“Chaltu as Helen,” and Oromophobia

Two remarkable Oromo episodes dominated the Ethiopian diaspora blogosphere and social media over the last few months: the episode of Jawar Mohammed and the Tesfaye Gebre-ab phenomenon. Here, I will only focus on Tesfaye Gebre-ab.

Lest Tesfaye’s newest book, the YeSidetegnaw Mastawesha, see the light of the day, the most vicious campaign of mediaeval inquisitorial proportion was launched against Tesfaye, ironically utilizing the most modern instrument, the Internet. If truth to be told, the purpose of the campaign was not so much as to attack Tesfaye, as to combat a heresy of talking in open about the trials and tribulation the Oromos endured in the hands of the successive Ethiopian governments. Thus, a retrograde movement was born to kill a book from being published in this the 21st century. The would-be publisher was pressured, threatened and cajoled not to publish the book. In turn, succumbing to pressure, the publisher tried to pressurize Tesfaye to at least expunge one section, Chaltu as Helen, from the book. Rumor has it that Tesfaye was as mad as hell for being asked this. He found this to be degrading. Rather than taking a single leaf of the book to appease these backward chauvinist gangs, who were trying to use the ax of censorship to silence him at this day and age, he preferred forfeiting any monetary value he may have procured out of it.

Rather than conceding to their indecent proposal, he published the book on the web for the whole world to get it for free. When you think valor is dead and no more, you see courageous men as Tesfaye – appearing from time to time and gracing the world scene, and this restores the hope you have in the human spirit. To paraphrase a section of John F. Kennedy’s book, Profiles in Courage, Tesfaye did what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures. In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices, Tesfaye faced it following his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men — all these did not matter and did not veer him from what he believed.

Within few days of posting the book on the Internet, more than a dozen articles, if they deserve to be called that, mushroomed on the Internet condemning the writer, asking for his flesh and blood or to banish him from the face of the earth. I tried to read all of them, including the one by an ex-judge posted before the book was published; and this one in particular went on and on ad nauseam without saying much. I really read them very carefully, I tried to understand them, and I wanted to know where they come from, and how they can harbor such a fear against a work of literature. Why was such a campaign conducted against the publishing of this book?

I can’t say I was successful in disentangling their thinking. However, in their entire writings, one thing was very clear. Tesfaye embodies the two twin evils that the Ethiopia chauvinist elites abhor: Oromo and Eritrea, and they could not tolerate this “dangerous” phenomenon fused in one person. And it’s also evident that they could not forgive Tesfaye for writing Ye Burka Zimita. In every one of their comment, you see them again and again coming to his most popular book. In fact, the so-called judge states after he read Ye Burka Zimita, he did not want to set his eyes on Tesfaye. His crime, they all agreed, “he tried to sow seeds of discord between Oromos and Amhara.” Little did they know that the Oromos did not need Tesfaye’s book to know the historical crimes the Amhara ruling class perpetrated against the Oromos. It is beyond comprehension when one tries to condemn a historical novel that clearly depicts the past conflict. Had it been for the current Amhara elites, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and multiple other novels dealing with slavery and colonialism would not have been published because, according to them, they disseminate seed of discord between whites and blacks. You can’t achieve peace and reconciliation by hiding past deeds, but by openly talking about them.

Finally, there was a reason why in particular Chaltu Inde Helen in Ye Sidetegnaw Mastawesha drove the chauvinist camp crazy. To some extent, through time, some have reluctantly started to recognize that the Oromos were treated unfairly in the distance past. But they always tried to belittle even this by saying, “it happened in the remote past by the ruling group and that present generation had nothing to do with it.” However, the settings in Chaltu Inde Helen discredit this apologist argument. It depicted a picture of what relatively recently occurred in the center of Addis Ababa in the middle class environment. In tackling the twin issues of ethnicity and urban versus countryside conflicts, the writer hit a raw nerve with many elites who grew up in Addis Ababa, and who used to falsely portray themselves as if they were above the so-called ethnic strife that besieged the country. Tesfaye’s book is a mirror reflection of the childhood that most Addis Ababan elites passed through. It is a book about them. In this book, most of them see their ugly selves – what they had done when they were young – how they grew up bullying, harassing and bashing Oromos and others, or – how they were harassed and then lost their identity and assimilated; they have always wanted to repress this memory; they did not want this to come into light of the day because, not only does it show their hypocrisy, but because it is also a constant reminder of their guilt. At least for those who moved to the West, it’s also painful because they now know what it means to be on the receiving end of discrimination. It is also a painful memory for those non-Amharas, who through severe harassment were forced to assimilate, and forget and deny their true selves and identity, and lived as Addis Ababans. To claim an Addis Ababan identity, the book showed to this group, means nothing, but self-denial and acquiring a thinly veiled Amhara identity. Some at least do not want to revisit this stage of their history.

The Addis Ababan elites, who are predominantly Amahras or forcefully assimilated others, always tried to portray themselves as if they were non-ethnic. However, Chaltu Inde Helen exposed that they were just as bad as any chauvinist Abyssinian. In addition, Chaltu Inde Helen cut the ground out from under the Amharas who always blamed the past discrimination only on the system and failed taking person responsibility that they were part and parcel of the system. And so, they came in drove to condemn Tesfaye for he rudely put a mirror in their face and forced them to meet their other selves, and see glaringly their past deeds which they did not want to see. The tolerant and accommodative metropolitan lives they claimed they led, this book showed, were nonexistent, false and only lived on their minds.

After Tesfaye released his book on the Internet, the campaign to stop its publication became mute, and now the attack shifted towards discrediting the quality and the substance of the book itself. This attack obviously targeted Chaltu Inde Helen. As if reading from the same page, all of them started singing the same chorus. They declared that the conflict in the book, that is the bullying, tormenting, mental harassment and forced assimilation that Chaltu underwent in the hand of Addis Abbabans was a predicament that everyone who moves from the countryside to Addis Ababa endured and nothing to do with her ethnicity. I don’t know which “genius” first came up with this point, but you could almost see their elation when they found this argument, because they believed this would poke a hole in the central point of Chaltu Inde Helen, and emasculate the potency of the message thereby also delivering them from their pain, and the embarrassment the book caused them. So, every one of them repeated this self-delusional argument with a glee.

Their line of argument is that Chaltu came from countryside to Addis and any balager Menze, who comes from Menz to Addis Ababa, would have faced the same situation to adjust to city life. Their conclusion was that Chaltu did not suffer because she was an Oromo. The problem is the suffering that Chaltu had to endure is not equivalent with harassment a person coming from Amhara area to Addis Ababa had to endure. This kind of argument is very common in politics and it’s called equivalence fallacy in logic. The pattern of this fallacy is usually explained using this formula:

A is the set of c and d

B is the set of d and e

A and B both contain d

Thus, A and B are equal

If we use this formula to depict the argument against Chaltu Inde Helen, we can come up with several scenarios, but let’s just take one simple example and dismantle their argument. Here is one scenario:

Chaltu (A), an Oromo does not speak Amharic (c) and has a tattoo in her neck areas (d), which connotes she is from the countryside and thereby exposing her to ridicule.

Assegedech (B), an Amhara from Menz speaking Amharic with accent (e) and has a tattoo in her neck areas (d), which connotes she is from the countryside and thereby exposing her to ridicule.

Conclusion: Chaltu and Assegedech both have tattoo in their neck areas and both are harassed in Addis Ababa for this reason. Therefore, Chaltu’s harassment has nothing to do with her Ormoness.

