማጥበብ ይረዳል ይላሉ ዶክተር ገመቹ። መሰረታዊ ባህሉ ጥልቅ እንደሆነ በማብራራትም ይቀጥላሉ፤

በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች በመክሰም ላይ የሚገኘውን ይህን የኦሮሞ ባህላዊ ጭፈራ አቶ በቀለ ለሙ እና ዶክተር ገመቹ በፅሁፍ ለማስቀመጥ ሙከራ አድረገዋል። ለአብነት ያህል በላምቤርት ባርቴልስ የተፃፈው Oromo Religion የተሰኘው መፅሐፍ ይጠቀሳል። በዚህ መፀሐፍ ላይ ሁለቱም ምሁራን የበኩላቸውን አበርክተዋል። የተወሰኑትን ስነቃሎች ከአቶ በቀለ እናዳምጥ።

ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ የበርካታ ባህሎች ባለቤት፣ የተለያዩ ትውፊቶች ባለሀብት ናት። አሁን በቁንፅሉ ያቀረብንላችሁ የኦሮሞ ባህል ከውቅያኖሱ ባህላችን በጭልፋ የመጨለፍ ያህል ነው። ይህ ልጃገረዶች እና ወንዶች ልጆች የሚሳተፉበት የሌሊት ጭፈራ በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች በመጥፋት ላይ እንደሚገኝ ሁለቱም ምሁራን ያስጠነቅቃሉ።

ዘርፈ-ብዙ የባህል እሴቶቻችን እንዳይጠፉ የሚመለከታቸው አካላት በአጠቃላይ ልይ ክትትል ሊያደርጉበት እና ሊረባረቡበት እንደሚገባ በመጥቀስ የዛሬውን የባህል መድረክ ጥንቅር በዚህ እናጠቃልላለን።

ማንተጋፍቶት ስለሺ

ነጋሽ መሐመድ

ሂሩት መለሠ

ለማዳመጥ አዚህ ይጫኑ

by William Davison
The Christian Science Monitor

The strategic Horn of Africa country is one-third Muslim and two-thirds Christian; why is its state-TV ginning up religious tension?

Ethiopia, a US ally in the battle against Al Qaeda-affiliated militants in Somalia, added to mounting worries about religious discord in the diverse east African state by screening a provocative documentary on Islamic extremism.

Ethiopian Muslims are furious about the film, which they say dishonestly blurs the distinction between legitimate political protest and violence by using lurid images of foreign terrorists that have nothing to do with them.

The program, Jihadawi Harekat (Holy War Movement), ran on state-TV at peak watching hours last week, and it associates local Muslim protesters now on trial with militant groups such as Nigeria’s brutal Boko Haram movement and Somalia’s Al Shabab, as well as unrelated Ethiopian militants.

Currently, 29 leaders of a Muslim protest movement, and representatives of two Islamic charities are on trial in Addis Ababa, facing charges of plotting violence to create an Islamic state. The trial is being held behind closed doors in order to protect some 200 witnesses, according to the government.

Abbaa Urjii

Walakkaa  bara 1876ii, gaafa Ibroo Shaxaa lola Cirrachaatti waraana Kamaal Baashaa tiin odoo loluu wareegame, ilmi isaa Haamid Ibroo dardara ture. Lola Calanqoo booda, baruma 1887 keessa, gaafa Minilik summii buna keessatti naqeen Haamid Ibroo galaafatu, ilmi isaa Ibraahim Haamid, mucaa xiqqaa ture. Bara 1936, gaafa Ibraahim Haamid, nafxanyoota hawaasa Oromiyaa Bahaa sirna gabrummaa hoonga hin-qabneen araraasaa bahan adamuun hijaa bahaa ture, Abdukariim Ibraahim (Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa) hoggaas dhalata. Ilmi Haaji Ibraahim Haamid Ibroo Shaxaa fii Aadde Moominaa Eeboo, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, akka Xaaliyaan biyya teenya seeneen, bara 1936 keessa-tti, Baha Oromiyaa, Konyaa Gaara Mul’ataa, Baadaa Kurfaa Callee, Araddaa Waldaya Raammis, Ganda Mudiir Gorrootti, nama dhalate.

Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, daa’imummaa-rraa kaasee, mana barnootaa tii fii saniin alattiis, nama naamusa cimaa qabaachuun beekkame. Haalaa fii amala badoo kaa’imman harkisan irraa walaba tahuu malees, jiruu sadoo tan keessatti dhalate hordofuu caalaa, rakkataa fii dadhabaaf annaannachuu fii  gargaaruun, nama joollummaan qoma fudhatte. Lakkuma umriin ol siyxuun ummata naannoo isaa jiran keessaa, qabaataa fii dhabaan, jabaa fii dadhabaan, rakkisaa fii rakkataan, eenyu fii eenyu akka tahan adda bare. Ummata ganamaa fii galgala garaan isaa mararfatuuf, kan jallina hiree mude, talisummaa fii khash-labbummaa odoo hin-taane, sirna gabrummaa taachaa fii inni jireenyaan haala wayyaa keessa jiruus isaanirraa tokko tahuu hubate.

Lammiin inni irraa tokkoo kuni, araraafama malees, qe’uma isaanii keessatti, mirga abbaa biyyuummaa dhabanii, warra naannawa san jiran hundaan, namaa gaditti laalamuu arkaa fii dhageeytii jibbe. Haala kana dura dhaabbachuu dhiisanii, warra hawaasa biraa keessatti baquun jalaa miliquuf tattaafatan balaaleeffate. Gama isaa tiin, bakka deemu hundatti maalummaa isaa haalota adda addaa-tiin, mul’isuu jalqabe. Mana barnootaa keessatti afaan isaa dubbachuun, aadaa isaa agarsiisuun eenyu akka tahe ifa if baase. Guyyaa barnoota hin-qabne otobuusaan olii gad daddeemuun, warra yaroo makiinaa keessa seenan ummanni balfee biraa fagaatu-tti maxxanuun, kursii irraa ka’ee-fii teeysisuun, ba’aa gargaaruun, mataa ol qabatanii akka deeman onnachiisuu hujii godhate.

Biyyoo Adareetti, barnoota sadarkaa kutaa lamadaa lakkuma ol qaqqabachaa deemuun, anaannaanni saba isaatiif qabu caalaa sammuu fudhachaa deeme. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, barnoota yaroo sanitti biyya keessa-tti kennamu rakkoo takka malee xumuree, yo itti fufuullee fedhe, biyya alaa deemee barachuuf hiree gaarii nama qabu. Gama biraa tiin, ammaas, barnoota yaroo dheeraa tiin odoo if hin rakkine, kanuma biyya keessaa tiinuu, caasaa warraa keessaan, hujii mootummaa bareedduu argachuun isaaf salphaa ture. Garuu, yaaddoon dhibdee ummataa, hegeree isaa caalaa, sammuu fudhattee barnoota waakkattee, lafa warri isaanii Asaboot keessaa qaban irra qubachiifte.

Iddoo haaraya qubatettiis, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa hawaasa keessa qubate waliin wal fudhachuuf yaroo dheertuu irraa hin fuune. Akkuma naannoo Gooroo Gadiitti, olittiis, lammii isaatiif hadooduunn guyyuma guyyaan sammuu dhunfachutti seente. Haala Nafxanyootaa fii Mootummaan Habashaa lammii isaa itti laalan onneen fudhachuu didaa dhufte. Sammuun isaa halkanii fii guyyaa jiruu mataa isaa tiif yaaduu caalaa, warra akka Haamidoo fii Habiib, kanneen jiruu nagayaa jibbanii mootummaa Habashaa tiin loluuf daggala Carcar mana godhatan, tan xiinxaltu taate. Lakkuma seenaa finciltoota qoratuun, “yo namni murate tokko habashoota dilana shororkeesse, laata kan jaarame hoo akkami?” gaaffii ja’ttu if gaafachutti seene. Maqaa fii durooma warraa gubbaan naamusaa fii soora qabeenya isaa-tirraa, shamarran shashaqachaa bakkayutti jala sissiqan keessaa takka fuudhee, jiruu sadoo jiraachuu yaaduun surrii keessa sokke. Diinni saba isaa qawween if jalatti oggolchee, lubbuu fii qabeenya isaanii irratti abboomaa odoo jiruu, hamashaa dubartii bareedduu boraafatee, sirnaaf ilmaan horuu maganfate. Waan dandayuun ummata isaa gargaaruun fakkeenya sab-boonaa tahuu-rra, akka Umar Muktaar kan biyya Liibiyaa faatti, loltuu bilisummaa tahee lammii isaa gabrummaa jalaa baasuu filate. Fedhii isaa kana hujiirra oolchuuf, jiruu sadoo tiin “imaanata” je’ee, dardarummaan qabsoo hidhannoo tiif if qaadhimee,

  “Boruuyyee boruuyyee

Boruu abbaa bariisooyyee

Galgala abbaa galgalooyyee

Galgalli naan dubbatee

Boruun naan marihatee

Roorroo hamtuu agarraan

Kan Oromoo saba kootii

Kiyya garaan hammatee

Hadhaa du’aa filate”

jechaa geeraraa, namoota yaada akka isaa qaban waliin daggala seenuuf, jalqaba bara 1966a, manaa bahe.

