Oromo struggle will continue

September 5, 2015 Oromia

By Yaadasaa Dafa

Yaadasa Dafaa

One cannot help wondering how such huge territories of Oromia with all its abundant wealth and natural endowments became (and continues to be) under the control and exploitation of the minority Abyssinian ethnic groups!!!!  Certainly at a face value, that should have never occurred, since Oromo Nation remain the most populous group in the region. But when one looks at the matter more closely, the causal factors appear to have an interwoven relations, particularly those three worst heinous methods utilized by the Abyssinian colonial regimes to remain in control of Oromia includes but not limited to:

1. Fostering and promoting the Oromo people’s mental slavery,
2. Attempting to eliminate all Oromo people’s resisting forces, organizations as well as individuals.
3. Impoverishing the Oromo people,

-Fostering and promoting the Oromo people’s mental slavery,

The late invasion of Oromia by the Abyssinians not only created the occupations of the actual lands of Oromian vicinities, but also eroded and battered the inherited senses of Oromumma with all the courage, heroism and braveries of the people of Oromia replacing all with the entirely new, but artificial senses of belonging to the colonial Abyssinian/Ethiopian identity.  Here the Abyssinians crossed from occupation of the land to enslaving the hearts and minds of some of the young generations during the ruling of the Abyssinian/Ethiopian colonial dynasties of Emperor Menilik, Haile Silas, and Mengistu.  Throughout the administrative controls of those foreign reigns, the Oromo people of Oromia lost their belongings in some parts, and in all parts of Oromia, they were thought how to become the better servants for these alien conquerors.  Their loyalties to Abyssinian invaders were measured by how fast they forget their own language, religion, history, ancestral pride of bravery, but become purely subdued subjects and tenants speaking the pure imposed Abyssinian language, adoring the colonial Abyssinian cultural legacy and traditions. On the other hand, brands of self-centered, and naive Oromo individuals began to appear in all domains of the Oromo peoples’ life.  Thus throughout the formation of the entire Oromo people’s civil, religious and political organizations at all times, the cohorts of these new defeatists Oromos emerged singing all the politically correct languages amazingly fitting to the orientations of the occasions : both political, or religious persuasions.  These Oromo sellouts do speak afaan Oromo, and swear in accordance with the Oromo traditions on surface. But they speedily disregard their own rhetoric and digress back to serving the purposes of their masters directly or indirectly.  Undoubtedly they do succeed without much effort to disillusion the people of Oromia by appearing to be the advocate for the cause of the Oromo people’s language, and culture.  But deep down in their hearts and actions, they have already embedded the pedagogy of the oppressors into their own personal value system and remain loyal to the Abyssinian Colonial dynasty by disenfranchising the Oromo people by utilizing whatever means available to them. This remain the central structural conundrum and challenge facing the progress of the genuine Oromo quest for freedom at all times.  Hence, the committed Oromoo freedom enthusiasts and Leaders frequently waste considerable time and energy to extinguish the fires these defeatists create so as to strangle the normal flow of the Oromo struggle.

As we were growing up within my own generation, just a sizeable of Oromo number of us started claiming to speak the better and improved Amharic, and dance better to the Kebero beatings and iskistas.  The differences between the academic success and the process of fitting to the “brain washed” pot simultaneously, while becoming a strangers to our own people by speaking to them with the imposed and enforced colonial language, and culture became entwined and heavily twisted in our minds.  Therefore some of us were even claiming to be the better suited Ethiopians than the Abyssinians themselves. Such unconscious/conscious spirits of betrays and disloyalty to our own Oromo heritage continued for more than a century.   It became the accepted dogma not to appraise our own authentic journey of our mental slavery. Thus in order to avoid being labelled the “narrow” (Xebbaab) some of us chose to hear no evil, and see no evil.  Meanwhile we continued the venue of vigorously and forcefully resisting the notions of reflecting back on the events that led us to alter our natural bondage from the respected Oromo heritage for the invaders’ of Oromia.  This un-chartered journey of our capitulations appeared to be a successful to the invading conquerors Abyssinians of those days. But such jubilee proved to be a short lived victory. As the colonial system that had such a sweeping and devastating effect on my generation, also had an adverse power to push the visionary and dedicated Oromoo Nationalists to launch the fundamental corrective action of reclaiming Orommumma.