Just because both are ridiculed and laughed at because of their niqisat, the writers want us to believe that both are equally situated and the ultimate consequence they face as a result of their situation is similar. This is a typical false equivalence and a logical fallacy – which describes a situation as apparent equivalence, when in fact, there is none. It is often used by apologists attempting to justify or excuse certain discrimination and disparate treatments.

The other way of perpetuating this fallacy is to present as equivalent one shared trait between the two subjects. For example if both are teased because of language related issues (Chaltu because she is Oromo and spoke Amharic with Oromo accent, and Assegedech because she had Menze accent), our apologist conclude equivalence between these two situations. The magnitude of the teasing, and most importantly, the consequence of “changing” as a result of the harassment, is not considered by them. But, if you go a little deep, there is no equivalence between the two conditions at all. Leaving aside the incomparable magnitude of teasing that Chaltu as an Oromo has to endure compared with Assegedech who comes to Addis from Menz, the consequence is dramatically dissimilar. Assegedech by changing her accent to conform to Addis Ababa accent will not have to change her language. She is not forced to change her culture and way of life, and most of all her identity and ethnicity, will still remain Amhara. The change she is asked to make pales in comparison to the metamorphosis Chaltu is required to undergo to conform. Chaltu, through the harassment, is forced to forget her language, culture, and way of life, and hate her identity. Because identity is one of several fundamental human needs, Chaltu, through this forced assimilation, is losing who she is by and large. Assegedech is asked to make changes on the periphery, while Chaltu is asked to change her core – who she is. Therefore, there is no equivalency between the two.

It’s so sad that most of these apologist writers, due to the role they assigned for themselves as protectors of the legacy of the Amahra domination, failed to sympathize with a human misery. The system of domination, the bullying and harassment of the students at school and society killed this once promising, vivacious beautiful girl. The story is even beyond the depiction of the Oromos forced assimilation, it is also on different level about the story of an individual’s suffering and struggle – a story about an individual who is caught between two systems and does not know how to cop. Because they were blinded by the defense of the old order, they could not even for a moment empathize with Chaltu’s agony as a person. What makes these people so callous and indifferent to such sad story? I have no clear answer, but to surmise that the fear of the Oromo, or Oromo phobia, a term popularize by Jawar, has something to do with it.

Ethiopian opposition says members beaten, illegally detained

Negaso Gidada

October 31, 2013 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition group accused police and security officials of beating, illegally detaining and abducting more than 150 of its members between July and September this year.

The Horn of Africa country has won international plaudits for delivering double-digit growth for much of the past decade, but rights groups often accuse the government of using state institutions to stifle dissent and silence political opposition.

Addis Ababa, long seen by the West as a bulwark against militant Islam in the Horn of Africa, denies charges that it is quashing dissent.

In a 39-page report launched on Thursday, the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) detailed what it said were “gruesome rights violations” committed against its supporters and members.

“One hundred and fifty members and supporters of the party have been subject to severe beatings, illegal detentions and abductions by police and security officials,” party chairman Negasso Gidada told reporters.

“We are asking the government to stop these human rights violations and take those responsible to justice,” said Negasso, who served as the country’s president from 1995 to 2001, before joining the opposition.

A government spokesman declined to comment saying it had to receive the report.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said many former detainees – including politicians, journalists and alleged supporters of insurgencies – were slapped, kicked and beaten with sticks and gun butts during investigations at Addis Ababa’s Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector, known as Maekalawi.

Ethiopia intensified its clampdown on peaceful dissent after the disputed 2005 election, the New York-based watchdog said.

Back then, the disputed polls ended in violence and the killing of 200 people. Opposition candidates won 174 seats but many did not take them up, saying the vote was rigged.

In an interview with Reuters this month, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the government was not to blame for the opposition’s poor showing.

He has also accused some opposition party members of collaborating with rebel groups the government had previously labelled as terrorist organisations.

But UDJ’s leaders deny any links with the outlawed rebel groups, and warn the government that “stifling” dissent may encourage violence in the country.

“We are not requesting anything from the government side, we are requesting a level playing ground,” Girma Seifu, a senior UDJ official and the sole opposition politician in Ethiopia’s 547-seat parliament.

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ): Ethiopian Leaders to Face a Trial for Genocide

October 31, 2013 (The Daily Journalist) — The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reported to have begun to work to bring Ethiopian authorities to justice for having committed a genocide in the Ogaden region. The International Commission of Jurists is a known international human rights organization composed of jurists (including senior judges, attorneys, and lawyers). The commission is known for its dedication to ensuring respect for international human rights standards through the law.

The report came right after different Swedish TV channels showed a movie smuggled out from Ogaden by an Ethiopian refugee, who had been a government official in the region. The 100 hours long movie is said to have many evidences of genocide committed by the Ethiopian government in the region.

Speaking to journalists, Stellan Diaphragm, the commissioner of the Commission, said that he would do everything necessary to bring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Reports indicate that although Ethiopia is not a member of the ICC, the country can possibly face trial for crimes under international law.

The Ogaden region is a territory in Eastern part of Ethiopia, and populated mainly by ethnic Somalis. Since 2007, the region has been a site of brutal struggle between the government troops and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group seeking for more autonomy for the region.

Different human right organizations accuse the Ethiopian government of committing grave human right violation (including genocide) against the civilians in attempt to control the ONLF’s public support.

According to the Genocide Wach, the crimes committed in the region include extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, rape, torture, disappearances, the destruction of livelihood, the burning of villages and the destroying of life stock.

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say

In this slide from a National Security Agency presentation on “Google Cloud Exploitation,” a sketch shows where the “Public Internet” meets the internal “Google Cloud” where user data resides. Two engineers with close ties to Google exploded in profanity when they saw the drawing

By Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani, Published: October 30 E-mail the writer

The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.

Graphic

According to a top-secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, the NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from internal Yahoo and Google networks to data warehouses at the agency’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Md. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — including “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, as well as content such as text, audio and video.

The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters . From undisclosed interception points, the NSA and the GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information among the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants.

The infiltration is especially striking because the NSA, under a separate program known as PRISM, has front-door access to Google and Yahoo user accounts through a court-approved process.

The MUSCULAR project appears to be an unusually aggressive use of NSA tradecraft against flagship American companies. The agency is built for high-tech spying, with a wide range of digital tools, but it has not been known to use them routinely against U.S. companies.

In a statement, the NSA said it is “focused on discovering and developing intelligence about valid foreign intelligence targets only.”

“NSA applies Attorney General-approved processes to protect the privacy of U.S. persons — minimizing the likelihood of their information in our targeting, collection, processing, exploitation, retention, and dissemination,” it said.

In a statement, Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, said the company has “long been concerned about the possibility of this kind of snooping” and has not provided the government with access to its systems.

“We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform,” he said.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said, “We have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency.”

Under PRISM, the NSA gathers huge volumes of online communications records by legally compelling U.S. technology companies, including Yahoo and Google, to turn over any data that match court-approved search terms. That program, which was first disclosed by The Washington Post and the Guardian newspaper in Britain, is authorized under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act and overseen by the Foreign ­Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

Bonus interview: Behranu Wakuma, Ethiopian migrant

October 31, 2013 (Euronews) — Behranu Wakuma is an Ethiopian migrant, who traveled illegally on a boat from Libya to Lampedusa, along with some 100 migrants from Ethiopia, Erythrea, Sudan and Somalia.

After the engine broke down, their boat drifted at sea for a week, before they were rescued by Tunisian coastguards.

The group is now stranded in Tunisia, waited for the UNHCR to decide on their status.

Behranu delivers a compelling story of the migrant’s ordeal.