Barbaanni jaalaa, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, qe’ee-rraa fageeysee Gaaleeytii geeyse. Gaaleeytii-tti Sheekha yaada akka isaa qabuun wal-arkatan. Sheekhni, inumaa, dhibdee ummata isaanii tiif furmaata waaraa barbaaduu dhabuun, Rabbi birattillee dirqama irraa gaafatamuuf jiraatan taachaa, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaaa tiif mirkaneesse. Akkasiin, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa Sheekhtichaa fii darasoota isaa waliin, qawwee hamma arkataniin qabsoo hidhannoo bilisummaa jalqabuuf, gandaa sossoohan. Isaanii haalaa fii lafa tarsimoo tottolfachaa jiru, akkuma naannoo Miicataa dhaqaniin, daldaloota Roobee fii Miicata jidduu daddeebi’an irraa, Fincila Oromoota Baalee dhagayan. Oduun gurra seente daranuu mirqaansitee, warra duruu diinarratti lola jalqaban waliin qabsoo itti fufuuf, karaa Baalee qaceelan. Garuu, akka lafa hamma tokko deemaniin, daadarkaan amnaa, Sheekha keessaa hamilee if dura deemuu xuuxxee, darasoota isaa waliin if-duuba deebi’uu murteeffachiifte. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa garuu, wadala miyaa fii galaa irratti fe’atu qofa akka dhiisaniif kadhatee, yaada manaa baheef hujiirra oolchuuf, amna isaa kophaa itti fufe.

Lafaa fii hawaasa hin beeyne keessa, harree fe’atanii bilisummaa barbaada deemuuf, gaafasii mitii arrallee, murannoo fii gootummaa ajaa’ibaa qabaachu nama barbaachisa. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa karaa takkaa irra deemee hin beeyne, hawaasa nama eenyummaa hin beeynee hanqatee, kan beekanittuu waan inni iyyaafachaa deemu in himne keessa qaxxaamuree, bakka garaa gaye.

Kana booda, seenaan imaltuu tan Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa qabsoo bilisummaa tiif godhe, bahara daakanii keessaa bahuu hin dandeenye keessa nama cuupha. Loltoota barbaadee itti dhaqe waliin lola adda addaa keessa naqee, Laga Dhaaree-tti gootummaa qixa hin-qabne daawwachiisee, karaa Gindhiiriin Soomaalee nama geessa. Achirraa ammaas, miyaa fii kaameeraa baadhachiisee Fincila Baaletti ol nama deebisa. San booda, lola Gola Eela Roojii, kan diinni qabsaawotatti samii gubbaa boombii itti roobse faa irraa qooda nama fudhachiisa. Walii galatti, Baaletti, hamma Fincilli Oromootaa humnaa fii tooftaa diinaa tiin akkaa-gara hin dhabini-tti, lola godhaman hunda keessa nama naqee, dhuma bara 1968, Soomaaletti nama deebisa.

Soomaalee keessatti, qabsoo ummanni keenya eenyummaa isaanii beeysisuuf godhan, dhibdee mudatan, injifannoo helanii fii seenaa Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa adda baasuun hin dandayamu. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, Soomaaletti akka deebi’een, ilmaan lammii kanneen karaa adda addaa tiin seenanii Soomaaliyaa keessa jiran babarbaadee walitti fide. Isaan keessaa, warra qabsooo hidhannootiif fedhii qaban waliin, Arfaasa 12, bara 1969, bu’ura Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo lafa kaayan. Alaabaa, Faaruu Alaabaa tii fii Faaruu Biyyaa baafatanii, leenjisa isaan barbaachisu fudhachuuf, ji’a jalqabaa tan bara 1970 Mootummaa Soomaalee jalaa mimmiliqaa, tokkoo-lamaan Magalaa Adan seenan. Mootummaan Soomaalee fedhii isaanii, tan leenjii tooftaa lolaa tii fii hidhannoo, akka bakkaan hin geenyeef yaroo hubate, kan mala armaa olii irratti hojjatee, imaltuu Adan aanjeesse, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa ti.

Seenaan Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaaa Amajjii 28, bara 1970, Mogdishoo irraa baasee Adan nama geeysa. San booda, Adan irraa fuudhee Iraaq, Iraaq irraa gama Suuriyaa namaan barara. Suuriyatti jab’haa Falasxiin waliin wal nama barsiisee, mooraa leenjii waraana isaanii ifii waliin nama naqa. Leenjii booda, Waxabajjii 3, bara 1970, Dimish’qii fuudhee, Misra geessee, Baghdaad-tti nama deebisa. Achirraa miya waraanaa baadhachiisee Adanitti nama deebisa. San booda, Onkololeessaa 17, bara 1970, hoogganummaa Qeeyroo Ganamaa tiin, Adanirraa dooniin karaa biyyaatti namaan ka’a. Galii kanaa fiis, Bahara Hindii-rra oofee, qarqara lafa Soomaalee tan Bulloo-har ja’amtu nama geeysa. Achirraan odoo hin feene fuudhee mana hidhaa, Man’dheeraa-tti namaan deema.

Iddooleen Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa dhaqee fii karaan irra deeme hundi seenaa dinqifamoo keessatti hojjataman qabu. Seenaan mana hidhaa, Man’dheeraa, qofti himamee hin dhumu. Manni hidhaa Man’dheeraa, iddoo, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, dhibdee mataa isaa irra aanee, jaallan qaamaa fii sammuun rakkatan jajjabeessuun, hogganummaa isaa hujiin itti mirkaneesse keessaa tokko. Kana malees, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa itti gaafatamaa Qeeyroo Ganamaa tahee, fuula Ziyaad Barree dura dhaabbatee, seenaa Oromoo nama barsiise. Hidhamaa ykn boojihamaa tahanii, qaallicha urjii ifiin caanceesse ija keessa daawwachaa, “seenaan ati deemtuun tan kijibaa ti. If dhibda malee ittiin hin milkooytu,” jachuuniif gootummaa gootummaa olii qabaachu nama barbaachisa. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa jeeyna onnee akkasitiin faayame.

Seenaan Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaaa, hidhaa bara shanii fii guyyaa kudha-lamaa booda, Man’dheeraa keessaa baasee, odoo bitaa fii mirga namaan hin-daddabne, akeeka ganamaatti nama deebisa. Hidhannoo barbaacha baheef, kan bahara qaxxaamuree dafka lubbuu xuruurseef malee, harka qullaa onnuma ganamaa saniin, mudawwar adii, kalooytaa adii fii imaamata adii uwwisee, akka warri karaatti arkan ja’aniinitti, nuur bi nuur fakkeessee, gammoojjii Soomaalee keessaan, miilaan karaa biyyaa namaan qaceela. Moggaa dachii-rraa Hargeessa fidee, acii Wacaale keessa tirachiisee, Hadraa Sheekh Husseen tan Tulluu Guuleedi-tti hara nama baafachiisa. Tulluu Guuleed irraa Gaara Qundhudhoo yaabbachiisee, Ganda Quraa gubbaan qilleensa qabbanaawaa Oromiyaa somba unachiisaa, Biyyoo Adaree halaalaa nama daawwachiisa. San keessa nama oofaa fidee, amna dheeraa biyyoota meeqa booda, Bitooteessa 14, bara 1976, Aaw-Wadaay duubaan Gobeelle nama fida. Achirraa Qabsoo Hidhannoo Bilisummaa Oromiyaa tan Elemoo Qilxuu faan irraa wareegaman itti nama deebisa.

Yaroo Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, maqaa guutuu Oromoo tiin qabsoo hidhannoo jalqabe, yaroo tooftaan lammi adda qoqqooduu, kan diinni baroota hedduuf irratti hojjachaa ture, karaa itti qabateef ture. Gaafni san, gaafa, mootummaan Habashaa Oromiyaa keessatti sirritti hidda gadi jabeeffatte. Gaafa nafxanyoonni “hadaraa Hayle Sillaasee!” qofaan, hawaasa Oromiyaa bobbaasanii galchaa turani. Kana malees, yaroon san, yaroo Xophiyummaan onnee Oromoota hedduu itti dhunfatte ture. San malees, yaroo, gariin lammii eenyummaa isaanii gatani. Gariiniis if dhooysuuf ijibbaata cimaa godhaa turani. Walii-galatti, yaroon san, yaroo lammii Oromiyaa keessaa irra hedduun, “harqoota mootummaa Habashaa jalaa bahuun hin dandayamu,” jechuun, gabroomsaaf oggolani.

Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, haala akkasii keessatti, gufuulee diinni eenyuummaa lammii dhabamsiisuuf baroota hedduuf tarrisaa bahetti qaataa harkise. Maqaalee adda addaa, kanneen saba Oromoo gargar qoqqooduuf moggaafaman macalaasee, Oromummaa du’arraa kaasee, sab-boonummaan faayee, qabsoo bilisummaa ummata Oromiyaa tiif xurree baasuuf, daggala gabrummaa-tti ibidda qabsiise. Kana malees, Oromoota magaalaa keessatti maqaa Oromoo tiin dhaaba dhaabbatan, kani sirritti hin beeyne, ilmaan sabaa tahuu isaanii qofaanf amanee, aangoo isaan magaalaa keessatti wal muudan gaaffii takka malee fudhachuu fiin, tokkummaa sabaa hujiin mirkaneesse.

Haaluma hundattuu, daandii haaraya saaquun salphaa miti. Qarooma malees murannoo cimaa barbaada. Hawaasa eenyummaa isaanii gatanii diinaaf oggolaa jiran keessatti, qabsoo hidhannoo adeemsisuuf ka’uun murannoo murannoo olii ti. Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa odoo sab-boononni hundi qabsoo hidhannoo jalqabuu mamanii, ni dandayamtii itti amanee, kophaa isaa gaara jiiysuuf dongoraa fudhatee itti seene.

Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, qabsaawaa jaallan waliin malee kophaa qorii harka hin keenye. Yo nyaanni kan wal hin geenye itti fakkaate, malaan jaallan nyaachisee ifii agabu, jeeyna geeraree nama onnachiisu, duulee duulchisu, kan lubbuu jaalaa baasuuf, tan isaa halaaka keessa naqu. Kana malees, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, hooggana duulatti nama ergee ifii duubatti hafu odoo hin taane, kan duula godhamu hundarraa, jaallan dirqitti if duubatti hambisani. Gootummaan isaa qe’ee diinaa keessatti-llee beekkamtu. Nafxanyoonni yaroo maqaa isaa dhagayan hin baarayne hin jiran. Yaroo ija isaa, tan goobana gaggeessu namatti dhaabu, dhanfoora keessa hulluuqee, sammuu keessaa waan yaadan kan daawwatu faakkaata. Sujuunni addarraa ifu qulqullina onnee fii qalbii sirritii mirkaneessa. Kilaash dacha’aa fii zinnara isaa hidhatee hoggaa nama dura dhaabbatee haasawu, haalli isaa daawwatamee – haasoyni qoma isaa keessaa burqu dhageeffatamee, hin-quufamu.

Abbaa Urjii, Gurraandhala, 2013

     Ugguum yaa qullaa kee!

Raajii  dha uumamni kee

Yoo alaa silaalan midhagina kan kee

Human gadi  facaasa  akkataan sinboon kee

Of-Keessaa darbata waan nama hawwatu

Yaada qalbii namaa  kan fuudhee  gugatu!

Warraaqa ifa aduu fagootti calaqqisuu

Kara adeema mara ofitti kan harkisu

Miira kan sochoosu

Du’aa kan sokoksu

Ajaa’ba Rabbii uumaa akkas bareedu

Yeroof of-dagata Kan silaale hunduu!

Haata’uyyu malee yoom akka bifa kee

Guutuu ta’ee beeka guyyu hujiin kan kee?!

Kan  sitti hiqee ilaalef keessa  eenyummaa kee

safuu! maal akkam fokkisa broof balballi kee?!

Ugguum yaa qullaa kee!

Kunuunsuu wallaltee bareedaa bifa kee

Eeggaachiuu dadhabdee qulqulluu qaama kee

Bakka argetti kuftee maqaakee dagattee

Xaba ijoollee dhaaqxee sadarkaa gad buutee

Dhoqee waliin laaqxee biyyoo bukeessitee

Sangaa jabii keessaa bakka maleetti  ooltee

Jora baatee galtaa du’aa jiraa tatee!!

Ammas yeroo qabda ka’ii tattaafadhu..

Taliila bishaaniin qaamakee dhiqadhu

Dhoqeef laaqii laaqxe ofirraa haqadhu

Urgooftuu uumamaa ofitti facaasi

Humna  of-keessaa qabdu dhoosii gadii baasi!

Reefa rafee jiru hundumaa damaqsi!

Duratti tarkaanfadhu ududdubaa dhiisii !

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Kan barreessee Bariisoo Gadaa   |Guyyaa 2/14/213                                                                                        yaada keessaniif gana E-mail: ear_tuf12@hotmail.com qunnamuu dandeessan

By  John Muchira| Engineering News 

Fears that construction of a mega hydroelectric plant in Ethiopia could stall owing to financial constraints have forced the authorities to turn to desperate measures to raise funds.

To ensure implementation of the Grand Renaissance dam project remains on course, the Ethiopian government in now turning to options like musical concerts, a lottery and an SMS campaign to raise funds after global financiers gave the project a wide berth.

A senior official says govern- ment is hoping to raise over $100-million through this strategy in the coming weeks to supplement funds being raised from donations and the sale of government bonds to finance the construction of the plant, which has a price tag of $4.8-billion. The project will have an installed capacity of 5 250 MW.

“As a country, we are com- mitted to implementing this project and the response from ordinary Ethiopians has been unprecedented,” says Fekadu Ketema, head of communication at the National Secretariat, which is overseeing the implementation of the project.

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that mobilising large domestic resources and channelling them to one project could have dire effects on the economy.

Last year, IMF country representative in Ethiopia Jan Mikkelsen said the country’s determination to fund the dam from local resources was starving the rest of the economy of funds.

The caution from the IMF and other critics of the project has done little to slow down its implementation as Ethiopia has made it clear the plant is critical to pushing the economy forward and will end the dependence on agriculture.

According to Ketema, Ethiopians are determined to implement the project and $500-milllion has been raised from ordinary citizens.

International financial institutions refused to fund the project owing to the manner in which the Ethiopian government awarded the construction contract and its failure to undertake a comprehensive environmental-impact assessment.

By the end of last year, about 14% of construction works had been completed and it is expected the project will be 26% complete by the end of this year.

The project, which is the largest hydropower plant in Africa, is being constructed by Italian company Salini Costruttori and is slated for completion in 2015.

The dam is being constructed on the Blue Nile and is touted as the solution to Ethiopia’s perennial energy deficit.

……………………………………………………..

Dani Rodrik is Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a leading scholar of globalization and economic development.

By Jilcha Hamid

 In early January of this year the Ethiopian Somali regional state security force (known as the Liyu Police) moved into the town of Mino, the administrative capital of Qumbi district in East Hararge (Oromiya Region). Although the action may have come as a surprise to many, there appears to have been a great deal of planning behind the action. If this is the case, then the sacking and looting of the town of Mino may only be the beginning of a wider agenda being discussed behind the scenes.

Inhabitants in the town of Mino who spoke to Radio Simbirtu explained that the Liyu Police arrived in Mino opening fire on civilians. The militia then began looting offices belonging to the local OPDO administration. This was essentially a government on government crime, perpetrated by the SPDP (ally of the ruling party) against the OPDO (members of the ruling party) whose officials had fled the town as the milita arrived. The looted property was then transported back to the Somali regional state. The militia then began looting the local hospital as well as the property of local businessmen, including hundreds of thousands of birr belonging to a local businessman. In response many business owners have been relocating to the town of Burqa. One of the locals speaking to Radio Simbirtu on Jan. 17^th  2013 explained:

“They’ve looted government property, they’ve looted businesses including 300,000 birr taken from a local businessman named Muktar Sharaf. They have looted the hospital, they have killed people, including 5 people who have been killed recently.”

It was also explained that Federal Police in the area failed intervene. Officials of the Oromiya Regional state in Finfinne and Adama were contacted by Radio Simbirtu. Those who could be reached claimed that they had no knowledge of what was happening in Mino, while others were quick to dismiss it as misinformation. Another official said that the Oromiya regional officials would deal with the issue legally through the courts. In conclusion there was no coherent response from the OPDO regarding the sacking of their administration in Qumbi. They had not been given any direction as to how they should respond to the issue. Perhaps they really had no information or perhaps they never expected to be asked about it. So who is the driving force behind this conflict? What are the interests at play in this conflict?