Even if it is not the focus of this article to elaborate much on what/when and how the reclaiming of Orommumma started and progressing, it is quite adequate to be aware of the real connection between the three scenarios as stated above cementing the possibility for the colonial Abyssinians to maintain tight hegemony over Oromia.

In the comprehensive National struggle, defeating the mental slavery is non-negotiable fact.  Therefore, it is a precondition and absolutely required element to grasp all the constituencies of the mental slavery by waging the purposeful inquisition so as to complete the freedom journey that our people embarked upon since its invasion.  Even if it continues to be under relentless attack, the people of Oromo did manage to speak, and write with/in afaan Oromo.  This achievement is/was not a gift from the Ethiopian regime, but a long fought battle with all its documented historical events and appropriately designed outcomes by all the Oromo pioneers and OLF. Therefore, when some young Oromos with a natural curiosities start to ask me what progress did the Oromo struggle gained so far, first I start acknowledging their innocence of not knowing where we had been and where we are now in references to being proud of our heritage. I often start with the positive and roll them back telling them my personal experiences as an Oromo school boy.  At the end, I usually conclude with assurances that the struggle of the Oromo Nation will continue as far as the injustice are continued to be perpetuated on people of Oromia. As for the grown-ups, even at this age in Oromo struggle for its freedom, some individuals may not be conscious enough to know how their mental slavery is forcing them to remain loyal to the adversaries of the Oromo people’s freedom.  One of the basic strategies of the anti-Oromo Nation’s freedom is disenfranchising and alienating the struggle of the Nation of Oromia by creating and magnifying differences among the Oromo people. So as to achieve this sinister goal, often geographical, political, as well as religious differences among the Oromos are overblown and exaggerated to the point that the aliens do take the position to be the alternative associates and colleagues than mending the negligible discrepancies that exists among ourselves.  The natural and beloved Gadaa heritage of Oromo dictates those differences among the Oromos to be solved through discussion governed by ‘ilaaf ilaamee”.  But this distinctive Oromo national value is frequently overrun and choked by the imposed colonial values that glorifies hate, and being suspicious of each other.  As the Ethiopian saying goes (“siraan kemeftaat, ye injeeraa lijeen laffataat”) purely testifies and affirms the imposed colonial core values that dictated all the re-conciliatory proceedings that are/were undertaken by differing Oromo groups at every corner. Each differing Oromo team are/did fail miserably to realize the extents of their mental dependency on the alien core values.  Luckily, his trend often upheld by my generation as we grew up by soaking up and absorbing all the non-Oromo colonial values.  As for the Qubee generation, they are free of such influences and they need to take this as a learning moment so as to build their cohesive Oromo people’s unity for advancing the imperative journey towards winning the final war for freedom.

–Attempting to eliminate all Oromo people’s resisting forces, organizations as well as individuals.

All the Abyssinian ruling dynasties: Tewdros, Yohannes, Menilik , Zewditu, Haile Selassie, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Meles Zenaw, and  Haile Mariam Desalegn, all share the maintaining acts of torrential barbaric violence on the Oromo people during their respective administrative eras extensively. During Haile Silassie’s colonial administration, he used all the colonial tactics including the Formal Education with the Abyssinian language as the legal means of pedagogy, and mass Medias. The cultures and traditions of the Oromo people were purposely and systematically devalued and degraded.  The process of the brain washing all the younger Oromo generation reached its highest peak.  The following are recorded major events by Gadaa.com as committed by the Haile Silas regime 1930 -1963, even if Haile Sellassie’s regime ended in 1974.  

