Sidama is Under Siege following SLM/Medrek’s permission to Demonstrate TPLF’s Unconstitutionality!

June 12, 2014

Kukissa, Sidama Reporter from Sidama Capital Hawassa,

The arduous journey of Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) and Medrek (the coalition of opposition parties) demanding permission of the rulers to assert their right of peacefully demonstrating the recent massacre of Oromo civilians and others crimes TPLF’s regime has committed and is committing against the Oromo, Sidama, Ogadenia, Hadiya, Gambela, Benshangul, Kambata, Kaffisho and Shakichcho, Gedeo and others peoples of nations and nationalities- was finalised with implausible permission with attached preconditions. The authorities of TPLF’s rulers were eventually obliged to concede after postponing it for over a month due to a hard work of SLM/Mederek coalition whose leadership knocked at the doors of the authorities on daily basis defying odds and intimidation; the reason they were only allowed to hold their demonstration on the 10^th of June 2014.

Even TPLF’s Sidama and regional authorities tried to hide from SLM/Medrek’s leadership until the last minute when they were boldly told by the gallant SLM/Medrek leadership that they never accept further deceits and delays as long as the Constitution allows them to follow the procedures and policies laid out to bypass the permission of the government after satisfying the necessary requirements- which has been done over a month ago.

The following report sent on 11^th of June 2014 speaks volume.

የሲዳማ አርነት ንቅናቄ (ሲአን/መደረክ) እና የሀዋሳ ከተማ አሰተዳደር ጽ/ቤት ፊጥጫ ያለፉት ሰባት ቀጠሮ እንደተመላለሰው ዛሬም የሲአን/መደረክአመራሮች የከንቲባ ጽ/ቤት በሄዱበት ጊዜ ጧዋት የከንቲባው አማካር አቶ በላይነህ ተሾመና የከንቲባ ጽ/ቤት ኃላፊ አቶ በላይ በቀለ አገኝቶበተነጋገሩቤት ጊዜ አሁንም እንደተለመደው ተነጋግረን እንመልሳለን ስሉ:

የሲአን/መደረክ አመራሮች እኛ ደብዳቤ ካስገባን ቆይቶአል በህጉ መሰረት 48 ሳዓት አልፎል ይሁን እንጅ ዛሬ የሚንጠየቀቹ ህጋብ ለመሆን ነው; አሁንከሰጣቹን ሲጡን አለብለዛ ከቢሮ አንወጣም ስሉ ጊዜ ከሳዓት ከከንቲባው ጋር ተነጋግረን እንመልሰቸ ብሎ ከሳዓት ሲሄዱ ከንቲባው ስብሰባ ሰለገባደብዳቤ እኛው እናመጣለን ስሉ እዚህ ቆልፋቹን ሄዱ እንጅ አንሄድም ብሎ ከሲጨነቁ ቦኃላ ስብሰባ ገባ የተባሉት ከንቲባው መጥቶ አሁን ስብሰባአለን ነገ ኑና በደብዳቤ እንመልሰቸው ብሎ እንድመለሱ አድረጎኦል::

የእነሱ ፊላጎት ለሰልማዊ ሰልፉ ቅስቀሳ እንድያደረጉ አንድ ቀን ሲቀር እንሰጣለን ብሎ እያመላለሱ ነው ፡፡ ይሁን እንጅ ሲአን/መደረክ ሲዳማ ዞን በሃያአንዱም ወረዳ ፤ ሀዋሳ ከተማና አጎራባች የኦሮሚያ ክልል ዛሬ ቅስቀሳውን እያደረገ መዋሉን ከፓርቲው የወጣ መረጃ ለማወቅ ተችሎአል ፡፡የሰኔ 7ቱሰልማዊ ሰልፍ የደመቀ እንድሆን ከፍተኛ ዝግጅት አድረጎ ጭርሶአል::

ሀዋሳ ከተማ እና አጎራባች ወረዳዎች የሚትገኙ ሁሉ ሰላማዊ ሰልፉ ላይ እንትገኙ ሲአን /መደረክ ጥረ አሰተላልፎአል፡፡

Following the permission of the demonstration for the 14^th of June 2014, TPLF/EPRDF’s regime army, others several hundreds of undercover security forces, federal and regional police regime sponsored terrorists involving Agi’azi (TPLF’s assassins and peaceful demonstrators’ killing machines) are said to be roaming on the streets of the Sidama capital Hawassa and its outskirts since the 11^th of June 2014. The numbers of the said TPLF’s peaceful civilians’ terrorising agents are said to be equivalent to the numbers of Hawassa dwellers.

Meanwhile, the regime also has restricted the roots of planned marches of the demonstrators for Saturday, from accessing and passing through the central part of the city to the less popular parts. Additionally, the regime’s Sidama messengers are assigned to organise various conferences for the entire Sidama civil servants for 14^th June 2014 with the aim of blocking civil servants from taking parts on Saturday’s SLM/Medrek demonstration. The aforementioned ill-conceived conferences the regime’s messengers have organised will take place at Fuura Rural Development Studies Institute (Hirgaalamete Katamira), 40 km away from Hawssa.

Besides, the organisers (SLM/Medrek) are hundred per cent confident that the wider Sidama, Oromo, and the peoples of others nations and nationalities will take part defying odds and denounce the criminal actions of the regime in power and demand the regime to stop its current plan of uprooting Oromo peasants from the outskirts of Finfinnee also called Addis Ababa (under the guise of Master Plan), and the Sidama from Hawassa outskirts in addition to others critical points the demonstrators unanimously raise. The intimidation strategy of the regime by accumulating its army, federal and regional police including Agi’azi’s killing machines shouldn’t be destructing hurdle to the participation of the wider peoples of nations and nationalities who are all deprived of their basic rights to assembly and freedom of expression.

Both SLM and Medrek are considered to be at loggerheads with the current TPLF’s democracy decorated brutal regime, therefore the regime leave no stone unturned to intimidate its leadership and members as it feels that SLM/Medrek’s unity is a serious threat to its interests in Sidama land, Oromia and others southern areas’ and ultimately to its survival.

SLM/Medrek kindly invites all to take part defying regimes unconstitutional actions. This message must be communicated between the Oromo, Sidama, Ogadenia, Gedeo, Hadiya and Kambata Diasporas and their grass root communities back home to enable them to be a full part of this movement.