In July of 2010 the rebel UWSLF (United Western Somali Liberation Front) signed a peace deal with the Ethiopian ruling party and agreed to work within the legal process, effectively joining the Somali regional state administration. The rebel militia was integrated into the security forces of the regional state and the UWSLF’s political leadership integrated into the Somali regions political and economic landscape, strengthening Jijjiga’s ruling party, the SPDP (Somali Peoples Democratic Party). The rebel chief Ibrahim Dheere became the owner of a thriving business and his group, which only a few years ago proclaimed Jihad to “liberate Western Somalia up to the Awash valley”, after joining the government now appears to be helping to carry out their agenda from within the state in collusion with his former enemies turned allies, the TPLF. The former rebels proved their allegiance to the state by taking part in the counter-insurgency campaign against their old rival, the ONLF, and cracking down brutally on civilians thought to harbour the rebels. However, as the Somali militia’s raids into Oromia regional state have begun intensifying in the past few months it appears that the old rebels are now collecting some of their reward for their loyalty. The UWSLF, which was founded by remnants of the old al Ittihad in Western Somalia has carried the agenda of territorial expansion since its inception and all indications are that it has continued to push this agenda from within the state. In doing so it has become another card in the hands of the ruling party in its game of divide and rule. The TPLF’s contact with the Western Somali rebels date back to their time in Mogadishu when they were the guests of the Siad Barre regime and allies in the fight against the Ethiopian regime at that time. When the TPLF entered Finfinne those relations continued. Members of the WSLF, some of whom were hiding out in Mogadishu after Siad Barre was toppled, were contacted and invited to Finfinne to participate in the TGE. The reason the TPLF reached out to members of the WSLF was because they were familiar with them, and those they made use of were primarly those with anti-Oromo sentiments. Specifically people whose goals center more on territorial expansion rather than self-determination. Because their priority is territorial expansion they would see neighbouring Oromos as more of an enemy than the TPLF. A classic example is the recent deal signed between the ruling party and the UWSLF.

The leader of the UWSLF is a man who has openly expressed his animosity towards Oromos and has spoken about territories inhabited by Oromos ie. Hararge, more so than he has spoken about the atrocities committed against his people by the EPRDF in the Somali region. Therefore it was not difficult to believe that after 4 years in the bush he decided to join the government. The UWSLF are by no means EPRDF puppets. They believe that by joining the regime it would benefit them in the long term, since economic progress and territories acquired now could be held in the event of the resurgence of Somalia as a state. As far as their domestic policy, their hostility with the ONLF dates back to the ONLF’s stance against the al Ittihad faction leading the UWSLF. Therefore fighting the ONLF has been one of the UWSLF’s primary tasks after joining the Somali regional government as reported on al Jazeera (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VvOXDRkGd4). This is a key factor which made them natural allies of the ruling party.

The crimes committed in Qumbi however, should not be interpreted as a conflict between Oromos and Somalis. This is one political faction (the ruling party) using and instigating political conflicts as a means of divide and rule. This is simply the continuance of the same old policy which will make use of any means at its disposal. In 1991 after the fall of the Derg, the Gazira district in Dirre Dhawa town was home to the office of the OLF, at that time a party in the Transitional Government of Ethiopia. The OLF’s rival, the IFLO was given a headquarters just a few blocks away from the OLF office and not before long there were daily armed confrontations on the road between the two offices. The EPRDF used the hostility of the two Oromo groups to its advantage and when it decided that they would no longer benefit from this strategy, they attacked both groups and eventually closed down their offices and labelled them terrorists. Coincidentally the former OLF office now belongs to the Somali Peoples Democratic Party, the ruling party in Jijjiga which supposedly gave the order to invade Qumbi.

The silence of the Oromiya regional state officials in response to this attack indicates that these are decisions which are being dictated from above their heads and they know all too well, that speaking out against such a decision could cost them more than their jobs. Despite the silence and approval of government officials, students and residents in neighbouring districts have been helping displaced civilians who had fled Qumbi.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS| ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Ethiopian rebels are warning a Canadian oil company against oil exploration in the country’s east.

By Dagnachew Teklu|TheAfricanReport

Ethiopia on Friday banned three civic organisations accusing them of doing ‘illegal religious activities.’

The ban came at a time when Ethiopian muslims are protesting against perceived government interference in their activities.

No further details were made available by the government on the alleged illegal activities that led to the ban.

Observers fear the latest move by the government would spark protests by muslims in the Horn of Africa country.

One Euro, Islamic Cultural and Research Center and Gohe Child, Youth and Women Development were affected by the ban.

Ethiopia has banned a number of non governmental organisations since it introduced the Civic Organisations Law two years ago.

The law seeks control operations of NGOs and their source of funding.

According to the law, any civic group that receives more than 10 percent of its funding from foreign sources cannot be involved in human rights advocacy or capacity building, among other activities.

The Ethiopia Civic Organizations Registrar said the banned organisations were using money from donors to fund personal affairs.

The agency said it had also sent a warning to some 109 civic organisations considered to be violating the law.

Read the original article on Theafricareport.com : Ethiopia bans NGOs | The Africa Report.com
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(OPride) — Ibro Shaxa was killed at the battle of Ciracha during Egyptian invasion of Abyssinia led by Rauf Pasha in 1876. He left behind a teenage son, Hamid. Unlike his father, Hamid, was poisoned by Menelik after the battle of Calanqo (1887) in which the Abyssinian army defeated Oromo fighters. Hamid too, left his young son, Ibrahim, behind.

Abdulkarim Ibrahim was born in 1936, at a time when Abyssinian feudal lords usurped Oromo lands and subjected the farmers to a life of servitude. The son of Haji Ibrahim Hamid Ibro Shaxa, Abdulkarim — better know as Jara Abba Gadaa — was born in Eastern Oromia, near Gara Mulata, a village of Mudir Goro, to a generation of men who have died fighting long and hard.

From an early age, in and outside of school, his peers knew Jara as a respectful and humble friend. Compassionate by nature, the soft hearted Jara was known for helping the needy.  As he came of age, Jara began seeing notable differences between the haves and have not’s, the troublemakers and the troubled among his rural community. He soon realized that the Oromo were seen as inferiors and relegated to second-class status on their own land. He demurred at those who attempted to fit-in with others by accepting what was imposed on them instead of revolting against the status quo and fighting for their freedom.

Read more at http://www.opride.com

By Geresu Tufa

Oromo nationalism is a political force that has emerged in the context of severe political oppression, cultural subjugation and economic exploitation, in order to pursue national liberation and social justice for Oromo people. Despite this fact there are tendencies among some, who contend that Oromo national struggle for self determination should be evolved to postnational politics. According to these folks,  nationalism in general and Oromo nationalism in particular are no more  a political vehicle that can be mobilized as force of change due to rampant  globalization, development of communication technology  and supranational integration. I am writing this short commentary in order to challenge this notion and show that nationalism in general and Oromo nationalism in particular is still a powerful socio-political force to be perused.

The notion that, as a result of intensified globalization, nationalism and national identity have become passé, is not matched by facts on the ground. Post nationalism theorists such as Jürgen Habermas argued that there is a shift from nationalism to post nationalism. According to Habermas and other post national theorist the shift is mainly caused by the development of new technology and communication.  Supranational integration such as the one being experimented with in the context of the European Union (EU) is also given as an additional reason for the “alleged” shift. For Habermas, European integration was to be more than simply an administrative affair.  It is true that due to development of modern communication, transportation and economic integration in a post modern world, people are much more connected to each other than they did in previous times.

However, the perception  held by deniers of identity politics that this new phenomenon  have made nationalism and national identity an archaic fact  is a totally exaggerated inference, if not a wishful thinking. In reality, after the end of the Cold-War, the focal point of world history shifted from the struggle between statist communism and capitalism to a new arena of nationalism. In this regard, there are scholars who have compellingly argued that nationalism is not only outlived against the odds of globalization, but also remained as indispensable ingredient for establishment and sustenance of democratic society. Georgian scholar Ghia Nodia is worth to be noted in this regard. Nodia asserts that democracy never exist without nationalism by providing reason to substantiate his claims. To Nodia, the core of democracy is based on popular sovereignty which is directly linked to nationalism. Democracy is always situated within communities and hence does not arise from asocial condition.  Nodia commented that:

there is no record anywhere of free, unconnected, and calculating individuals coming together spontaneously to form a democratic social contract ex nihilo…. Whether we like it or not nationalism is a historical force that has provided the political unit for democratic government.