He pleads for the world to understand the reasons for such perilous journeys, or the tragedies seen on the shores of Lampedusa will never end he says.

Violence, Chaos Let Polio Creep Back Into Syria And Horn Of Africa

In the border town of Wajaale, Ethiopia, a frayed, knotted rope marks the international boundary with Somalia. The rope is ignored by just about everyone.

October 30, 2013 (NPR) — Global efforts to eradicate polio have made impressive progress over the past decade. Last year there were only 223 cases anywhere in the world.

But armed conflict and chaos are making it tough for the world to wipe out the virus completely.

Polio has re-emerged in war-torn Syria after more than a decade, the World Health Organization reported Tuesday. “The original cluster of suspected cases was 22 cases,” says the WHO’s Oliver Rosenbauer. “Out of those, 10 have now been confirmed as polio. The others are still being processed in the laboratory.”

Over in the Horn of Africa, an outbreak has ballooned into more than 190 cases. The outbreak’s epicenter is Somalia, where fighting and violence have kept vaccinators from reaching hundreds of thousands of kids in the past few years.

Health officials are concerned that polio could become endemic in Syria and the Horn of Africa. They have launched massive emergency vaccination campaigns in both regions to try to protect millions of children against the crippling virus.

Earlier this year, Ethiopia carried out five mass immunization campaigns against polio along the Somali border. But to be fully protected, kids need several doses of the oral vaccine.

But polio infections in Somalia have already spread toKenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia. A recent visit to the Somali-Ethiopian border highlights just how easily the virus can move silently around rural areas — and eventually find kids who aren’t vaccinated.

The town of Wajaale, Ethiopia, is located along the Somali border. The region around the border here is peaceful. But farther south, armed militants rule the area on the Somali side.

So far Ethiopia has reported only six cases of polio compared with 174 in Somalia. But the landlocked country shares a thousand-mile border with Somalia. Most of it’s unmarked and uncontrolled. Goat, sheep and camel herders move back and forth across the arid plains between the two countries seeking fresh pastures for their animals.

At the border town of Wajaale, a frayed, knotted rope strung across the road marks the international boundary. The rope is ignored by just about everyone. Young men step over it. Vendors with wheelbarrows full of vegetables scoot under it.

Ethiopian authorities acknowledge that it’s impossible to completely control the flow of people between the two countries. But in an effort to limit the importation of polio, Ethiopia has set up 13 vaccination checkpoints at major crossings. The health bureau has also deployed vaccinators to nearly 40 informal points of crossing along the border.

In Wajaale, the vaccination station is a small shack next to the rope on the Ethiopian side. When I visited the station one morning in early October, the vaccinator was absent. The sign announcing mandatory polio vaccination for all children had been tied back so that it was unreadable.

The goal of these border vaccination posts is to immunize every child, under the age of 15, who crosses in either direction, says Abdulahi Mohamed, who is with the government’s regional health bureau. “They have their vaccines there,” he says pointing to a small ice chest. “They check the children. Everyone under 15, they give one dose of polio [vaccine].”

Abdulahi and other Ethiopian officials say that each border vaccination post is immunizing hundreds of kids every day. But during my visit, only 10 children had been vaccinated by noon.

The vaccinators are poorly paid, Abdulahi says — the equivalent of about $30 a month. He concedes that it’s difficult to keep them motivated.

Nevertheless, Ethiopia’s Health Ministry says that containing this polio outbreak is a top priority. “If you have a house that’s caught fire, you need to extinguish [the flames],” says the country’s health minister, Dr. Kebede Worku. “So we take this seriously.”

Ethiopian health official Abdulahi Mohamed says vaccinators along the Somali border are charged with immunizing all kids crossing who are under age 15. But he concedes that extremely poor pay may sap the workers’ motivation.

Soon after polio was detected in Somalia this spring, Ethiopia carried out five mass immunization campaigns against the virus along the Somali border. Earlier this month they launched a national campaign to try to reach every child in the country — some 13 million kids. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have helped to fund the drives and stock them with vaccine.

But the vaccination campaigns are organized, run and largely paid for by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health, and the operation has put huge new burdens on an already strained national health system. The Ethiopian government even had to deploy special security details to travel with the vaccination teams in some parts of the country along the Somali border.

“The other side of the border [in Somalia] is totally insecure,” Kebede says. “Some of the areas are governed by militants.” These militants include al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility last month for the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall that left more than 60 people dead.

Another challenge of running a polio vaccination campaign in remote parts of the Horn of Africa is that the vaccine needs to be kept cold. Most Ethiopian health clinics in the province bordering Somalia don’t have electricity. The Health Ministry has to use ice packs and portable, kerosene-fired refrigerators to keep the polio vaccine chilled.

The mass immunization campaigns are also complex and expensive logistical operations, Kebede says. They require hundreds of additional staff, hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses, extra kerosene for the refrigerators, and vehicles to deliver supplies to the targeted area. Each immunization team needs tally sheets and maps.

Plus, polio infects some people without ever making them sick. These so-called asymptomatic carriers appear healthy and can spread the virus to new communities.

“With polio … the vast majority of the people who are infected and spreading [virus] are not paralyzed,” says Dr. Walter Orenstein, a vaccine specialist at Emory University in Atlanta. “So there’s a lot of “silent transmission.”

“For every case of paralytic polio, we can assume there are at least 100 to 200 — maybe a thousand people,” Orenstein says, “who are infected and potentially spreading the virus.”

Lammiin Oromoo kun South Afrikaa ummata biyyaatiin bakka suuqii hujjataa ture keessatti ajjeefame

Posted by: bilisummaa October 30, 2013 Leave a comment

AS WR WB ODUU GADDISIISAA !!!!

Yakka sagaggaalummaa raawwate himata jedhuu ka dharaatiin qabamee dhagaa fi uleen akkaata nama suukaneessutti ajjeefame. Achirraa reeffa fuudhaanii akka namoota biraatiif jiila tahu gochuuf magaalaa naannawa sanii ta Skundaa jedhamtu geessanii kararratti darban. Maqaan isaa Muhammad-Amaan Sulxaan jedhama. Baale, Agaarfaa ganda Sheek-Irboo jedhamutti dhalate. Ee gara South Afrikaa dhufee waggaa 3 ykn 4 hin caalu jedhama. Seenaa isaa bal’innaan itti deebina. Breaking news: Saturday 27/10/2013 One of the Oromo refugee member in South Africa was killed in broad day light by gangs. the people oppressed at home are still facing oppression , the discrimination against Oromo refugees and fear of their lives still have no solution, this applies to Oromos refugees in Kenya, Egypt, Djabouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Sudan, South Africa and other African Countries.we look for more voice against this oppression that this cannot happen to any Oromos anywhere. Once an Oromo refugee deported from Kenya and killed in Ethiopian prison by Ethiopian Government, the story of Mr. Tesfahun Camada will remain in all Oromos mind. ————————————-—————————————————————-

