Ending the Culture of Impunity and Breaking the Cycle of Violence

August 11, 2015 Human Rights

By Fayyeera Sobokssa

(Ayyaantuu.com) — A Princeton University Scholar, Kulani Asafa Jalata, wrote her senior essay on torture – “How the Tortured Body Speaks.” Her research work covers four Oromo generations:

1. The resistance struggles in Bale led by Waaqoo Guutuu and the Macha and Tulamaa Self Help Association
2. The modern form of organized struggle led by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
3. The continuation of the struggle by another generation after leaders of the OLF were detained en masse by the Dergue regime
4. The Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa (FDG), civil disobedience, generation.

Here is “an excerpt from a speech made by Waaqoo Guutuu, the leader of the 1960s Bale uprising against the Nafxanyas” that we have taken from her senior essay:

“It is in their culture to kill”

“Our people remember. Don’t ever forget that you are a people with history and honor and that you are richly endowed with human and material resources. It is essential that you, first and foremost, remember that [ever] since the enemy occupied your country in 1885, you have been robbed of your land and property, your history has been destroyed and your dignity violated… Since the Amharas occupied our country with the help of European imperialists, our people have been massacred en masse… our land has been divided amongst the Amhara invaders… Innumerable crimes that have not been committed by the European colonialists on the African peoples have been perpetrated on you. It is today that you can liberate yourself from the shackles of oppression… Rise up and arm yourself to destroy the oppressive rule of Haile Selassie (Jalata 2005: 182-183).”

Continuing the Naming and Shaming Project

During our testimonies at:  the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Senate, the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT), Human Rights Organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalitin (TASSC) – International, faith Organizations and educational institutions, we have tried our level best in explaining how the security forces of the TPLF minority regime have specifically targeted the Oromo people in general and Oromo students, teachers, the academia, business women and men in particular.

The Gulag of the 21st Century

1. Those of us who were in Ma’ikelawi prison in the mid 1990s know a story of a severely tortured young man from Hararghe, Eastern Oromia, who lost control of both urine and human excreta. As a result of the bad smell, a room was vacated for the victim; all inmates were distributed to the rest of the prison cells which created additional pressure on the already overcrowded prisoners. After we weres released, that unfortunate young man was seen while he was walking naked on the streets of Finfinne/Addis Ababa, in a town known as Meghenagna
2. Another young Oromo from Horro Guduru, Western Oromia, also told us how his brain failed to control urine and feces after he has endured a very severe and barbaric torture in a military camp.
3. They use various torture techniques such as sleep deprivation. In an infamous prison area known as challma bet, which means the dark house, they brought another traumatized Oromo to our prison cell. That young man was not mentally stable due to the barbaric torture he has endured. During nights when he wakes up, often in short intervals, he prays to his Creator very loudly and it was very hard to get enough sleep. That cruel torture technique was on a young man, an Oromo from Odaa Garadoo/Waloo, Oromia
4. Something is said to be objective if two or more individuals arrive at the same conclusion on a given subject being in different places and at different times. As prominent human rights advocates and intellectuals testified on the 2015 Oromo Studies Associations’ annual Conference, we also know the stories of four Oromos who have independently told their stories to immigration lawyers, faith institutions and human rights organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT), and the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) – International that a heavy material was tied to their genitals during interrogations. Three out of four, 75% of them are Christians and one of them is a Muslim. It is good to have all facts at hand to confront those who are trying to defend an evil regime. The religions in the Ethiopian Empire, according to the CIA Factbook 2012 issue, are as follows: Orthodox 43.5%, Muslim 33.9%, Protestant 18.9%, Traditional 2.7%, Catholic 0.7% and other 0.6%. From these figures and facts we can conclude that Oromos are being persecuted because of their ethnicity, for their rich resources, not because of their religion. These unique forms of torture are specifically targeting the Oromo people and it is not difficult to know the main intent of the enemy, that is, 

 Similarly, two people have independently documented the systematic persecution of Oromo elders and respected leaders in the community. The case of Obbo Dararaa Kafanii and Obbo Dandanaa Gurmuu, that was written by the former member of the TPLF/EPRDF regime, author Tesfaye Gebreab, who is now adopted by the Oromos and renamed Gadaa Gebreab on the 2014 annual OSA conference and confirmed on Irreechaa ceremony.

We have also found an independent testimony by another survivor, Kallacha W. Kunee, since he has documented about the unusual torture practices perpetrated against him. He has also written about what he has seen about Oromo elders such as Obbo Dandanaa Gurmuu and others. We also expect more survivors to document their own and that of others so that these documents and testimonies could be used by Oromo lawyers who are now organized as professionals and also by other human rights advocates. They can be good references and evidences to prosecute the TPLF minority regime for committing a genocide against our people. We also urge our lawyers to work hard on the truth and accountability project to bring the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court.