Thus, nationalism is and will remain to be a vital force that would play a pivotal role in contemporary globalized world.
There are different scholars who have provided empirical and theoretical sets of evidence that attest to the above assertion of continued salience of nationalism in the contemporary world. In his 2012 award winning essay titled “Much Ado about Nothing : The Case of Nationalism in Globalized World ” , Joel Roy has also outlined some empirical and theoretical arguments that show nationalism has been  reinforced by the prevailing globalization trend than  otherwise.
In this essay, it is argued that the perceived threat of uniformization by global cultural dominance and identity-dilute has actually reinvigorated nationalism. He argued that the perceived threat to nationalism and the predicted demise of nations a few decades ago motivated reactive type of nationalism and intensified consciousness of people about their attachment and identification. The propensity of people to embark on protective measures to preserve their national identity, become stronger when they felt that their core identity and cultural uniqueness appear to be jeopardized.
Manuel Castells also pointed out that nations without states have in fact been a lot more militant regarding their desire for independence and/or increased autonomy in the last few decades. Attendant to this affair, Ernest Gellner also forwarded a plausible argument that education is one of the main transmission belt through which nationalist (awakeners) orientate the national feeling of the whole population. Hence, the proliferation of new technology and communication, which is given as a factor to weaken nationalism and national identity, actually helped it, since education and information can be wide spread through these same new technology and communication. The expansion of Oromo cultural costumes and musical clips in the last decade is only an example of how technology and communication may be deployed to boost nationalism and to serve its causes.

In a similar vein, Manuel Castells argued that “the threat of cultural homogenization” is actually one of the factors that contributed to minority culture struggling to find a fitting niche in global net.
Furthermore, evidence presented in the same essay that a supranational integration such as the EU has in fact reinvigorated nationalism in member states lest they would lose their cultural specificity. Despite Habermas’s thesis that supranational integration such as EU has shifted to post nationalism, the extensive resurgence of nationalist parties in the EU contradict the “alleged shift”.
Liberal and pro-globalization thinker and renowned journalist Fareed Zakaria has also argued that nationalism is rising in non-western countries as result of economic growth. In his book titled “Post American World”, Fareed said, “as economic fortunes rise, so does nationalism” by citing example from China. He said

Imagine that you lived in a country that had been poor and unstable for centuries. And then, finally things turn and your nation is on the rise. You would be proud and anxious to be seen. This desire for recognition and respect is surging throughout the world. It may seem paradoxical that globalization and economic modernization are being breeding political nationalism, but that is so only if we view nationalism as a backward ideology, certain to be erased by the onward march of progress.

In conclusion, in situation like ours (i.e., that of the Oromo) where our people have been marginalized for century and exposed to severe oppression, economic exploitation and cultural subjugation, the argument that globalization would make Oromo nationalism superseded  is simply a self deception. Even if we give the benefit of doubt for those who argue that globalization would undermine nationalism, this cannot be the case in our circumstance. The reason is very clear. Those who have the opportunity to benefit from globalized economic activity (this is a contested notion for developing countries) are those who have control over their own political and economic infrastructure. This means the dominant group who has got control over their own and others’ political and economic infrastructure are those who benefit from globalized economy and therefore become powerful and prosperous. As a result, it will give them an additional leverage to strengthen their repressive power and provide them with enhanced means to   exploit.

Consequently, such phenomenon would further marginalize the already marginalized nations like Oromo. The already enormous and infuriating disparity would intensify the competition between dominant and oppressed nationalisms which in effect entails further repression. Hence, as long as the structural violence and systemic problem intrinsic to the Ethiopian hegemonic state endures, national self determination would remain a legitimate demand for the oppressed peoples in general and Oromo nation in particular. Nationalism continues to be a powerful motivation behind these demands. And from the look of things, it is bound to stay.

————————————

Geresu  Tufa is a graduate student in  International Business Management  and and  Oromo activist residing  in the Netherlands.
For comments he can be reached via geresu@gmail.com

For the Anuak, land is essentially everything. . . . Land is identity and is survival for the community. . . . For the Anuak, the environment is their food source, for hunting, for fishing, for medicinal purposes. . . . They use the land, forest, and river; everything is very vital to their survival.

– Nyikaw Ochalla, Director, Anywaa Survival Organization 

As part of the Oakland Institute’s (OI) continued research and reporting on the ever unfolding and unfortunately more distressing news coming out of Ethiopia, OI recently published a new briefing paper titled Unheard Voices: The Human Rights Impact of Land Investments on Indigenous Communities in Gambella. Prepared by the International Human Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, this briefing paper provides an overview of the human rights impacts of land investment and the villagization process on the indigenous Anuak community in Ethiopia’s Gambella region.

Unheard Voices builds on the Oakland Institute’s extensive in-country research on land investments in Ethiopia and features the testimony of two prominent indigenous human rights defenders and Anuak community members, Obang Metho of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia and Nyikaw Ochalla of the Anywaa Survival Organization. Most importantly, this report furthers the understanding of the impacts on the ground as land deals actively affect peoples’ lives. Because the government has made research and reporting within Ethiopia very risky for journalists and activists, this report and the stories told in it are a vital resource for the impacted communities to have their voices heard. The hope is that those outside of the government’s control can help take meaningful action to stop ongoing human rights abuses.

Background 

In my last blog entry, I explained Ethiopia’s use of forced relocation, through the country’s villagization program, to clear lands and pave way for plantations, as well as the human rights abuses including rape, torture, and jailing of people in the Gambella region. Since 2010, the Ethiopian government has displaced hundreds of thousands of residents of indigenous communities from their ancestral lands, and has made these lands available to investors at giveaway prices. This, coupled with the government’s relocation process called “villagization,” has destroyed livelihoods, leaving small-scale farmers and pastoralist communities fearful for their own survival. These actions are in direct violation of Ethiopia’s obligations under international human rights law and the Ethiopian government has systematically failed to answer for these abuses. This is all while the government continues to tout the infrastructure and service-related benefits that have largely failed to materialize.

Human Rights Abuses

Anuak community members Obang Metho and Nyikaw Ochalla confirm reports by OI and Human Rights Watch (HRW) of forced removals, demolition of houses, and the destruction of crops and ancestral burial grounds.

“When [the government] comes to take their land, it is without their knowledge, and in fact [the government] says that they no longer belonged to this land, [even though] the Anuak have owned it for generations. . . . [In one instance] the government told the Anuak people to load their cattle, goats, and chickens onto trucks so that they could be moved to outside villages.” – Nyikaw Ochalla

Ethiopian police and soldiers beat and arrest those who do not comply with this “voluntary program,” and individuals are only released on the condition that they support the program. Those who try to return, according to Metho, found “their homes were destroyed and the land was completely changed.”

Furthermore, once relocated, these communities of Anuak farmers are left to fend for themselves with substandard land to be cultivated statically, a way with which they have no experience. The Anuak’s cultivation practices rely on shifting cultivation on one plot of land for several years before moving on to another. Seven to ten years later, they return to begin the process all over. From self-sufficient and sustaining to becoming dependent on aid, Ochalla explains that the Anuak’s way of life is being destroyed: “The government is depriving the Anuak people of their memories, homeland, and traditional farming system. And the Anuak are leaving behind homes [they have lived in] for generations. . . . The Anuak are now mov[ed] to a land that cannot be inhabited, with no water, and no access to education. This has created so much impact on their livelihoods.” For Metho, these realities are equally disturbing. “For the indigenous people, [their land,] their one identity and existence as a people for their survival has been taken away by the very government that is supposed to protect them.”

In Gambella, like in other parts of the country where the Oakland Institute has investigated recent investments, the Ethiopian government never consulted the local people and they were not compensated for their land. Unfortunately, when it comes to the violation of rights and international human rights treaties, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

International Treaties Broken 

The Ethiopian government is in violation of no less than seven international human rights treaties, including the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. These treaties are coupled with regional treaties including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, among others. Signing these treaties is not a symbolic act; these treaties obligate the Ethiopian government to strive to not only meet these minimum standards, but also to surpass them. As pointed out in the report, these treaties also cover policies that may threaten human rights.

“Collectively, these treaties cover an expansive range of human rights, and the Ethiopian government has an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill them all. That means that not only must the government eschew policies that threaten or violate human rights, but it must also shield its people from the adverse behavior of third parties, including private investors.”

This creates a stark contrast between Ethiopia’s international, regional, and local legal obligations and with its continuing of the villagization program that has and continues to destroy livelihoods and regularly violates the rights of people across Ethiopia.

The report sets forth a number of recommendations as first steps to be taken by relevant actors to end these heinous violations. These steps must be taken immediately to comply with obligations under international human rights law and to respond appropriately to the human rights abuses caused as a result of large-scale land investments and the villagization program in Ethiopia.