Events in Oromo History During the Reign of Haile Selassie

1930 Tafari Makonnen, throne name Haile Sellassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Emperor of Ethiopia, succeeded Zawditu to the throne. 1930 A large government force, led by the war minister, Mulugeta, arrived in Yejju and Rayya regions. The Oromo fighters put up stiff resistance. The Oromo resistance was finally put down, although temporarily, mainly by the use of airplanes. It was the first time airplanes were ever used in a war in the Empire. 1931 The first constitution of Ethiopia was introduced. In this document the term “Abyssinia” was dropped in favor of “Ethiopia,” thereby defining Abyssinians and all the colonized peoples as “Ethiopians.” 1933 Jimma was fully incorporated into the Ethiopian Empire. 1933 As the colonial government strengthened its grasp on Oromia and consolidated its power, the situation concerning land and property for Oromo worsened. In 1933 Haile Selassie passed a law decreeing that “… once a person was given to a naftanya he was not allowed to leave the land against the landlord’s will … “ 1935 League of Nations Report C.240, M.171, VII, p.41: “The inhabitants of the conquered country were registered in families by the Abyssinian chiefs, and to every family of Abyssinians settled in the country there is assigned one or more families of the conquered as gabbar. The gabbar family is obliged to support the Abyssinian family, it gives that family its own lands, builds and maintains, the huts in which it lives, cultivates the fields, grazes the cattle, and carries to every kind of work and performs all possible services for the Abyssinian family. All this is done without any remuneration, merely in token of the perpetual servitude resulting from the defeat sustained thirty years ago.” 1935/1936 The Jimma Oromo rose up and attacked colonial officials and settlers, just prior to the Italian invasion. At the time of the Italian invasion, the Jimma population used the situation to their advantage and routed the naftanyas. This doesn’t mean they preferred the Italians as masters. In fact, at the time of the Italian invasion of 1936, the Sultan of Jimma, Abbaa Jobir, joined the other Oromo leaders in the region in the independence movement and the establishment of the Western Oromo Confederation. 1936-1941 The Italian Fascist regime invaded the Ethiopian Empire in revenge for Italy’s defeat at the Battle of Adwa some 40 years earlier. The Oromo resisted Italian occupation everywhere because they wanted freedom and naturally did not want to substitute one master for another. A. Sbacchi, “Ethiopia Under Mussolini’s Fascism and Colonial Experience,” noted “The Oromo … gained more in the long run than the Amhara from the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, but were not always too cooperative and did not live up to Italian expectations.” The Oromo language was used in courts and on radio for the first time. Even some literature appeared in the Oromo language. Haile Sellasie, upon his restoration by the British and against the wishes of the Oromo people, reversed all these positive developments. 1936 Western Oromo leaders refused to send troops to take part in the battle against the Italians in the northern front. Thirty-three local leaders of western Oromia formed the “Western Oromo Confederation” under the leadership of Kumsa Moroda, alias Habte Mariam Moroda, and appealed to the League of Nations through the British Consul in Gore for recognition and membership. The request was ignored. During the same time, the British Government was requested to establish mandate over the “Western Oromo Confederation” until it achieved self-government. The British refused to give their support. 1935/1936 Oromo of Rayya and Qobbo were fighting Haile Selassie’s army. At one point, on April 3, 1936 near Ashange Lake, they almost trapped Haile Selassie himself fleeing from the Italians. He never put his feet in this area again after that. During the same period, the Oromo guerrillas attacked the retreating Ethiopian army led by Ras Mulugeta and inflicted heavy casualties. They revenged his earlier (1930) aerial attack on them by killing his son; he himself narrowly escaped. One of the reasons for the attack was, the Ethiopian army on its way to the war had looted the property of the Oromo communities. 1941 After the Italian defeat and expulsion, many Oromo communities opposed the restoration of Haile Selassie and gabbar (tenancy) system abolished by the Italians. The uprising of Oromo communities in Rayya, Shawa, Hararge, Jimma, etc, were a few centers of opposition. The Oromo rebellion at Qobbo effectively cut off all communication between Addis Ababa and Asmara. The Oromo guerrillas in Rayya liberated a large area of the territory and gained control of it for several months. The central and eastern Oromia leaders petitioned the British government for the establishment of an independent Oromia Republic. The request was denied and Haile Selassie was reinstated, which brought to an end for the time being, Oromo’s hope for immediate independence. 1943 Somalis, under British and Italian colonial rule, organized themselves under the name “Somali Youth League (SYL)” or “Kulub” to struggle for their independence. When news of this organization reached the neighboring Oromo, Harari and Somalis of Hararge, they in turn began to secretly organize to seek liberation from Ethiopian rule. 1943 The Oromo uprising in Rayya was temporarily suppressed with the assistance of the British Royal Air Force stationed in Aden. Many of the leaders of the Oromo movement were also implicated in the Woyane revolt in Tigray in 1943. 1945 Oromo communities from Jaarso and Baabbile of eastern Oromia began armed struggle, following the creation of the Somali Youth League in British and Italian Somaliland. Within a short time, they liberated large areas in eastern Hararge, except for large towns like Harrar and Dire Dawa. The Ethiopian government reacted with unexpected violence, and killed many people, razed the countryside, destroyed mosques and other religious centers and property. The fighting subsided temporarily. 1945 The Jile, pastoral Oromo communities, were evicted from their lands in the upper and middle Hawas (Awash) valley, around Qoqaa (present Qoqaa Dam) and Wanji. Their land was given to Handels Vereniging Amsterdam (HVA), a Dutch firm, with sugar plantations and processing. Those who survived the onslaught of the Ethiopian army among the Jile community of Karrayyu disintegrated and disappeared. The surviving Karrayyu communities moved further south and joined thier kin in the middle Hawas valley. 