By Akaaku Qerro | February 27, 2015
At stake in that God- forsaken land known as Ethiopia today is the survival of Oromos as a national entity. The clique at the helm of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front, TPLF, has declared an all-out war on Oromos and is hell bent to commit physical as well cultural genocide against us. The so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan—better designated as the Master Plan for Oromo Genocide— is the grand TPLF scheme intended to evict Oromo farmers, seize Oromo land, loot Oromo resources, all with ultimate goal of establishing a permanent Tigrean domination and hegemony in rural Oromia.
This thinly-veiled attempt at neo-colonization and carried out in the 21 st century no less has been characterized as an act springing out of naivety and ignorance by some. But there is no doubt it is an act arrogance of arrogance bordering on insanity.
Naive and ignorant because, having been numbed and blinded by the amount of loot and comfort they have come to wallow in during the last quarter century of their reign, Abaye Tsehaye and his TPLF cohorts have become oblivious of the existence of other peoples around them. The TPLF fat cats are apparently incapable of rational thought and are unable to see, or do not care less, about the long term consequences of the crimes they are committing against the Oromo people on a daily basis. And insane and arrogant because, having most entirely relied on coercive power to keep the “peace” and to perpetuate their tyranny over the millions in the country, those TPLF gangsters have lulled themselves into believing their own hype that there is no force in the universe that can move, let alone remove them. In their own small minds they are good to extend their tyranny ad infinitum.
Hence Abaye Tesahaye’s stupid bravado and superciliousness in declaring that TPLF would proceed with their Master Plan for Oromo Genocide come what may and the accompanying threat directed at Oromos that they would be dealt with harshly if they dare stand in TPLF’s way. This is most outrageous but not surprising coming from one of the leaders of the Ethiopian a fascist state.
The Oromo answer must be unequivocal and clear: the table will be turned and the TPLF strategy to literally eliminate us from the face of our land will only add fuel to the fire of the Oromo war for liberation. While Abaye Tsehaye’s contemptuous utterances to push ahead with their Master Plan will represent a watershed in the Oromo struggle in so far as it galvanizes the Oromo nation, the same blunder will come back to haunt the TPLF and will forever be a source of regret.
That Oromos have the legal as well as the moral right to wage a war of resistance against TPLF aggression is beyond dispute. It’s a fact that no one can deny, not even the Western countries who have chosen friendship and cooperation with a government led by the TPLF gangsters over the observance of human rights, the rule of law and the fundamental principle of self-determination for a people facing the danger of mass extermination.
The Western countries have been looking the other way when tens of thousands of Oromos are languishing in Ethiopian jails, hundreds of school children, as young as nine years old, were massacred by the TPLF soldiers for the crime of demonstrating peacefully in protest of government policy and millions of Oromo farmers are being evicted of their lands. All this crime is being committed against Oromos just because they are Oromos , a people constituting the single largest majority in Ethiopia and occupying a good chunk of it. It’s a sad footnote in the history of the Oromo struggle that Western countries are continuing to bankroll the TPLF junta in Ethiopia despite the fact they are fully aware that hundreds of Oromos have already perished as a result of eviction and displacement caused by the government’s land grabbing and urban expansion. Partly duped by the cunning posture of the Ethiopian governments posing as the champion of the fight against terrorism and undoubtedly driven by short sighted self interest, Western governments are overlooking the fact that the very policies of the Ethiopian government that they are bankrolling—repression, political murders, looting, detention without due process …etc is fast turning Ethiopia into failed state and a breeding ground for terrorism. Another Somalia is right round the corner. And the story of the so-called opposition operating legally in Ethiopia makes for no better reading. For in all their protestations and noise they are making against the TPLF junta, the Habasha have elected to be mute when it comes to the plight of Oromos. It’s almost as though the mere mention of the name “Oromo” was going to cause the instant break-up of what is left of the rump state.
The old political elites, who go to make up the leadership of those parties, find themselves on the Ethiopian political scene in a new democratic garb. But without exception, Andinet, ENTC, Semayawi… and son on have similarly turned a blind eye to the plight of the Oromo and some are in fact mocking us as the perennial victims. They seem to be content with their wait and see disposition ready to jump in to fill any power vacuum that may follow the demise of the TPLF. They cannot stand either antagonist but seem to harbour a lot more fear of Oromos in strategic terms than the Tigreans. They continue to go on whining about TPLF’s sinister design to destroy Ethiopia’s unity, and that merely because the Oromo language has become a working medium, by and large, in Oromo regions. But not only are they incapable or unwilling of putting forward a viable alternative to the Oromo question, the very issue on which the survival of the Ethiopian polity is predicated. The old elites are blissfully unaware or are in pathological denial that the future of their ”beloved motherland” will be determined only by the young militant Oromo generation whether they or the TPLF likes it or not. Henceforth, the settlement of the Oromo issue will be determined by Oromos regardless of the manner of its disposition. Whether Ethiopia will break up into multiple states, or it will evolve into a genuine multi-national federation, or it will develop into a unitary democracy with Oromos as the political pivot; the accomplishment of anyone of these options or others will require, unlike in the past, Oromos playing a central role as warranted by the dynamics of geopolitics and demography.