Where to Start 

The Oakland Institute has called on the Ethiopian government to ensure that its agricultural investment policies are carried out in accordance with international human rights law. Specifically, it called on the government to:

• Ensure the rights of indigenous peoples, including securing their free, prior and informed consent before enacting any development or investment-related plans that affect indigenous groups’ territories.
• Extend invitations to relevant U.N. Special Rapporteurs to conduct independent investigations into the abuses taking place in connection with land investments and the villagization process, thereby demonstrating the government’s commitment to human rights as a new member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Oakland Institute also called on foreign investors to:

• Respect human rights by ensuring that any applicable investments do not infringe on the human rights of indigenous peoples and other affected communities.
• Exercise due diligence by conducting impact assessments both prior to and during investment activity in order to mitigate and address potential adverse

As always, the Oakland Institute is dedicated to keeping you updated on the villagization process in Ethiopia. Please regularly check the OI’s blog or our Facebook page for new developments.

Nickolas Johnson is the Policy Analyst at the Oakland Institute and is currently focusing on land investment deals, food security, human rights, and the environment.

By Karamarda Group|Wardheer News|  January 16, 2013

In spite of Meles’s death and historical persona changes in Ethiopian political leadership, The Somali people’s saga is never ending. Today if there is any way to describe the Somali Regional State at best, it could be George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) novel, established in Oceania, where society is tyrannized by The Party and its totalitarian ideology. A province (Somali Region) perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system euphemistically (Ethnic based -federal states) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite (The military and their Somali drudges) that persecutes all individuals regardless of their gender, age or political affiliation. In this paper, we will reflect on the failed negotiations, the change in the central government and its impact, the Somali Regions situation and ONLF. (Some of the 1984 book description is taken from.wikipedia.org).

Ethio-ONLF Negotiations

Recently the long anticipated negotiations of ONLF and Ethiopia concluded without any meaningful discussions.The Karamarda Group has offered plausible scenarios when the negotiations rumored back on May 2012. Based on the historical data and our experience in the past 20 years of working in Ethiopia, we offered our view and what might come out of these negotiations. Whether the two groups would resume talks or not remain to be seen.

For the first time in the recent Somali-Ethiopia conflict, The Ethiopian government accepted international mediation and met face to face with The Ogaden National Liberation Front ( ONLF).The Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front were mediated by the Kenyan government, financed by the western governments. The first meeting was held on September 6 and 7, right after the burial of Meles Zenawi, the architect of present-day Ethiopia; To spectator’s surprise, in the midst of a nationwide mobilized mourning, where everyone including homeless, disable, elders were forced to mourn and pay respect, the government of Ethiopia dispatched a team led by the Ethiopian Defense Minster to meet with ONLF in Nairobi. According to reports, The first meeting was concluded successfully with positive gesture and without any preconditions, letting the Somali people in Ethiopia to dream big and hope that the long conflict might end soon; even, ONLF hard core supporters who all along were cynical about Ethiopia started to unknot their century old hatred and start to imagine a peaceful truce.

Yet, an addiction of lie and manipulation cannot be cured overnight; there is a process and relapse. The highly awaited meeting in the second round on October 15 to 17 immediately broke down and exposed the usual EPRDF true character. Reports from Nairobi confirmed that the Peace process have been stalled or collapsed, both parties accusing one another for the failure of the talks. The Ethiopian government stated that ONLF group refused to accept and respect the Ethiopian constitution and could only talk if they accept and work within the constitutional framework. Whereas, ONLF stated in a press release that the Ethiopian government delegation did not respect the principles agreed upon on September 6 and 7, “holding of negotiations must be in accordance with mutually acceptable principles and no preconditions shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations.”

Who were assigned to negotiate and what was the pre-agreement?

The ONLF team was led by Head of the Foreign Relations, Abdirahman Mahdi and Mohamed Ahmed Abbas, Head of Research and a number of other ordinary members to reflect representation within the ONLF. The Ethiopian team was led by Ministry of Deference; the following members were assigned from the Ethiopian government:

•  Siraj Fegessa-Minister, Ministry of National Defense (Head of Delegation)
•  Major General Abraha Wolde Mariam (Deputy Head of Delegation), Commander of the Eastern  Command.
• Brigadier General Gebre Medhane-Head of Defense Intelligence:
• Col; Gebre Egziabher Alemseged (involved in Somalia): Member;
•  Col. Gabre Yohanes Abate- former head of Ethiopian Forces in Mogadishu in 2009. 
• Colonel, Mebrhtu Wolde Aregay-Defence Intelligence. 
• Lieutenant Colonel Alemu Kitate-Military Attache based Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi.

According to the ONLF press and confirmed by Bereket Simon, during the first meeting on September 6 and 7, both parties agreed: to resolve the conflict peacefully; the following points were mutually taken as an agreement by both parties for further negotiations and confidence building measures:

The holding of negotiations must be in accordance with mutually acceptable principles and no preconditions shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations;

The substantive agenda of the peace negotiations shall include issues that will facilitate the implementation of any peace agreement and Both parties shall agree to specific measures of goodwill and confidence building in order to create a favorable climate for the negotiations.

So, what went wrong?

There might be a number of contributing factors to the immediate collapse of the negotiations; we believe the flowing points are the major elements:

•  The Ethiopian government representatives were not prepared to negotiate in good faith. The delegation did not have the cohesion and structural frame work to negotiate a peace deal. Though the Defense Minster was in charge of the group, in the first meeting, he has been often observed yielding the discussion to General Gebre Adhane. In the second meeting, the entire process was over taken by Major General Abraha Wolde Mariam. We believe the intentions were to show the world their willingness to come to table, yet to create a rift and division among the rebel group by putting forward a condition that might split them. Unsuccessful in their attempt, once gain they summon a low rank member into Addis, the only one that accepts the constitution.

•  Meles Zenawi Asres the most powerful man in Ethiopia has left the country without any meaningful structural chain of command. Currently, there is a power vacuum in Ethiopian politics. Meles power came through a long journey of solidifying his base of power by removing opponents. By doing so, He left Ethiopia without any internal or external opposition group. A good example was the 2000, TPLF internal struggle where significant number of heavy weight TPLF fighters were removed. The last powerful old guards were systematically removed during 2010 election through generational reform, among, Seyoum Mesfin, Abay Tsehay , Arkebe Equbay and others. As result, In the midst of political transition in Ethiopia, the Tigray military commanders are the most powerful group.

•  The Ethiopian delegation team was entirely from the Defense Minister and military Intelligence personnel whom have the least interest in any change in the Somali region. In the second round meeting, the Eastern Command Genral Abraha attended along with Mowlid Hayer, a Somali civil servant in the SRS who was not allowed to enter in the negotiation room. Genral Abraha is said to be the one who rejected the pre-agreement of the negotiations single-handedly and put forward the precondition.

•  The new prime Minster who hails from Southern Nations and Nationalists is not from the Tigary Region where currently all political and economic power remain on hand. As such, by many analysts he is described at best, a place holder, a rubber stump or a signatory machine. He has no political or military power in Ethiopia to implement any policy with such magnitude to negotiate a peace deal with a rebel group. Furthermore, the Somali region issues might not be a priority for the new prime minster currently as he has significant difficulties to deal in Southern Nation and Nationalities as well as the Tigray power base.

•  The Somali Region administration was not consulted nor had any role in the negotiations process, in fact, it has been rumored that the ONLF made it clear through the Kenyan government that no Somali regional representative would be part of any talks. As result, the Regional administration has done every possible effort to undermine and sabotage the negotiations process.

Somali Region

The Somali Region propaganda machines have been in full gear since the talks collapsed, they are jubilant and celebrating a setback that would have brought peace in the Region. The Regional administration has given interviews to the different Somali media outlets to denounce the talks. As soon as the peace talks failed, they got a talking point, The Ethiopian constitution!! The Ethiopian constitution is not the Holy Quran; it is a frame work to provide a sense of direction, law and order. It is a good piece of paper, if it is implemented and respected. The government contradicts itself, after Mele’s death,

the new prime minster appointed three deputy prime ministers, it Is not in the Ethiopian constitution to have three deputy-prime ministers, but it has been argued by the Ethiopian government as a necessary steps to ensure stability and power sharing. If there is any sense of humanity in the SRS administrative body, more than anything, they would have done every possible effort to bring together the two groups for lasting peace. However, they mobilized by force the innocent SRS citizens in Jigjiga to show their oppositions to the peace process so that calmness will never achieved in their land; what an absurdity!!