1946 At a place called Waleenso near Bookee in Harbo province, Oromo nationalists in the surrounding area organized themselves and fought the colonial regime. The movement was a continuation of that of the previous year and was also in opposition to the restoration of tenancy that had been abolished by the Italians. Among the leaders were Mohammed Jilo and M. Jawwe, who had gained experience in the use of modern arms and fighting during the Italian occupation. The fighters laid down their arms only after they were assured they could continue to administer their area without the interference of the colonial administration. 1947 The Somali Youth League (SYL) invited Oromo and other groups in Hararge to join them in the struggle against the three colonial powers in the region, British, Italians and Ethiopians, and to build one country together. For fear of unnecessarily aggravating Ethiopian authorities too early, the use of Oromo in the name of the organization was avoided and it was agreed to conduct the struggle under the SYL. But it was perhaps a mistake of historic significance that has plagued the Oromo national struggle up to this moment. 1948 Oromo leaders in Hararge were able to smuggle in arms through Djibouti. Fighting started simultaneously in British Somaliland and Hararge. This created fear among the settlers. The government was able to suppress the movement after a lot of bloodshed, arrest and imprisonment. Following this event, SYL offices in Harar, Dire Dawa, Dadar, Ginnir, etc were closed down. 1947/1948 The Rayya Oromo rose up in arms again. Again after they had liberated a large area of their land, the movement was stopped when the British Royal Air Force in Aden at the request of the Ethiopian regime, savagely bombed the Oromo guerrilla positions. 1950s A peasant revolt broke out in the Dawwe area. The continuous harassment and unwarranted confiscation of Oromo property by the settlers was the immediate cause of the revolt. The Oromo organized themselves into guerrilla forces and forced the colonial settlers and administrators out of the area. Soon the revolt spread and covered a wider area. The guerrilla defeated the government troops, who were sent to quell the revolt, several times and captured arms and ammunition. After several attempts to subdue them with a regular army failed, a detachment of the Imperial Body Guard with combat experience in Korea, led by one of Haile Selassie’s generals, in an act of barbarism massacred more than 700 of those who gave themselves up peacefully. Previously, one of the local leaders, Ali Dullatti, slipped out of the war area secretly and traveled to Addis Ababa to appeal to the Emperor, who agreed on amnesty to the fighters. 1955 Alaqa Taye, an Abyssinian court historian, alleged that in the 14th and 15th centuries the Oromo migrated from Asia and Madagascar. Haile Sellasie revised his constitution. 1956 An Oromo scholar, Sheikh Bakri Saphalo, discovered a script for writing Oromiffa; the script gained popularity in some parts of eastern Oromia, before it was discovered by the Abyssinian colonial authorities and suppressed. 1956 A radio program, called the Voice of Harar Oromo, broadcasted in the Oromo language from Egypt. The Oromo and few Adares behind this project (organized as Harar Oromo) came to Egypt after the crackdown on SYL in 1948 in Hararge. 1960s A few Oromo youth organized themselves, with the encouragement and financial support of some Oromo nationalists, into an Oromo cultural troupe called Afran Qallo, after the four major Oromo clans of the region, in Dire Dawa town. In addition to the regular show in Dire Dawa, the group traveled to other towns in the regions and staged musical shows and enjoyed tremendous popularity. The popular singer, Ali Birraa, was a member of this group. Somali radio started a program in the Oromo language. At the time, there was no Oromo language program on Ethiopian radio. It was a new development and was very effective in educating the Oromo people about their own position and situation in the Empire. 1960 Somalia became independent. Prior to this, members of Somali Youth League reorganized and opened an office in Mogadishu under the name of the Liberation Front for the Somali West (LFSW) or “Somali Galbed.” Its main objective was to regain ‘the lost territories of Somalia’ – referring to Hararge, Arsi, Baale and Sidamo – and annex them to Somalia. 1960 A coup d’etat to topple the Haile Selassie Monarchy failed. Oromo officers (such as Taddasaa Biru, Jaagamaa Keello, Waqejira Serda, Dawit Abdi and Major Qadida Guremeysa) loyal to the Emperor were instrumental in failing the coup. And yet they were suspected of disloyalty and subjected to discrimination by the authorities. Such a policy not only angered Oromo officers, but also encouraged them to be involved in political activities. Dec 1960 The United Nations passed Resolution 1514 XV, which defined colonialism as “the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation.” The establishment of the Ethiopian rule in Oromia and the subsequent all-out attempts at destroying Oromo culture, norms, values and beliefs and its replacement by that of Abyssinians has fitted the UN’s definition of “colonialism.” 1961 The new Somali government opened an embassy in Cairo. Some of the embassy staff who had a long history of involvement with SYL and the creation of LFSW put a lot of pressure on the Oromo, including snatching passports, canceling scholarships, etc. to accept the LFSW. The Oromo refused to adopt a Somali identity. 24 Jan, 1963 In the early 1960s several self-help associations mushroomed in the Empire. Among such self-help communities of the time were the Shawa Tuullama and Jibaat and Macha in Shawa. These two merged and formed the Macha-Tuullama Welfare Association (MTWA). MTWA was formed in accordance with Article 45 of his Imperial Majesty’s 1955 revised Constitution and Article 14, Number 505 of the Civil Code of the Ethiopian Empire as a civilian self-help association. Its logo, designed by Haile Mariam Gamada, was the Odaa (sycamore tree), the symbol of freedom and self-administration. Haile Mariam Gamada also coined the name of the Association.