We have been reporting that Ethiopia is already at the very top of human rights black list.

Country	Total # of Survivors	Percent (added)
Argentina	1	2.2
Cameroon	8	17.3
Equatorial Guinea	1	2.2
Eritrea	3	6.5
Ethiopia	22	47.8
Gabon	1	2.2
Honduras	1	2.2
Iraq	3	6.5
Papua New Guinea	1	2.2
Philippines	2	4.3
Sudan	1	2.2
Uganda	1	2.2
Yemen	1	2.2

Source: TASSC- International and the Washington Center

African dictators are much concerned to protect their own interests in the ‘territorial integrity’ of the ill advised artificial boundaries made by European colonizers. In contrast, the African people want their freedom and dignity not the territorial integrity of colonial powers. The struggle of the Oromo people is to dismantle these ill advised artificial boundaries and replace them with the people-friendly ones.

The division of Somalis into Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia proper; Afar into Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti; the Oromos into Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are good examples of the deliberate, ill-advised and illicit works of European colonizers. Same holds true for the Nilotes and the Omotic people. The spiral of conflicts that are claiming the lives of millions of people of the Horn of Africa that were started during the scramble for Africa and lasted to date are the results of such illicit human actions.

The evil dictators that are often supported and planted as client states always aspire to have technological edge over their subjects to secure economic, political and military dominance for their own ethnic group and their lackeys who serve as their Trojan horses. Our struggle is to shift this power balance and dismantle an ethno-centric, brutal and evil apartheid regime of the TPLF minority regime.

Madagaagam (Repeating the Lies Over and Over Again)

By their very nature, autocratic regimes are fascistic and they have adopted the infamous Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Gobble’s tactics:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State… The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” This propaganda tactics have been in place for too long and we are already getting sick and tired of them. Instead, we are replacing them with telling the truth to our people. As George Orwell put it, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

The good examples of the TPLF propaganda are the Baddanno drama, Jihadawi Harakat, Jawarawi Harakat and the recent smear campaign released on YouTube videos that was trying to portray Oromo intellectuals living in the diaspora as villains and extremists. The above forms of violence could be categorized into three major types: 1) Physical Violence 2) Psychological Violence 3) Verbal Violence. All these forms of violence have been widely covered by our media outlets and it is time that they  come to an end.

Empowering the Oromo

We have made a journey against the tide and an up the hill battle to partially reverse some the atrocities perpetrated against the Oromo people. To get rid of the TPLF minority regime, we must:

Continue building our capacities; mobilize our human and material resources; put pressure on political factions to unite so that we move forward from the culture of scattered resistance to an organized form of resistance; continue putting pressure on the fragmented media outlets to work together and create a strong and vibrant one; continue educating the Oromo people about Oromummaa in action not only in words – unity of purpose; empowering our women and the youth to increase their participation in the freedom struggle; continue our capacity building initiatives so that we get empowered economically, socially and politically; continue building vibrant civil society organizations such as community organizations and the Mecha and Tuulamaa Self Help association; breaking the conspiracy of silence – strengthening diplomacy, advocacy and human rights training to Oromos and other marginalized peoples of the horn of Africa who are our natural allies. We must work more on this because we don’t have branch offices in major cities of the world.

We have millions of people who have good intentions. They need leadership and guidance from OSA so that other intellectuals who are very passive and look at the problems from a distance are mobilized and also take part in the freedom fighting struggle. These groups are responsible for the silent majority who often surround them.

Why do we oppose the TPLF regime? It is crystal clear that it has controlled 93.4% of the military leadership (see the table below), the economy, the judiciary, the media and the electoral board. It has also severely restricted all civil society institutions including the Macha and Tulamaa Self Help Association to work on development projects in Oromia and also restricted all domestic and international human rights organizations to freely move in Oromia and gather information about the atrocities it is committing against our people and other marginalized peoples in the Horn of Africa.

We will Keep on Asking, Economic Development for Whom?

It is often said that:”Liars can figure but figures do not lie”. Here are facts and figures about ethnic compositions in Ethiopia. Real census data for the Oromo, the Somalis, the Afars, the Sidamas, and other peoples in the southern part of Ethiopia could be hard to get since the dominant ethnic group wants to manipulate and use them to serve their own political and social needs of their own. Oromo scholars estimate the figure of Oromo population at about 40-50% of the Ethiopian population. According to the CIA World Factbook 2012 issue, here are some figures about Ethiopia:

Region	Ethnic Group	Percent	Representation in Army Leadership
Oromia	Oromo	34.5%	0
Amhara	Amara	26.9	3.3
Ogaden	Somali	6.2	0
Tigray	Tigre	6.1	93.4%
Sidama	Sidama	4	0
Gurage	Gurage	2.5	0
Welayta	Welayta	2.2	0
Hadiya	Hadiya	1.7	0
Afar	Afar	1.7	0
Gamo	Gamo	1.5	0
Gedeo	Gedeo	1.3	0
Others	——-	11.3	3.3

Note: Region and Representation in Army Leadership are our own additions. It has been widely reported and the names of the TPLF Generals and the departments they work in are already known. No need of repeating now and then since they are already in public domain.