Subsequently, in the weeks following the collapse of the talk, The Somali Regional Administration (SRA) along the military commanders, staged a public relation campaign called “Discussion with the public to strengthen development, security and good governance”; !s always, the lunatic president of the SRS Abdi Mohamed Omer organized public stage of humiliation and shaming. Read Mukter M; Omer’s eloquent tell of “The Jigjiga Desecration” and Bashiir Mahd’s “Shirka Jigjiga: Dhaqan Liinbaxaymise Dhimir dhalan Rogan”; Abdi Mohamed Omer is certainly the top Somali officials who have mastered the brain of Tigray commanders. Whenever he senses insecure, he sketch his way out by providing valuable gifts to high ranking military commanders or by creating some sort of mass mortifications to entertain his masters, create diffusions from the core of the crisis or a commotion of insecurity, and so far, his strategy is paying off. To echo few of his past grand schemes, the ESPDP’s Party Convention in Birqood, the infamous journey ‘Ubo-Quusis’, the Inauguration the !bsame Garad and recently the public humiliation in Jigjiga. To cement his projects, he will always find one or two respected members of the society such as Dolal Aden, lured by opportunistic desires of quick cash and power or blinded by ONLF hatred. These individuals, mostly from the diaspora, are well respected in the society; some of them are indeed considered heroes, struggled for the freedom of the Somali people and sacrificed a lot in the past. If their presence and involvement with SRS administration would bring a slight change in the life of the ordinary citizens, we would not be against it. But if they cannot change the status quo of mass humiliation, jail, subjugation and torture, then, they are simply partners in crime and time and history will record their poor judgment.

ONLF

ONLF has been engaged in military operation since 1994, it has reputedly indicated that they are fighting for all Somalis and are represented by all Somalis in the region. Yet, the delegation that represented the peace process is a true testimonial of ONLF organization and its representations. Though, ONLF came out of this negotiation more governmental and credible, their delegations lack gender representation (women who are the back bone of the movement) and were only Ogden clan representation; the organization faces a huge challenge within the Somali Regional communities. In the past we dedicated a full paper, ONLF must reform as an organization to be credible and inclusive. Today, more than any time, ONLF needs to review itself and take a bold action to get the support it desperately needs from all Somalis who are living under the same tyranny and dictatorship.

Conclusions: 

Currently, the rule of the game for the ordinary citizens in the Somali Region is to survive, unfortunately that means; to show no humility, no respect to human or animals, no dignity or pride, to lie in public of savagery sex acts. In the case of SRS officials, just like Abdi Ilay, to sob hysterically like child who lost his father when the chance permits to indicate fidelity; of course, without Meles policy, Abdi and alike would have never hold a minor position let alone to hold a presidency. The truth of the matter is that, no one would cry for legacy of brutality, lack of fairness and lack of development!!

The Somali Region has been under the shadow of military and security apparatus for the past 20 years. The Military commander in Harare is the most influential and powerful individual when it comes into the Somali Region affairs. In the aftermath of Meles Death, the military commanders have already gained more power and are seen by the new Prime minister and Deputy Prime ministers as the power breakers. The military as always will continue to back weak individuals like Abdi Mohamed Omer for their own personal financial gains. It is clear that the spoilers of the peace process are the military and the Somali Region so called Administration. Both groups are the direct beneficiaries of insecurity and lowliness in the Somali Region. We hope the 2013 will bring peace, prosperity and good governance in the Somali Region.

By Ali Abdi

The Karamarda Executive Committee

The Karamarda Group is a group of Somali Regional State citizens who are interested in promoting Democracy and Good Governance in the Somali Region of Ethiopia and could be reached at karamardagroup@gmail.com

Kan barreesse: Najiib Zannuun

Sheeka keenya guddaa Kan uumamaan hayyuu
Waa’ee saba keenyaaf kan dhimmamu guyyuu
Seenaa isaa himee fixuu hin dandayuu
Xiqquman dubbadhaa namuu haa dhagayuu

Kan inni dhalate,kudha sagal soddomii afuritti
Abbaan isaa Kabiir Abdullee, ilma Mummayyaati
Haati isaa Faxumaa, intala shurraati
Bakki dhalootaa Oromiyaa, Carcar keessatti
Laga Arbaati magaalaa muummittii

Barnoota jalqabaa abbarraa baratee
Daran cimsachuudhaaf hayyama gaafatee
Beeytoota barbaada achi tarkaanfate
Hayyoota jajjaboo heddurraas barate
Sheik Bakrii Saphaloo isas dabalatee
Beekkumsa jajjabaa achirraa horate.

Barnoota biyyatti erga bakkaan gahee
Daran cimsatuudhaaf biyya alaa bahee,
Hayyama gaafate abbaa bira gahee
Innis ni eebbise addaan bahuuf nahee
Gaafa san jalqaba biyyarraa kan bahe.

Yaman tarkaanfatuun Su’udii dhaqee
Lubnaaniif Masrittis garasumaan maqee
Yunivarsiitii jalqabaa barachuuf qunnamee
Al-Azhaar keessattis akkaan jaalatamee
Doktarummaa isaa itti badhaafame.

Waan isaan nuuf godhan himamee hin dhumuu
Irrumaan tuttuqaa haa dhagayuu namuu

Arra guyyaa keessaa if waa hin barree
Uumamumaan Rabbiin keessatti unkure
Baradheen barsiisaaf tabba bahee raaree
Rakkoo adda addaa hunda jala taree
Kunoo arraan tana hedduut irraa bare.

Gaafa afaan keenya dukkanatti qaban,
Yeroo dubbatanii yakkatti laalaman,
Biyya Somaalerraa raadiyoon dhawwaaqan.
Qubee Afaan oromoon kitaabas maxxansan
Yoomuu hin dagannu waan isaan nuuf godhan.

Bara shantam dura kan inni dubbate
Mee akkaan hubadhu yoo qalbii qabaatte

“Bar seenaa kan kee baratuun si qabee
Namni seenaan qabne nama jiruu dhabee
Bar seenaa ifii baratuun wajabee
Namni seenaan qabne nama bakka dhabee
Yoo seenaan kan kee isa jabaa tayee
Bar ati dureessaa nama samii bayee
Yoo amanti’iin dura ati jabaa taate
Eega amanti’iitii sumaaf aduun baate”.
Akkas jechuudhaan dhaamsa dabarsate.

Waggaa meeqa guutuu itti ifaajanii
Afaan Oromootti qur’aana hiikanii
Sagalee qulqulluun gurra nu buusani.
Kana qofaa miti gumaachi isaanii
Kitaaba adda addaas hedduu maxxansanii
Himamee waan dhumu galanni isaanii
Jiraadhuu nuuf turi dheeradhu umriinii.
Galata kee haa galchu Rabbiin jannataanii

Kan dhugaa dubbatu isa hin kijibne
Kan haqa malee dharaaf raga hin bane,
Namaat jala deema malee kan nama jala hin deemne,
Horii fi bu’aadhaaf dantaa kan hin qabne,
Soda diinaatiif qishif kan hin janne,
Nuuf turi daranuu sumaan bayyanannee.

Sheek Muhaammad Rashaad kabiir Abdullaahii
Nuti si jaalanna dhugaan onnerraahii
Umrii dheertuun barayyuu jiraadhu
Bakka yaadde gahii wahayyuu argadhu!

Kan si hordofee bobba’u
Si faana deemee haa milkaa’u
Kan si jibbu hundi haa du’u
Hayyuun akka keetii bakka san haa bu’u.

Mil’uun kee diina haa kuffisu
Waaqni adawwii tee haa dhamaasu!

Akkuma kanaan itti fufi
Nyaapha keenyatti karaa cufi\
Kan si hordofan hiriirsi
Diina kee wareersi!!

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Najiib Zannuun: marsimoonaa@hotmail.com

Sheek Mohammadrashaad Kabiir Abdullee Kabiir Muummayyaa Carcar

Nearly two months after the latest ethnic clash among Oromo and Tigre students in AAU 4 kilo campus, as expected  the university administration has expelled Oromo students selectively. Our sources in Finfinne have reported that only the Oromo students are the victims of this latest suspension/expulsion while the Tigre students, including the one that ignited the conflict by writing offensive language targeting the Oromo, have been reinstated  back on to their education.  It is to be recalled that in 2004  this same university ruined the lives of 350 Oromo students by expelling them.Below is the list of those students  expelled or suspended from the university.

Helen Epstein|The New York Review of Books

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

President Barack Obama preparing to address Ghana’s parliament, Accra, Ghana, July 11, 2009

America’s new drone base in the West African city of Niamey, Niger, announced by the White House on Friday, further expands our counter-terrorism activity in Africa. It’s also consistent with the militaristic emphasis of the Obama administration’s engagement with the continent. This may help contain the spread of jihadist violence in specific cases, but by failing to address persistent abuses of human rights by our African military allies, America is also undermining its own development investments that are intended to lift millions of people out of poverty and ensure the continent’s peace, stability, and economic growth.