Thanks, and no thanks to Haile Silassie’s colonial indoctrination process, the heroic Oromo scholars and dedicated leaders started to lay down their futuristic visions and persuasive agendas for reclaiming Orommumma, and total freedom of their Nation Oromia.

After Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown; in September 1974, a Military Committee (known as the Derg) was established from several divisions of the Ethiopian Armed forces. In December 1976, Mengistu signed a military assistance agreement with the Soviet Union after consolidating his power as the Derg leader. The following April 1977, Mengistu revoked its military assistance agreement with the United States and expelled the American military missions becoming the Soviet Union’s satellite regime.  All the previous Abyssinian policy of colonizing Oromia continued, and all Oromo genuine Nationalists were persecuted and harassed after being accused of “Narrow Nationalists”. According to the World’s the free encyclopedia, “Tadesse Birru (circa 1920 – March 19, 1975) was a Colonel General of the Ethiopian Imperial Army and an Oromo nationalist. Initially a strong proponent of Ethiopian unity, Tadesse eventually became an activist for the empowerment of the Oromo people in the 1960s. His advocacy turned into repeated attempts to overthrow the government through a coup and later through a military rebellion. He was eventually captured and executed by the Derg regime. He is the father of modern Oromo nationalism”.

Nothing new could be expected from the current Abyssinian regime even if the regime continue to swear in the name of Democracy after changing their satellite mission from Soviet Union (the current Russia) to USA. Often the changes of alliance with these superpowers is dictated not by principles, but their needs of soliciting arms, financial and food supports they can lobby and obtain by hiding their actual goals, which is to continue colonizing the Nation of Oromia. No actual motivation so far demonstrated by these colonial regimes of Ethiopia to pursue the self-sufficiency of all the country’s deficits, particularly   for utilizing the modern mechanized agricultural enterprises. No innovative leadership are substantiated even if the country has no shortage of natural fertile lands, minerals and properties. The other natural and abundant but neglected reserve is the Ethiopian Human resources which could have changed the whole predicaments. This should start with stepping out of the old colonial mentality of snatching others productions.  The Nations could be encouraged to be more productive if assured of owing their individual family productions.  But the only creativities of the Abyssinian colonial regime displays remains to be deceptions, corruptions, and conniving as opposed to interpreting the existing scientific advances to benefit the ever starving people. They appear to find ample times to beg as opposed to making the concerted effort of manipulating the nature scenically at the Higher Educational Institutions for Scientific researches, as well as establishing and maintain modern farming stations for agricultural engineering and … etc. It is a disgrace to hear/read that the establishments of the Ethiopian Space Observatory when the actual and proven need for the country remains to be food self-sufficiency. This is hallucinatory unrealistic venture as it is devoid of the tangible and concrete needs of the people!!!!!!!  Yes, it could generate the fame and fortune for the few, but not the wide citizens of the country.