Baqataa Oromoo kan tahe ilmi oromoo tokko dhagaadhan reebamee south africa keessatti lubbuu isaa dhabee jira. Suuraafi vidiyoo kanaallee yeroo ammaa ummata gurraacha biyyattii irraa argamee jira. Kuni jibbiinsa ummata baqataa tahaniif ka qabaniifi, xenephobia irratti kan hundaa’edha. Innis sababa ilmoo waggaa 6 rape godhe sababa jedhuun tumamee ajjeefame. Rape kunis soba irratti kan hundaa’efi sababa mallaqa oromticha sodaachisanii irraa nyaatufi. Inni mallaqa kennuu dinnaan polisicha bribe kennaniifii case itti banan. Booda haadha ilma sanii birrii dhibba (R700) erga kennameefii booda poolisichi bribe fedhe sunis akka mallaqni isaaf kennamu barbaade. Yeroo kana dhooggannaan “I will show you what’s going to happen” jedhee biraa deeme. Guyyaa 2 booda abbaa daa’ima sanii wajjiin waltahuudhan, lakkoofsa gabatee isaanii cufatanii mini-bus guutanii mucaa bakka dalagaa isaatii fuudhanii…iddoo dhaabbata taxitti nama maraan tumamuudhan ajjeefamee jira. Polisii ganda saniitti oggaa report godhan “don’t worry they will bring him just now” jechuudhan reebuu didee jira. Nama biraatis magaalaa biraatii haada electricitin hudhamee ajjeefamee jira. Iyyaa iyya nuu dabarsaa meediyalee mararrattuu. Vidiyoos feete isiniifan erga ammaaf suuraa attach godheen jira galatoomaa. —————————————————————————————————— Caaya Tokkummaa Baqattoota Oromoo biyyaa Masrii Miseensotaa isaatif, Baqattootaa Oromoo kan biroollee kan Biyyaa Masrii jiraatan akk uf eeganno cimaa qabaatan isan yaadachiifnaa, Jiruun Biyyaa Ormaa hedduu rakkoodhaa ammaas namaa yaachiftii. Injifannoon Tan Ummata Oromooti. Oromiyaan Ni Bilisoomtii !!! —

US couple sentenced in death of adopted daughter from Ethiopia

FILE – In a Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 file photo, Larry Williams, center, listens as Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich makes the case to the jury in the homicide by abuse trial of Larry and Carri Williams, in Mount Vernon, Wash. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were sentenced Tuesday for the death of their adopted daughter Hana Williams after starving and beating her and forcing her outside as punishment.

October 29, 2013, MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) – A couple accused of starving, beating and forcing their adopted daughter outside as punishment were sentenced Tuesday to decades in prison for her death.

Larry and Carri Williams were convicted Sept. 9 of manslaughter in the death of a teenage girl they adopted from Ethiopia. Carri Williams was also found guilty of homicide by abuse.

Hana Williams was found dead May 12, 2011, in the backyard of the family home in Sedro-Woolley, about 100 kilometres north of Seattle. The autopsy said she died of hypothermia, with malnutrition and a stomach condition as contributing factors.

Carri Williams was sentenced Tuesday to just under 37 years, the top of the standard sentencing range, by a judge who said she probably deserved more time in prison, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. Her husband received a sentence of nearly 28 years.

Both also were found guilty of assault of a child for punishing a boy they adopted in 2008 from Ethiopia at the same time as Hana.

Larry and Carri Williams were convicted after a seven-week trial. Defence lawyers told jurors that questionable parenting practices didn’t necessarily amount to a crime.

Hana Williams

On the rainy night Hana died, Carri Williams called emergency services and reported Hana was not breathing, saying the girl had refused to come into the house. Hana was found face-down in the backyard with mud in her mouth.

Hana is believed to have been 13, but no documentation of her birth in Ethiopia was available.

The trial was postponed several times, and her body was exhumed in January. Tests on her teeth and bones gave varying estimates, and experts were unable to agree on her age. Her age was significant because the homicide by abuse charge applies only if the victim was younger than 16.

The boy from Ethiopia testified that the parents used sticks or belts to beat him all over his body as punishment. He also described being sprayed with a water hose if he wet his pants.

After the arrests, the boy and six biological children were placed in foster care or with relatives.

QAQAWWEESSA BAKAKKAA — ASOOSAMA GABAABAA

Ka..kuu…dhaa…dhaa…dil…dil…jedhee sagalee dhaga’amun maddasaa wallaale. Gurra miti hamma ijjikoo jaamutti sagalee lafa dadayyaasun gurra galbiikootiin dhaggeeffadhe. Anatu maraatemoo isa laata jedheen naannoo keessa jru hundaan miilla yaadaatiin keessa burraaqe. Burraaqsa takaallaa hinqabnedha. Sagaleen qaqawwee kanaa ala miti ana keessas jira. Isa nakeessaa iyyu kanaafis nama hundatu dhaga’a se’een naman cina darbu mara ofirratti ilaalaan olii gadi naanna’a.

Ani Magarsaa Lalisaa, ilma Faajjii Dandanaa ti. Asumattan dhaladhe. Biyya goototaafii hayyoota hedduu burqisiiste OROMIYAA!. Guyyaa guutuun waca keessa oola. Waan dhagnakootti sibiiloonni natti taa’anii yeroo ani socho’u nattii wacan natti kaa’anan se’a. Waan nakeessa iyyu kun orma keessaas iyya haata’u Waaqani guddaan haa beeku malee girdiramni ani itti jiru kumaatama. Sagalee afaansaa hiika hinqabnetu narraa dirrisaa oola. Sagalee hadoochaa, lawwaashessaa, joonjessaafi ciigaasisaadha. Waan akka hurrii walmaraatu arga yaadaakoo keessa gangalata. Rakkoon keessa darbe yaadachuun yoo maraachuuf ta’e malee kan guddinaaf naan oolu. Mammaaksi Oromoo ‘Moluu cabbii dandamatte, bakakkaaf abdatu’ jedhanis nabira ba’e hinfakkaatu.
Filadheen asitti dhaladhe utuu hintaane, ofiisaan filatee Oromiyaatti kan na uume Waaqayyodha!. bakakkaa samii keessaa waan natti caaleefan wallaale. Akkan itti guddadhes ta’e amma keessa jiru gidduudhaa garaagarummaan dhabe. Tarii waan akka sagalee bakakkaa kun isa kaan sodaatee anuma dhuunfachuu barbaadee laata? Mammaaksi ‘Bakakkaan qara sodaatee, jinfuutti bu’a’ jedhan sun anumaafi laata jedheen of gaafadhee ofirraas deebii dhabe.

Halkan qixxee lafaa waan akka malee nawareerse tokkos tureera. Kophaa ta’ee ciisus lama ta’een of arge. Anumatu lama ta’e ta’ee, waan nama fakkaatu garuu qaqawweessa narra ture sanatti qaqawweessa biraa naa dabaletu naan taphata ta’ee waliisaa kanan hinbeekne tokkotu ukkaamsaa yaadaan nagangalchaa bule. Sagaleen nama nagangalchaa bule kanaa ‘Bilisummaa Jabeessaa’ kan jedhu akka abjuu wayiittan dhaga’a. Yeroon hirriba keessaa utaalee ka’ee simachuuf jedhu narraa baqata. Yeroon rafuuf jedhu ammoo hirriba nadhorkeetu narraa bookkisa. Anis qaqawweessa Bilisummaa kanaa dhaggeeffachuu dadhabeera. Akka waraabessa alaadhessaa beela’ee waan nyaatu bira ga’ee ofii nyaatameen ta’e. Bilisummaanan abjuu keessa argetu akka Harree Waraabessa gowwoomsituu nagowwoomsuusaan itti mufadhe. Oduu duriin ijoollummaakootti warra keenyarraa dhaga’e tokkotu abjuu keessa garakoo dhufe. Akka kanaa gadii jedha.

