Norway Oromo Youths protest against the ongoing of human rights violation in Ethiopia

By Kiyyaa Gonfaa |February 20, 2015

On Saturday, February 14, 2015, members of the Oromo Community in Norway protested in front of Trondheim Torg against the repressive and dictatorial Ethiopian regime. The demonstration was organized by the Oromo youth in Trondheim. The aim of the protest was to condemn the human rights violations against the Oromo people – as a result of which, many Oromos have been arrested, tortured and killed, and thousands have disappeared. The trend of repression is increasing alarmingly and a huge number of Oromos have been jailed, tortured and exposed to inhuman conditions under fabricated charges. The TPLF/EPRDF leadership has a standing policy of protracted attacks against the Oromo people – irrespective of age, sex, profession and occupation. To criminalize Oromo, being only Oromo is enough in Ethiopia.

The recent Amnesty International report says, at least 5,000 ethnic Oromos have been arrested between 2011 and 2014 based on their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government. These include peaceful protesters, students, members of opposition political parties and people expressing their Oromo cultural heritage. After the Amnesty International report, the human rights violations against Oromos have continued. Just two month, on December 9, 2014, in Oromia, Salale province – Darra district – Goro Maskala town, the government soldiers killed Katama Wubatu and his comrade in front of the public.

The Ethiopian ruling elites are most likely will continue their wild acts of killing, torturing and forcing millions Oromos to flee their homes. We are calling on the international community to stand against the brutality of the Ethiopian regime – particularly Norway, U.S.A., the UK and EU governments – to stop their relationships with the Ethiopian dictatorial regime and to stop sending their taxpayers’ money to TPLF. There are reports by international organizations that the aid has been used against the people to whom the money has originally been sent for.

Finally, the organizers of this demonstration delivered a letter to the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende at Clarion Hotel Trondheim.

The slogans raised and chanted during the demonstration were:-

– JUSTICE for massacred Oromo students;
– STOP killing and imprisoning innocent Oromos;
– FREE all Oromo political prisoners;
– STOP selling Oromo land to foreign and local investors;
– Ethiopian government, STOP evicting Oromo farmers from their land;
– TPLF is brutalizing people in Ethiopia for 24 years;
– Killing Oromos will never stop the Oromo struggle;
– TPLF, you can kill thousands, but you can not kill 40-million Oromos …