Furthermore, voicing the citizens’ legal Rights in the all anti-democratic nations remains to be a crime punishable with sentences of death, or indefinite imprisonment in the torture chambers of the country, and no exception evidenced since the current colonial regime of Ethiopia is handed over the power from their colonial precursors. Practically, all the citizens including students were/are being targeted by the regime all over the country, and particularly the Educational institutions in Oromia are being besieged by the heavily hammering of Ethiopian federal police just for articulating the fundamental rights of the Oromo people.  Uncompromisingly, the Abyssinian colonial regime continues to respond rigidly by mass massacring, torturing, and imprisoning them indiscriminately.  But such barbaric action of the regime never ended the Oromo people’s quest for just and freedom, yet it energized them more to stand for their god given rights.

The violation of people’s basic right are considered to be less evil compared to other atrocious crimes perpetuated on the Oromo people now a days.  The disappearances and tortures of all political opponents are advertised as a political victory where no one in his right mind ventures to speak against the TPLF tugs terrorizing the whole Nation. In fact they claim to win 100% of the votes during the current the so-called election!!!! That only possible nowhere else, only in Ethiopia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such levels of intrigues, conspiracies and brutalities are not new for the Nation of Oromo.  During its conquest in late 18th century, the invading Abyssinian armies poured down the rains of terror on the mothers, elders and all people of Oromia.  All the Abyssinian emperors starting from Tewderos, and later Menilk thought they could extinguish all the Oromo resistances by disseminating vicious crimes on the Oromo people. But all the criminal perpetuators were proved to be dead wrong.  The resistances of the people of Oromo continues.

Impoverishing the Oromo people,

The present day strategy of the Abyssinian regime is not to employ the Oromo young graduates from the Colleges, simply putting their colonial language as the prerequisite criteria for employment at the Federal Ethiopian offices and development fields.  This just another cunning schemes of the Ethiopian colonial establishments.  It is very serious marginalization process against the people of Oromo utilized by the current Ethiopian regime even if they know well that there will be no Ethiopia without Oromia. But the very amazing political scenario is realizing the depth of today’s colonial Ethiopian regime’s arrogance/self-deceptions.  I really do not get how long it will take for colonial neighbors to realize that the Oromo Nation will not accept the current Master Plan that they try to shove down the throats of the Oromo people!!!!  The people of Oromia all over the world have unanimously rejected their desperate attempts to divide and sell parts of Oromia to their friends in the shallow name of investment.  It appears that they have willing and consciously have started another chapter for the invitations for the Oromo heroic resistances.   Well, the people of Oromo will have no choice, but responding to the colonial Abyssinians saying “bring it on”.

Conclusion.

The Oromo struggle for just and freedom will continue, despite the past atrocities on the Nation of Oromia by the Abyssinian dynasties: Menilik from 1865 to 1909, Zewditu 190o to 1930, Haile Selassie from 1930 to 1974, Mengistu Haile Mariam from 1974 to 1991, Meles Zenaw from 1991 to 2012.  Haile Mariam Desalegn from 2012 to?  These waves of Abyssinian trespasses will never halt the Oromo struggle, but will galvanize, rejuvenate, and reinvigorate the Oromo people for the final destiny as it did before at every Abyssinian colonial maneuvers!!!!!

The Oromo people will be victorious!!!!!!

Ulfaadhaa,

Yaadasaa Dafa.
September 5, 2015.

Sources:

• Melbaa, Gadaa, “Oromia: An Introduction to the History of the Oromo People,” Khartoum, Sudan, 1988.
• Jalata, Asafa, “Oromo Nationalism and the Ethiopian Discourse: The Search for Freedom and Democracy,” The Red Sea Press, Inc, Lawrenceville, 1998.
• Jatani Ali Tandhu: Life & Legacy of a Borana Statesman
  By Tadhi Liban
• World’s the free encyclopedia