”Gaaf tokko guyyaa guutuu roobaa oole jedhama. Muusoon isaa akka dabaa waan nama beelleessuuf, Waraabessi qaala’a keessatti beelaan waadamaa ture. Kanaaf hanga aduun dhiitutti jarjare. Yeroo aduun dhihuuf qarreerraa calalaqqistu ariitidhaan suruma bahee osuma deemuu jaartii harree takkatti dhufe. Jaartiin harree kun dallaa warrashee cinaatii coqorsa dheedaa turte. Waraabooniis afaan banee itti qajeeluun, “Ofikeemoo coqorsa kana abdattee as keessa dhaabbatta?” jedheen. Dubbii isheetti barbaadee, qabataan ishii nyaachuuf jedheetu. Isheenis ammoo qaroo cimtuu waan taateef irratti barteetti. Karaa inni barbaade dhiiftee karaa biraa itti dhufte. “Ani waanin abdadhe hin qabu. Ammoo akka na nyaachuu barbaadde naaf galeera. Yoo na nyaatte rakkoo tokkoyyuu hinqabu ture garuu, ani jaartii duutuudha. Lafee malee foon tokkollee natti hin jiru. Kanaaf na nyaachuun beela sibaasuu hindanda’u. Kana birattimmoo muusoo hamaatu jira. Qorichi muusoo ammoo foon yabbuudha. Osoo foon diimaa furdaa qarree gamaatii rarra’u san deemtee nyaattee siif wayya”jettee biiftuu lixuuf diimattu isatti agarsiifte.

Waraaboon hiixatee gama lixa biiftuu ilaaluun, aduu lixuuf diimatte arge. Diiminni biiftuus foon itti fakkaate. Gochi harrees sirrii ta’uu amanee, achumaan bosona garaagaraarra utaalaa gara lixa biiftuutti fiiguu eegale. Osoo fiiguus aduun dhiite. Gaafa inni gamaan bahu foon diimaan gubbaa gadi rarra’aa ture hin jiru. Asiif achi laalee homaayyuu dhabuun, ofirra deebi’e. Boodarra akka harreen isa gowwomsite hubatee akka dabaa isheetti aare. Aariisaa kana baahachuufis gara harrittiitti fiigichaan qajeele. Atattamaan bakka galgala ishii itti dhiise ga’us, harrittiin achi hin turre. Dallaa jala asiif achi naanna’ee barbaadus argachuu hin dandeenye. Gaafa ijibbaatu waamee gaafachuu barbaadeetu maqaashee irraanfatee,

“Eessa jirta, tan qaraa?” jedhee lallabe.
“Galeen jira, kan garaa!” jetteen.
“Dallaa jalatti koottu mee, al tokko sin barbaadaa!” jedheen.

“Amma dhufuun natti hin tolu. Warri mooraa cufataniiru. Kanaaf boru waareerratti koottu. Yoos malee mooraadhaa bahuu hin danda’u.” jetteen. Waraaboonis, “Tole lama!” jedhee deeme. Bakka biraa bulee, ganama baha biiftuurratti qe’ee harrittiitti deebi’uuf ka’ee, osuma himalaa jiruu namni tokko maasiisaarratti isa argee itti iyye. Uummatis birmatee yaa’uun asiif achiin marsanii waraabessa reeban. Boodarra akka malee mataasaa bubburaqsaniitu lubbuu keessaa baasan.

Akkanatti ‘waraabessi nyaachuuf jecha nyaatame’ jedhama.
Ani magarsaan qaqawweessi keessakooti tokko lama jedhamuun himamee kan dhumu miti. Waan naannaakootii gilindisu marti gurra naduuchuuf jedha. Isa uummanni gurraachi warra adiif akka garbaatti hojjetu. Kanarrattis garaagarummaa qalamaan yaade. Oromoon gurraacha Waaqatti fakkeessa ture. Garuu qalamni kun warreen gogaa adii uffatan cinatti akkamiin akka ilaalamaa jirutu anaaf waca keessakooti. Uummanni gurraachi warra adiin qixa mirga walqixa lafarra jiraachuu argate kun akkamiin qubannaasaa lafa warra adiirra akka godhatetu gurrakoo duuche. Tariiti waan anaa keessaa iyyaa jiru waan akka qaqawweessaa kanatu lafa lalisaafii magariisa qilleensisaa hargansuuf mitii nyaataafuu ooluu danda’u kanarraa isaan godaansisee laata? Sammuun gurguddaan kun warra kaan qaroomsuudhaaf maaliif godaanee sokke laata? hundumatu iyya qaqawweessa keessasaa kanarraa boqonnaa argachuuf akka joobira samii gubbaa kaatuutti nugadhiisee kaatemoo kaanis fakkeessitoota laata? jedheen ofitti guungume. Mallattoofii iyyanni sobaa qindaa’ee maqaa seenaaf utuu hintaane jireenya fooyyeeffannaafi guddinahar’aaf jecha seenaa baraan hafu duubatti gatuun waan aduu gadiitiif kan kurkuraa jiru meeqa laata yaa jamaa jechuun itti yaaduun ammas qaqawweessa keessakootii dilgaasise…
Namnumti kun nama kamirrayyuu caalaa maaliif akka of jaallatuufi lafa haadhaaf abbaasaa gatuun dantaa dhuunfaasaaf akka bu’ee ba’utu anaaf qaqawweesa guddaa ta’e. Kun ammoo arga-dhageettii Oromoo isa duuti akka dhokattee nama kamittuu dhuftu sana nayaadachiise. Duuti himattee waan hindhufneef itti hin eegiinitti utuu seenaa hin hojjetiin boollaan nuseenti. Kunis argaa dhageettii barsiisaankoo Dibaabaa Abbaa Booraa kutaa 10 yeroo baradhu nutti hime sana nayaadachiise. Akka kanaa gadii jedha ture:

”Dur duuti namatti dhaammatee, mul’atee dhufa ture; gurbaa tokkotu niitii fuudhuuf abbaafi haadha isaa waliin mari’ate. Haata’u malee, guyyaa fuudha isaa bulee akka du’u duuti itti dhaammatee ture. Osoo hin fuudhiin dura yeroo abbaa isaa mari’atu fuudhee bulee kan duuti itti dhufu ta’uu isaa itti himnaan “homaa miti ati fuudhi malee anuu siifan du’aa” jedhaan abbaan. Haaluma kanaan haadha isaattis himnaan haatisaa “anuu siifan du’a ati fuudhi malee” jetteen. Kana booda gurbaan fuudhuuf murteessee guyyaan fuudhaas gahe. Deemee fuudhee dhufe. Bulee akkuma itti dhaammate duuti beellama eegee dhufe. Yeroo kana mucaan abbaa isaa bira deemee “duuti sirbaa dhufeeraatii kottuu naa du’i” jennaan dide; dhumarratti waan godhu dhabee yommuu gara manaa deebi’u duuti itti sirbaa balbala ga’eera; yeroo kana du’a abba manaa ishii agartee intalli kaleessa herumtee dhufte, misirroon golaa baatee “ani nan du’aafi” jette. Erga kanaa duuti gurbaas intalas dhiisee deemuun gara fuunduratti dhokatee malee mul’atee dhufuu dide jedhama”.

Duutuu akka kanaan nama gowwoomsa erga ta’ee namni inni mul’annisaa du’aa, jaamaan dhaloota ol adeemaa dura danqaraa kaa’uufii yeroo mara garaaf malee maqaaf kan hinqabsoofne akkam namaa haagowwoomsuree?… warreen haadha hiyyeessaa dadhabsiisuun ofii isanii lafa totolfatan, dhugaa sobaan bakka buusanii obboleessa haati isaanii miixattee deesseef boolla qopheessan, warri biqiltuu ol adeemaa jiru mataa keessa gadi waqaran, kanneen barataa qabsoo hiyumaa keessaa ba’uuf waxawaxxattu karaatti doomsan marti warruma garaaf malee seenaa quba hinqabaanne sana mitiiree? Kanatu keessakooti qaqawweessa’ee qaqawwee isarra caalu mataarraa na iyyisiisaa jira… kun ammoo deemee adeemee mammaaksa Waraabessaa naduraa ta’ee hafe.