We see even Oromos, idly theorizing and quibbling on forums like this one what the goal of the Oromo revolution must be. Some, like Fayyis Oromia, have tried to delve into formulating various theoretical models that a future Oromo state could assume. While the likes of Fayyis Oromia are commendable for their fertile imagination, hair splitting debate on the shape of a future Oromo nation could be counter-productive. We have enough contentious and more urgent issues on which to focus at this moment in our struggle. The mission and of the Oromo revolution should be to enable the masses of our people to decide their destiny. It will be their sovereign right thenceforth to choose whether they want to establish their own state or live in a mutually agreed federation with the peoples within and around them. It was the failure to recognize this simple fact, albeit a cardinal principle, that has led to internecine war between compatriots resulting in costly loss of life and putting the struggle years back. In recent years, there is no doubt the rapid rise of a revolutionary Oromo generation, the Qerro, has sent terror down the spine of the members of the TPLF kleptocracy in Ethiopia. With Qerro fuelling the Oromo struggle, the TPLF junta knows full well that the Oromo revolution is attaining a new and dynamic dimension. They know the days of TPLF terror unleashed on Oromos are numbered. And they know that they got to stop this inexorable force if they have to continue their looting, killing and political repression in Oromia. But alas what the TPLF do not know, or chose to ignore to their own ultimate detriment, is that they cannot stop the march of history, not even the might of TPLF can.
Since they cannot stop the march of history, the TPLF thought it best to resort to attacking Oromos through delegitimizing their cause and thereby their quest for freedom and self-determination. And the TPLF reckon the way to attain their criminal goal is by evicting Oromos from their ancestral land.
Oromos are now pinned against the wall and the only way is out and up. They are left with no choice but to strengthen their resistance against TPLF’s expansionist policy and onslaught and ascertain their existence as a community. Or do nothing and gradually perish from the face of Ethiopia. That is the stark choice staring us in the eye today.
Hence, Oromos are rising up ever stronger and more determined to kill in the bud the TPLF Master Plan intended for their genocide. This Master Plan will never be allowed to succeed. It can only succeed over our dead bodies, all 40 million of us.
It should be clear to all Oromos that this war of resistance is going to require a greater level of sacrifice from us all, at home and abroad. While waging an all-encompassing resistance to oust the TPLF out of our lands, at this stage we are primarily looking to ourselves in terms of support. We can be sure of the Habasha parties falling over each other making a belated rally of support at the eleventh hour, when the Oromo struggle becomes a fait accompli. Victors are not short of friends and Oromos have always been brothers after all, the TPLF taking the blame for having planted discord and conflict among the two peoples. As for the West, the excuse will be convenient ignorance of the gravity of the crimes committed by the TPLF against Oromos in broad daylight, apologies being not atypical. But for now Oromos will have to slog it all alone toward freedom and nationhood. They need to rely on themselves to consummate the struggle, and they possess ample resources to do so.
Above all, the Oromo resistance demands a greater level of commitment and performance from its leaders, without naming any organization in particular. The objective situation—to borrow a phrase from a bygone revolutionary era—calls for the leaders to lead by example. They need to shift their operational base from the capitals of America and Western Europe to Oromia where our youth are being murdered and jailed by TPLF every single day. No war of liberation that I know of has consummated successfully directed from abroad. Oromos won’t be an exception. The Tigreans mock our leaders as managing the Oromo revolution by remote control and sadly there is a lot of truth in that.
To reiterate, at this moment in history, geopolitics is not in our favour but this is no sudden revelation; we have known it for as long as we have been conscious. And unfortunately there are no signs that the status quo is changing anytime soon. Oromos are surrounded by peoples and nations with axes to grind (casting covetous eyes on our lands) and we cannot expect them to do us any favours. So Oromia remains to be the rear as well as the center for our leaders, not Oslo, not Asmara, not Washington DC, not London.
Ambo comes with immense physical danger but that is where a glorious chapter of the Oromo revolution is being written. So are Borana, Naqamte, Bale, Jimma, Arsi and so on. When the chips are down, we know that Oromos can count on their leaders and one can’t think of a time more critical in the Oromo struggle when the leaders need to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Oromo people and lead them to victory.
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