Hundreds of thousands gathered in Hetosa, Arsi zone of Oromia, the largest of Ethiopia’s nine federal states, for the unveiling of the Aanolee Cultural Center on April 6, 2014, local media reported.
The cultural center houses the Oromo Martyrs’ memorial monument, an ethnographic museum and a mural. Standing several inches on top of a tomb, the monument shows a severed hand stretched upward holding a women’s breast. It is erected as a tribute to the Arsi Oromo whose hands and breasts were mutilated by 19th century Ethiopian emperor Menelik II.
Located 150kms from the capital Addis Ababa, Aanolee is a site steeped in Oromo history. As Madda Walaabuu stood as the cradle and greatness of the Oromo, Aanolee came to represent it’s humiliation. For centuries, the Oromo were organized under an egalitarian Gadaa system. It was at Aanolee that power transfer took place among generations of Arsi Abba Gadaa leaders under Odaa Rooba, one of the five Gadaa Oromo assemblies.
In late 19th century, roughly at the same time as the scramble for Africa, emperor Menelik II set out to forcibly incorporate independent Oromo territories into his “nascent empire.” Having conquered the Wollo, Tulama and other Oromo tribes, Menelik faced a fierce resistance from the Arsi.
The Arsi were not new to their Amhara neighbors to the north. In their encounters in battle, the Arsi did not consider their future nemesis to be much of a contender. The Arsi had, as they still do, much respect, both in war and in peace, for their southern neighbors – particularly the Sidama known for their fiercely warrior tradition. Besides, the Amhara did not know how to ride horses and the Arsi did not see any reason to be worried about loosing in battle to them. When news came that an invading army was arriving, the Arsi simply asked, “Is this the Sidama?” When told it was not, the Arsi scoffed, lowering their guards.
When Menelik’s Shoan army, equipped with modern firearms acquired from western powers, arrived in the 1880s, the Arsi was in for a rude surprise. Buoyed by a tradition that bestowed Wayyooma (an almost sacred high honor) accorded to those distinguished in war as in peace, the Arsi waged a valiant war of resistance. The Arsi repeatedly ambushed and kept Menelik’s forces at bay for six years between 1980-86 — winning all 38 running battles. In one instance, in 1985, after Arsi warriors wiped out his elite imperial guard in a nightly ambush at the battle near Mount Albasso at Doddota, Menelik fled to save his life, leaving behind his wife and Negarit (the imperial drum). Menelik’sremaining soldiers, awed by the bravery of their opponents, snug: Doddota ye wandoochu bootaa (Doddota land of the brave).
On Sep. 6, 1886, at a place called Azule, Menelik’s state of the art armaments outmatched the spears and shields of the ferocious Arsi fighters. After in a single day an estimated 12,000 Oromo fighters, faced off against a superior force led by Shoan general Ras Darge, perished, an armistice was declared. The Arsi then “suspended their struggle to save whatever could be saved,” according to Oromo historian Abbas H.
But the suspension of open hostility did not end Menelik’s appetite to crush and humiliate the Arsi. In 1887, Menelik's forces came back to avenge their repeated defeat at the hands of local Oromo fighters and to terrorize the remaining populace into total submission. Ahead of a scheduled Buttaa event, a power transfer ceremony under the Gadaa system, Ras Darge called for a meeting to “make peace” with the Arsi and “deliberate” on future administrative matters. Thousands gathered at Aanolee. Aanolee was strategically chosen because it was a symbolic site of Arsi power and what is reverently referred to as Arsooma, a custom by which the Arsi Oromo made laws, deliberated on war and peace, elected their leaders and settled their inter and intra clan disputes — the super glue that held the Arsi tightly together.
Menelik's scheme was to divide the Arsi so as to dismantle their Gadaa government structure and communal unity. Along with other Oromo speakers who served the system, the emperor enlisted local elders such as Tuke Mama and Bitee Dilaato. Mama was installed as the interim governor of sort. But the Arsi refused, not least citing the fact that Mama had outlived his Gadaa and was by then a Gadamojji (way past the retirement age under the age-based Gadaa grades).
The debate then centered on “qubaan moo lubaan bulla” — whether to accept Menelik’s rule or maintain their Gadaa structures. The proud Arsi chose the latter. Menelik himself then arrived to deliver the ultimatum that they would be annihilated if they don’t accept his rule. The Arsi was not ready to do so even long after accepting inevitable military defeat. The Arsi insisted on maintaining their Gadaa while accepting, even if begrudgingly, Menelik as a king. “Nugusummaa fudhannee, seeraa keennan bula,” they proclaimed according to local elders.
In what was to go down in Oromo history as Harmaaf Harka Muraa Aannolee, Ras Darge and Menelik's army ordered those in attendance at the "peace" gathering to enter a narrow pass one by one. “The right hands of all male that entered were cut off on orders of Ras Darge. The Shoans tied the hand they cut to the neck of the victim. In the same manner, the right breasts of the women were also cut and tied to their necks,”“As a further form of humiliation, fear and terror, the mutilated breasts and hands were tied around the necks of the victims who were then sent back home.”
As a result, all the men and women who went to Aanolee, the estimates ranging from a low of a thousand to thousands more, returned short of their right hands and right breasts.
That was not all. The local Abbaa Gadaas, the highest-ranking Arsi officials, including those in line to take the reign of power, were castrated. Menelik's soldiers cut the tongues of those who spoke out against Abyssinian invasion. They went door to door collecting cultural artifacts, including Boku, Caaccuu, waraana, wonte, Siinqee and other relics. In a bid meant to destroy and remove Oromo culture from the people’s psyche, the artifacts were torched. It burned for eight straight days
Arsi oral historiography is replete with the story of the tragedy of the cold-blooded massacre at Aanolee. Told and retold by grandmothers and grandfathers for generations since, Aanolee served to this day as a symbol of Oromo resistance against Abyssinian expansion and its continuing legacy of subjugation. The Arsi saga of the 1880s gave birth to two stories — that of Aanolee and Lenjisoo Diigaa. According to Gnamo, Leenjiso was instrumental in organizing the Arsi resistance against Menelik’s invading army.
Among the Arsi, mention the word Aanolee and the blood of the Arsi boils and its trauma curdles into a rock of determination to see to it that justice is restored. Talk about the bravery of Lenjisoo and the knowledge of the massacre of Aanolee becomes a clarion call for spirited action against injustice and the willingness to pay whatever cost is necessary to re-empower the Oromo and relive the glory of its past patriotism and bravery.
April 8, 2014 (OPride)
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