Innis ‘kan garaa malee kan maqaa yoom nadhibe jedhe Waraabessi’ jedhu mitiiree?…
Boontuu Bilisummaa kan keenyaa magaalaa Naayiroobii keessa jiraattu waan gidiramakoo kanaa kan akka malee ishee quqquuquufii anaaf jecha midhaniifi bishaan lagattee hojii guyyaan kan of bulchitu dhugaa guddaa gangalchitee qomaa dugdatti kan baattuufii abidda boba’ee hindhaamne garaasheetti fe’attee kan naaf jecha joortuu taate yeroon yaadu ammoo mogoleenkoo jajjabaata. Boontuunkoo gaaf tokko akka naboqochiistu shakkii hinqabu. Gargar fagaannullee onneekoo keessaa ishee baasuu hindanda’u. Handhura tokkorraa argamne; haaduun akkam qarames gargar nu baasuu hindanda’u.

Halagaan badii malee nagaa naaf hin yaanne tokko nugidduu galee utuu gargar nunfageessiin dura aniif Boontuunkoo michuu garaa tokkoo turre. Balleessaan ana yookaan ishee bira haata’u hinbeeku garuu garaan keenya walitti boora’eera. Meeshaan addunyaa kan booruu keenya kana gara calalaatti deebisu eessaa akka naaf argamu yoon beekuu baadhes, qaqawweessa keessakoo jiru kan inni ittiin qabbanaa’uu maaliin laata jechuuf mala dha’uuf duuba hindeebine.

Yeroon manaa ba’u, deebi’ee nangalaa abjoodhee hinbeeku. Jireenya shakkiin guutame keessan jiraadha. Waan nacina darbuu mara ija shakkiinan ilaala. Hundumtuu funyoo jallinaa kan ittiin hidhaa walgalchu harkaa qaba natti fakkaata ‘Arba malaan kuffisan, duukaa shubbisan’ jedhu mitiiree? Bakakkaa jallinaa kan waliin tortoran sana keessa nama galchuuf dhamaatii isaan godhan danuudha. Yaada akkasii faana yaadnikoo waliigaluu waan hinbarbaanneef qaqawweessi ribuufi lafeekooti harca’a ga’aniiru. Bishaan darbuuf ka’e nama hin nyaatiin’ jedha Oromoon…
Boontuunkoo akkas jechuun naaf mammaakte; ‘kan firaaf elee hindhaabne, alagaaf eegee dhaabdi’ jedhan mitiiree? Yaa Magarsaakoo naan jette. Anis kan isheen naan jettu kana hubachuuf baay’ee hin rakkanne. Dhikkifati keessashee isa isheen hawwiin eeggataa jirtu sana akka ishee dhalchisu nan beeka waan ta’eef, yeroo gara yerootti yaadaan walitti bu’aa kan jiraannu yoo ta’es walaloo anaaf ishee walitti hidh tokkon akka armaan gadiitti walaleesseef:
Magaallee Oromoo gugee ija kuullee
Boontuukoo hindagadhu ani har’as borullee
Garaakootu dheebote ijakootu ilaalee
Anaaf ishee gidduu gan galu jiraaree?
Boontuuko owwaadhu maaf najalaa diddaa
Maaf natti qabsiifte barbadaa abiddaa
As jedhi Booneekoo sidhabnaan nangaddaa
Ani si argannaan hedduun gaggamadaa
Sitti of kenneetanii keessakoo sigalchee
Ajaa’ibbsiifadheera abbaa isa si dhalche
Suuqa dawoo sanatti qabee sigangalchee
Akka nama jaamaa oofee manatti sigalchee
garuu…garuu…garuu…
Maaluman sigodhe yaada jijjiirrattee
Kan biraa ilaaltee naan duubatti gattee
Amala akkasii kana eessaa biqilchitee
Utuunan sin miidhiin garaa nacabsitee
Garuu yaa Boontuukoo siinis maan komadha
Dogoggoraan oolawoo anisoo namadhaa
Maafan si hammeessa sis balaaleffadha
Gaaffiin sigaafadhe ofis nangaafadha
Ijakee miliqee dogoggoran godhe
Yoon sitti hime maali tokko lama jedhee
Siin maafan hammeessa of qulqulluu godhee
Anuu rakkoon qaba dhuguman siin jedhe
Qaqawwee keessakoo kan akka bakakkaa
Nagaakoo gonfachuuf fallisoo siharkaa
Boontuukoo jaalallee as bal’isi harkaa
Siwaliin ta’eetan galaanicha daakaa
Falli ta’uu qabu kan seera uumamaa
Wanni beekuu qabnu kan bara hundumaa
Walirratti hin yaadnu amala diinummaa
Kottu akkas jenna baleessaan unumaa!!
Boontuunkoo narraa fagaattus karaa ‘face book’ jechuunis, farda faranjiin bara keenya kan uumteen bira naaf ga’eera. Ergaan walalookoo lafeeshee keessa qaqawweessa bakakkaa kan sum’ii walabummaa of keessaa qabu kana tatamsaaseera.

Dhkkubni aniif Boontuunkoo ittiin waxalamaa jirru dawwaa ammaayyaa kanaan bira hinga’amne. Dhukkuba lafeef dhiiga gidduu fiigudha. ‘dhiigni diimatteef dhiiga miti; dhiiga keessa dhiigni jira; yoo dhiigni dhiiga beekeef…dhiiga bilisummaa kan miliyoonotaaf dhangala’ee garuu gumaan hinbaafamiin hafe dhukkuba akka qaqawwee sagalee dhageessisaa lafeekoo keessa gangalatu sanattiin fayyuu dadhabe.
Oromoon aadaa qaba; isaan keessaa aadaan eebbaafi kadhaa Waaqaa isaan muraasa. Anis dhukkuba iyya qaamakoo keessaa kanaaf fala kadhaafi eebba kanaa akka nabarbaachisu beekeen Ayyaantuu Oromoo kan eebbisee qaqqabsiu biran dhaqe. Utuman qoradhuu mana obbo Wayyeessaa Milkii cina ga’e. Godina Jimmaa aanaa Deedoo keessa jiraatu. Ayyaantuun lammataa Amboo aanaa Tokkee Kuttaayee keessa jiraatu. Isaanis Obbo Marabbaa Dirribsaa jedhamu. Maanguddoota kana cina dhaquun baay’ee nun rakkisne. Yeroonan isaan bira dhaqe ganna lalisaa waktii hagayyaa keessa Jimmaa; adoolessa keessammoo Amboonan dhaqee akka na eebbisaniifi waa’ee qaqawweessakoo kanaaf araaraafi fala akka naaf dhaamanan gaafadhe. Ayyaantuu kana lamman iddoo tokkotti fiduun dirqama akka ta’e Boontuukoo faana waliigalle. Kanas magaalaa guddittii Oromiyaa Finfinneetti akka dhufan erga taasisneen Booda Gulallee mana Obbo Araarsaa Deebisaa filachuun cidha guddicha qopheessine. Obbo Araarsaanis seenaa diddaa garbummaa Oromoo keessatti dhaloota miidhaman keessaa gara namoota dhibba Afurii ol erga maqaa nuu dha’aniin booda gara dhimma keenya nu haasofsiisutti darban. Seenaa isaan nu dhageessisan sun ammoo qaqawweesi keessakooti irra caalaatti akka banbanu godheetu akkan marcuma nuuf dhaabate sana jalatti gaggabee of wallaalee kufu nataasise. Isan kufee hunduu nagangalchaa ture sana isaan malee ani hinbeekun ture. Ani akkuman kufeenan abjuu tokko keessa seene. Innis namoota ardii torbanirraa wayyaa diimaa magariisaan walmake uffatanii Biyya Magarsaa Lalisaafatti dachaana, Biyya Magarsaa Lalisaafaatti dachaana jechaa sirbaa, shubbisaa, lafa dhiitaa, kaan iyyaa, kaan ammoo bo’a gammachuu boo’aa walkeessa fiigun arge. …yeroon iddoo kufe sanaa ka’u ani fayyaadha!