Even though the regime that dominates Ethiopia and its supporters try to blame it on religion as a major source of conflict, the real problem in Ethiopia is ethnic domination. The war lords incite religious and ethnic conflicts to stay on power and exploit the rest. From the above facts and figures, it is very easy to understand that it is an elite group from an ethnic minority that accounts for only 6.1% of the Ethiopian population that dominates 93.4% of the Ethiopian army leadership. Obviously, as the International Crisis Group put it, “it is a state within a state.” These army officers use force to stay on power. They have controlled all state machinery and are committing atrocities on a large scale to remain on power.

It is natural to resist their domination. We opposed their domination in 1991. We still oppose their domination in 2015. We say no to Revolutionary Democracy – a political fraud and conspiracy disguised to hide minority dictatorship. Activists, the media and Oromo intellectuals in the Diaspora must spread the word to the world to expose this grand political fraud and conspiracy. Western politicians and the supporters of this minority regime are trying to tell us that there is economic development in Ethiopia. We have to challenge them and ask: Economic Development for whom? Are they trying to say that excluding the majority is a viable and sustainable alternative? Definitely not!

The Oromo people who account for 34.5%, according to the CIA World Factbook 2012 issue, of the total Ethiopian population have no representation in the Ethiopian army leadership, highly marginalized, disempowered and exploited by this minority regime. This must be reversed soon.

We would like to thank the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) for including young educated women and men in this year’s annual conference. The conference was very engaging, educative and captivating. It really unleashed the collective brain power of the Oromo people and was also indicating the bright future and the right pathway we have to follow to reach our main goals and objectives in liberating our people from the yoke of Abyssinian colonialism.

Forcing them to Fight their Own Wars

This is to show how the Abyssinian elites were using the Oromos and other marginalized peoples as pawns in the chase game. They have wrongly convinced themselves that they have, as Dr. Merera Guddina puts it, ‘the mandate of heaven’ to rule us forever. The main goal of the politics of ‘elect of God’ by the monarchy has been adversely affecting even the gullible Oromos themselves. Most unconscious Oromos who didn’t understand this trap couldn’t break up from the Abyssinian institutions. Educating them to join the institutions the conscious Oromos are building will weaken the capacities of our enemies to use our own human and material resources against us to stay on power and subjugate us. We need to work more to educate these gullible Oromos to come and join their own institutions.

Although they have been looting our properties for more than a century, they didn’t build us enough hospitals and clinics, schools and infrastructures. The vast majority of our people still live in the dark in rural areas without having any access to electricity thereby being disconnected from civilization and the rest of the world. As a result of this reality, we are forced to reach them through radio since they cannot have access to TV and the various modern  audio-visual technologies of our time such as Facebook, Tweeter, YouTube and so on. The main goal of the enemy is to keep our people in the dark and use our youth as pawns in the chase game. Educating our youth will force the enemy to fight its own war and perish in the various so called ‘peace-keeping missions’ in Africa instead of using our youth.

The reality is that the main trouble maker in the Horn of Africa is the TPLF minority regime itself and it must be dismantled so that others live in peace and harmony. The rest of the marginalized ethnic groups must come together and form alliances and forge a united front to dismantle this tyrannical apartheid regime.

During the Imperial monarchy, it is obvious that it was an elite group from the Amhara ethnic group that was dominating the Ethiopian Empire.  Since we didn’t have our own institutions after the Gada System was dismantled by the invading Abyssinians, the Oromo and other student movements that overthrew the feudal regime of Emperor Haile-sellassie was over taken by the well organized military junta called the Dergue .

During the final years of the brutal communist regime of the Dergue, there was a widely circulating clandestine document that showed the name lists, positions and ethnic mix of the Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE.) That important document revealed the fact that 108 (90%) of the Central Committee members of the WPE were Amharas; the Tigreans were only 4 (3.33%); the Oromos were only 4 (3.33%); and even worse, the rest of the 79 or more ethnic groups had only 4 (3.33%) representation!

We can conclude that it is only good governance, respect for human rights, promoting democracy, freedom and the rule of law that will bring lasting peace and sustainable economic development for Africa. Trying to keep the status quo is only a futile effort and self deception.