The administration’s neglect of human rights in Africa is a great disappointment, since the president began his first term by laying out ambitious new goals for the continent. In July 2009, when his presidency was only six months old, Barack Obama delivered a powerful speech at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, the point from which millions of African slaves were shipped across the Atlantic. He called on African countries to end the tyranny of corruption that affects so many of their populations, and to build strong institutions that serve the people and hold leaders accountable. The speech seemed to extend the message of his much-discussed Cairo address a month earlier, in which he called for a new beginning for Muslim relations with the West, based on non-violence and mutual respect. Many thought that the policies of the new president, himself of Kenyan descent, would depart from those of the Bush administration, which provided a great deal of development aid to Africa, but paid scant attention to human rights.

After more than four years in office, however, Obama has done little to advance the idealistic goals of his Ghana speech. The US finally suspended military aid to Rwanda last year, after it was forced to accept evidence of Rwandan support for the brutal Congolese rebel group M23, but has otherwise ignored the highly problematic human rights situation in that country. In Uganda, the US looked on for years as President Yoweri Museveni’s cabinet ministers gorged themselves on American and other foreign aid intended for impoverished farmers, war victims, roads, and health care. US diplomats have recently begun expressing support for Uganda’s many oppressed civil society groups, but one wonders what took them so long. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Uganda is a vital US military ally in Somalia, where Ugandan troops helped oust the Islamic militant group al-Shabbab from Mogadishu last year.

Meanwhile, Kenya, another important US ally in Somalia that is soon to bereceiving drones from the Pentagon, is preparing for national elections on March 4. But some observers say the country is more violent now than it was in 2007, when post-election ethnic clashes left 1000 people dead and caused economic chaos across East Africa. Presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto have both been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes connected with those events. It’s not clear what the US will do if Kenyatta wins, but it often seems as if Obama will work with any African leader who furthers America’s military aims, regardless of how that leader treats his own people.

Awolia School Support Page

Ethiopian Muslims protesting in Addis Ababa, October, 2012

And then there is Ethiopia. Today, Western nations give $3.5 billion a year in aid to Ethiopia, most of it for health care projects, food aid, and other development programs. Of this, the US alone provides roughly $700 million—an amount that has quintupled in the past decade, even as the nation’s human rights record has deteriorated to the point that Freedom House now designates it one of the least free countries in the world. The Ethiopian government has rigged elections, taken control of the economy, and outlawed virtually all independent media and human rights activity in the country—including work related to women and children’s rights, good governance, and conflict resolution. Thousands of political prisoners languish behind bars and dozens of editors, journalists, judges, lawyers, and academics have been forced into exile.

But when Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died last summer, then-US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice praised him as a personal friend and a “talented and vital leader.” When she remarked that “he had little patience for fools, or ‘idiots,’ as he liked to call them,” some in the opposition believed she was referring to them—and approving Meles’s sentiments. Rice’s support for authoritarian leaders in Africa was highlighted by critics who opposed—and ultimately derailed—her nomination to be secretary of state.

Perhaps most worrying of all is the unwillingness of Obama and other Western leaders to say or do anything to support the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Ethiopians who have been demonstrating peacefully against government interference in their religious affairs for more than a year. (The Ethiopian government claims the country has a Christian majority, but Muslims may account for up to one half of the population.) You’d think a nonviolent Islamic movement would be just the kind of thing the Obama administration would want to showcase to the world. It has no hint of terrorist influence, and its leaders are calling for a secular government under the slogan “We have a cause worth dying for, but not worth killing for.” Indeed, the Ethiopian protesters may be leading Africa’s most promising and important nonviolent human rights campaign since the anti-apartheid struggle.

Yet the United States, along with other major donors to Ethiopia’s government, including Britain, has stood by as women and men have been hideously beaten by police, hundreds have been arrested, eight people have been killed, mosques have been raided by security forces, and twenty-nine Muslim leaders, including lawyers, professors, and businessmen, remain in jail, charged with trying to use violent means to create an Islamic state.

The demonstrations started in late 2011, after the government began forcing Imams to adopt an imported version of Islam. The Ethiopian government has a long history of trying to control civil society groups, including religious orders, by taking over their leadership. In 1992, Meles replaced the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church with a party insider. Many Christians still resent this. In 1995, he replaced the leader of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, also known as the “Majlis,” again with someone from his party. Muslims grumbled about this, but did little more.

Then in 2011, on the pretext that the Islamic community was being radicalized by fundamentalist groups, Meles invited a Lebanese Islamic sect known as “Ahbash” to Ethiopia. The group, which was founded in Beirut by an Ethiopian exile in 1983, preaches obedience to government and opposes politicization of religion. All of Ethiopia’s Imams were required to go to meetings to listen to these newcomers, and were threatened with imprisonment if they refused. In the meetings, government officials were invariably present, and would lecture the imams about “Revolutionary Democracy,” the ruling party’s particularly rigid political doctrine. Most Ethiopian imams are volunteers, who work mainly as farmers, teachers, or in other trades to support themselves. But those who resisted taking part in the meetings and refused to preach the “Ahbash” version of Islam soon found themselves replaced by government-appointed, salaried adherents of the new official religion. The imams and their defenders began organizing nonviolent demonstrations that have since spread across the country.

In response, the Ethiopian government has attempted to portray the protesters as jihadists, most recently claiming in a government TV documentary that they are under the influence of Salafist extremists from Saudi Arabia. When a lawyer for the jailed movement leaders told a Voice of America journalist that the documentary undermined the presumption of innocence of his clients, he too was threatened with arrest. If this fear-mongering has been intended to send a message to the US, which supports Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism activities along the border with Somalia, it seems to have worked. Last year, former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn praised the Ethiopian reaction to the demonstrations, telling Reuters, “The government has done a pretty good job over the years in ameliorating religious differences where there are potentially serious conflicts.”

Ethiopian Muslims and Christians have long coexisted more or less in peace, as they do in Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries in the region. But since the demonstrations started, government officials have tried to infiltrate them and provoke violence among Muslim groups and between Muslims and Christians. It hasn’t worked. In recent months, Christians and secular human rights defenders have even joined in support of the Muslims, and the demonstrations have grown. The demonstrators use Facebook and secure Internet sites to outsmart government censors, and warn people to stay home when they learn that the government intends to plant violent hecklers among them to discredit the movement. When Abubakar Ahmed, the movement’s leader and history professor who had been detained with other protesters (he is one of the twenty-nine awaiting trial), was paraded in chains before TV cameras, protesters showed up at the next demonstration with his picture on their T-shirts, and stood in a phalanx before the police with their wrists crossed, as if they too were in chains.

The Ethiopian protests began around the time of the Arab Spring, when it seemed the Obama administration might finally begin taking human rights in Africa seriously. In late 2011, for example, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joinedBritish Prime Minister David Cameron in declaring that their governments would consider penalizing foreign aid recipients, including several African countries, that cracked down on the rights of homosexuals. This rallying to the cause of gay rights would be heartening, if it weren’t for the fact that Cameron and Clinton have done so little to protect everyone else’s rights. Such official statements could even undermine sympathy for the gay rights cause in Africa.

For years, observers have wondered what the US administration’s policy toward Africa really is. Then, three years into Obama’s first term, the White House finally released its first Africa strategy document. It states that the US will “promote strong democratic norms” and “support civil society actors who are creating vibrant democratic models….” But as the situations in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda make clear, little has been done to further these aims. While continuing most of the development and public health initiatives of the Bush Administration, the Obama administration has given priority to US military aims.

Failing to challenge government corruption and repression undermines economic growth and social development throughout East Africa and beyond, as well the prospects for long term peace and stability. Even our direct military interventions have had dubious results. Experts continue to debate the wisdom of intervening in Libya, but there is no arguing with the fact that it helped rally—and arm—al-Qaeda supporters, who have spread terror to Mali and Algeria and perhaps other West African countries; impoverished Niger agreed to host the new US drone base in part out of growing fear of the jihadism that has spread from Libya.

More than half a century of post-independence African history has shown that focusing on stability, security and development while ignoring democracy and human rights is self-defeating, because it undermines those very goals. The US and other Western donors to Africa must do more to use the many instruments at their disposal to promote the reforms necessary to protect basic freedoms and uphold the rule of law. This will pose diplomatic challenges, but they could start by not turning their backs on peaceful protesters, just when our moral support—at the very least—is most urgently needed. As Czech playwright, dissident, and former president Vaclav Havel put it during the depths of Cold War, “The ‘dissident’ movements do not shy away from the idea of violent political overthrow because the idea seems too radical, but on the contrary, because it does not seem radical enough.” At the time, Western leaders rushed to support Havel and other non-violent activists throughout Europe. Now that Africans are calling for the same thing, why don’t today’s leaders do the same for them?

February 25, 2013, 5:53 p.m.