Obbo Wayyeessaa milkii anaafi jaalalleekoo kanan akka ofiikootti jaalladhu Boontuu faana Bookaafi Coqorsa harkatti akka qabannu nutaasisuun akka kanaa gadiin Waaqa nuuf kadhatan; nutis jalaa qabne.
Na oofkalchaa oofkalaa
Na oofkalchaa …… oofkalaa
Na oofkalchaa …… oofkalaa
Waaq nagaan bullee nagaan nu oolchi… nu oolchi
Hamaan gargar nu oolchi ….. nu oolchi
Irraa gora nu oolchi …… nu oolchi
Dogoggora nu oolchi ….. nu oolchi
Citiin sadii citii sadan nu oolchi….nu oolchi
Citii waraanaa nu oolchi ….. nu oolchi
Citii waraansaa nu oolchi … nu oolchi
Kan caamee goggogsu nu oolchi …. nu oolchi
Kan roobee tortorsu nu oolchi….. nu oolchi
Walbira oolchii nu bulchi…. nu bulchi
Waliigaltee nuu kenni …. nuu kenni
Waliigalii nuu toli ….. nuu toli
Sonii nuu roobi …… nuu roobi
Waan rooba keessa jibban nubaasi … nubaasi
Waan caama keessa jibban nubaasi … nubaasi
Egaa nagaya ….. nagaya
Barri quufa, Gadaan gabbina ……gabbisi Waaq!

Nutis hayyee nuuf haata’u jechuun eebba obbo Wayyeessaa akkuma jiruun fudhannee kan obbo Marabbaan nu eebbisanis akka armaan gadiin simanneerra. Obbo Marabbaan seenaa gootummaa isaanii erga nuuf dhaamaniin booda, eebba obbo Wayyeessaa yaadaan akka qabatanitti kan ofii isaanii ammoo akka armaan gadiin nuun ga’an:

Kan ati jette tolaadhaa tolaan nu haaga’u …… nu haagahu
Bakkalchi bakkee haata’u …. haata’u
Bakkeen nagaa haata’u …….. haata’u
Qorroon dibdibbee haata’u …… haata’u
Dhiigni dhallaadduu haata’u …. haata’u
Adamoon deettii haata’u ….. haata’u
Duulli dannaba haata’u ….. haata’u
Rimaan haphee haata’u ….. haata’u
Kormi cirrii haata’u …. haata’u
Dhugee haa booressu ….. haa booressu
Dheedee haa barbadeessu…… haa barbadeessu
Booruun gabbina haata’u … haata’u
Barbadaan suga haata’u ….. suga haata’u
Dhugaan tulluu haata’u …… haata’u
Dharri sulula haata’u …… haata’u
Anaaf sihii hinmaqsin… hinmaqsin
Kan ormi maqe nuhinga’in ….uhinga’in
Bakka hir’ate Waaqni itti haaguutu …..haaguutu
Egaa nagaya …… nagaya
Haleele ……… Diina haleeli!

…jedhanii eebaafi kadhaa Waaqaa walharkaa fuudhuun nurratti gadi dhiisan. Nus akka gammaduuf aara galfachuu taane. Qaqawweessi keessa keenyaa sunis akka nuuf qabbanaa’uu ta’e. Bokkaa nagaaf gammachuutu lafaaf nama keenyarratti roobe. Maanguddoonni kunis ‘dargaggeessi qeensa qeerransaati’ jabaadha hojjedhaa yaa ijoolleekoo jedhanii nugeggeessan. Nus akka iddoon seenaa qabeessi kun nujalaa hindagatamneef lafa irratti eebba fudhanne kana ‘Qaqawweessa Bakakkaa’ jenneetu moggaafne!

Al-Shabaab rebuilds forces in Somalia as African Union campaign stalls

One of a number of propaganda photographs published on Somali websites, apparently from al-Shabaab strongholds, showing uniformed men riding on motorbikes.

October 29, 2013 (The Guardian) — A Kenyan soldier clambers up to his sentry post and stares out across vast plains of bush, acacia trees and red dust. The savanna is peaceful now, but he knows that when darkness falls the enemy will return, typically a band of 15 to 20 men armed with AK-47 rifles. “Every night they are in front of us,” the soldier says. “They shoot and go. They run away.”

Along the frontline, the Kenyans have piled clusters of green sandbags to provide cover. Behind them, a military base is protected by high walls crowned with razor wire. About 1,200 troops from Kenya and Sierra Leone are garrisoned in this desolate Somali hinterland. On an average day, green, heavily armoured vehicles set off to patrol the crucial port city of Kismayo, running the gauntlet of roadside bombs, a deadly tactic imported from Afghanistan and Iraq. In punishing heat, soldiers can be seen rolling a surveillance drone across the tarmac of the Italian-built airport.

This is where the war on terror in east Africa is being waged. Troops from the African Union and the fledgling Somali national army are battling al-Shabaab, the extremist Islamist group notorious for carrying out beheadings, recruiting boys to fight and forcing girls into marriage that claimed responsibility for last month’s attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, which claimed 70 victims.

Some analysts interpreted the Kenyan atrocity as a sign of weakness, the thrashings of a dying animal. But there are signs that al-Shabaab is regrouping and evolving, recruiting members more quickly than it loses them and, in the words of Somalia‘s president, becoming “an extended hand of al-Qaida“. Officials admit that, after forcing al-Shabaab out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 and Kismayo in 2012, the campaign against it has lost momentum and stalled. Military maps show swaths of red labelled “AS infested area”, while the African Union force, Amisom, lacks a single helicopter in a country similar in size to Afghanistan.

A series of propaganda photographs published on Somali websites last week, apparently from al-Shabaab strongholds, show uniformed men riding through town on motorbikes and in pickup trucks, with banners celebrating the Westgate attack and, bizarrely, sporting contests such as a tug-of-war and an egg-and-spoon race. Children feature heavily in the images. “This is intended as a message they are still alive,” one Somali government official said.

While a UN report in 2011 put al-Shabaab’s strength at about 5,000 fighters, a Kenyan military intelligence officer serving with Amisom put the true figure almost three times higher, and probably growing. The group may have lost key urban centres, but it still controls a third of Somalia’s total territory, he estimates.

“Al-Shabaab trains its recruits on a daily basis,” said the officer, who did not wish to be named. “They train more new troops than are killed, so they could even be increasing. They are powerful and you cannot underestimate them. They are still very active, not in fighting but in moving, especially in areas they control.”

The organisation has turned to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to attack Amisom convoys, already injuring four Kenyans who had to be evacuated home. “They bury them along routes where they expect our troops to go then spring the ambush. We cannot rule out support by al-Qaida,” said the officer. “We’re not sure they’re getting logistical support, but they are getting expertise. Some of the IEDs we come across are not locally assembled; they are assembled with foreign expertise.”

The officer added that he had heard unconfirmed reports that the Briton Samantha Lewthwaite, the so-called “white widow” wanted by Interpol, was operating in the mountains of Somalia’s Puntland province. He also cast doubt on claims that US-born “jihadist rapper” Omar Hammami had perished last month after falling out with al-Shabaab’s leadership: “There is no confirmation he has been killed. They are rumours. I believe he is still around.”

Nevertheless, al-Shabaab is understood to be suffering logistical problems, shortages of ammunition and recent internal power struggles, though it appears that the hardline Ahmed Abdi Godane has emerged supreme. Witnesses say that he maintains control over towns such as Barawe with just a handful of armed loyalists, whose presence is enough to instil fear and obedience.

Al-Shabaab (the Youth) first emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia’s now defunct Union of Islamic Courts in 2006. It filled a vacuum, imposing a strict version of sharia law in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves. It soon nurtured ambitions to join forces with al-Qaida, but was reportedly rebuffed by Osama bin Laden, who warned in a letter that it was causing too many civilian casualties in Mogadishu. Bin Laden’s death, however, removed that obstacle and al-Shabaab declared itself an al-Qaida affiliate early last year.

Questions remain over the precise nature of the relationship, but the year-old Somali government believes they are now virtually indistinguishable. “Al-Qaida and al-Shabaab, there’s no difference here in Somalia: they are one,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the Guardian in an interview in Mogadishu. “The leadership, the foreigners that are fighting here in Somalia, those who died here in Somalia, all of them were al-Qaida people.

“Experts are sent by al-Qaida to train and arm and give all the new techniques of al-Qaida to al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab is an affiliate, an extended hand of al-Qaida, there’s no doubt, there’s a lot of proofs of that.”

Mohamud said there was no evidence the Westgate mall attack had been planned within Somalia or carried out by operatives from there, suggesting that al-Shabaab had common cause with allies across borders. “Al-Shabaab is an organisation that is based on certain ideologies and the ideology has no citizenship. This is the nature of this organisation: it’s not domestic, it’s not Somali only, this is an international regional organisation and its crimes have impacted at international and regional level. This is a threat to the region. So what we need as regional countries, within the framework of African Union, is to collaborate in order to uproot these evil forces.”

Mohamud admitted that he had no idea of Lewthwaite’s whereabouts. “These people move across borders; maybe if yesterday she was in Kenya, today she’s somewhere else, maybe she’s in Somalia or she’s in Tanzania, Uganda or any other place. They can move, they can slip into the porous borders of the African countries.”

The loss of ports and businesses has been a financial setback to al-Shabaab and, the president claimed, the government is now close to full control of the financial sector so that it can monitor incoming funds. But the Islamist group is said to run a parallel administration with strict discipline and greater efficiency, including accountants who impose taxes on goods, services and personal incomes.

The illicit trade in elephant ivory, smuggling of charcoal and expropriation of cash intended for respectable Islamic charities are among al-Shabaab’s other revenue streams, generating between $70m and $100m a year (£43m-£62m), according to the UN. Some members of the Somali diaspora have also been implicated: two women in Minnesota were jailed after running a teleconference line in which al-Shabaab members openly solicited funds.

Officials fear that, in cities outside its control in Somalia and beyond, al-Shabaab will follow the al-Qaida textbook by diffusing into semi-autonomous cells plotting more attacks like Westgate. Few doubt that the group retains a lethal presence in Mogadishu despite the capital’s tentative recovery. On 7 September, a car bomb exploded outside the Village, one of a chain of restaurants owned by British-trained chef Ahmed Jama. As people gathered to help, a suicide bomber in a soldier’s uniform blew himself up, killing 15 people and maiming several others. Jama was in his car, having driven away just five minutes earlier.

“It was a big boom, something I never heard before in my life, like a two-tonne explosion,” he recalled, pointing to dark scorch marks still visible in the parking bay. “I came back and it was a disaster. There were bodies burning. There was a small shop where a lady had been selling cigarettes and she was burning. Her sister, who had come from London, was screaming and died later in hospital.”

Jama, who studied catering in Solihull and owns a restaurant in west London, considered quitting for the first time since he moved back to Somalia five years ago. Then René Redzepi of Danish restaurant Noma and other star chefs from around the world stepped in with a financial donation. “I was really close to the point of closing the restaurants,” Jama admitted. “I have a wife and children who don’t want to be here. But the world chefs touched me and made me feel like I should continue and not fear al-Shabaab. I was getting demoralised until then but it’s given me new energy.”

Sometimes the Village stays open until 2am, bringing a nightlife to Mogadishu that was unthinkable three years ago. Jama added: “I’m optimistic. The future is getting better. I came home in 2008 and every year is improving. It takes time. It needs patience.” The war is being fought on fronts big and small. Last Friday, before prayers, saboteurs blew up a lamppost on one of Mogadishu’s busiest thoroughfares. It seemed to be an attempt to disrupt efforts to make the streets feel safe again for pedestrians in the evening. In addition, one resident suggested, members of al-Shabaab are brainwashed into believing that lampposts have a sinister power and are “waiting for their deaths” so must be destroyed.

As well as highlighting their military prowess, al-Shabaab propaganda photos published on Somali websites also show men involved in tug-of-war games.

At Lido beach each Friday there is a festival mood and constant hubbub as thousands of young people gather, kicking a football, performing gymnastics or simply bracing in the sea and letting the surf wash over them. Girls laugh and frolic joyfully in the water, their brightly coloured jilbabs soaking as the tide comes in. “I think it’s fantastic, it’s vibrant and it’s really a testimony that peace is coming back to Mogadishu and Somalia,” said human rights activist Farida Simba, sitting in a packed beachside restaurant that opened a few months ago.

Simba’s organisation, the African Initiative for Women in Africa, works with the mothers of young men recruited by al-Shabaab. The main reasons they join al-Shabaab, she said, are poverty and lack of education. “The mothers had no choice but to let young men go. The recruiters would go to the families and give them $50. They were poor and had no choice.” Recruiters also use physical force, or indoctrination in madrasas, or threaten to kill the families of young men unless they join, she added. “The mothers feel helpless.”

Such evidence exposes the limitations of a purely military solution, even as the African Union has called for a “surge” of more than 6,000 troops to take Amisom’s strength up to around 23,000. Kismayo may have been liberated, but its 300,000 population suffers deficiencies in food and clean water, medical facilities, basic infrastructure and state schooling. On Tuesday, there was a not a single ship in port.

The absence of a functioning jail means uncertainty over what to do with al-Shabaab members who are captured or who defect. There is no programme for defectors’ rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Most of the Somali population are children or teenagers who have known only conflict and have little prospect of a job. “Al-Shabaab is both an organisation and an idea,” a local politician told visiting European ambassadors in Kismayo on Tuesday. “You might be able to defeat the organisation, but the idea is still there. You must invest in education.”

Officials express frustration that, despite a number of high-profile conferences, the international community is proving slow to offer practical support. Mohamud, described by critics as weak and lacking political acumen, said: “The world has to focus on one thing and only one: support the Somali government to control its own territory. Blaming, finger-pointing will not help at all.

“Unless that state and its institutions are there and control the territory, we will always have dark holes where al-Shabaab and others can go. Yesterday it was al-Qaida/al-Shabaab, the other day it was the piracy, tomorrow we don’t know what will come out, and anything can come out unless there is a functioning Somali state that controls the Somali territory.”