Is H&M Turning a Blind Eye to Land Grabs in Ethiopia? A TV4 Investigation

Hamma Yoom Oromoon Lafa isaa tirraa arihama? Gaafif Deebii Keessummaa keenyan waliin goone hordofaa

Guyyaan Yaadannoo FDG Melbourne, Australia keessatti sirna ho’aan kabajame

Sadaasa 24, 2014

Guyyaan yaadannoo FDG naannoo Australia, magaalaa Melbourne keessatti bakka Hoogganootni ABO, miseensonnii fi hawaasti Oromoo hedduminaan irratti argamanitti guyyaa Sadaasa 23, 2014 sirna ho’aan kabajamee ooleera. Qindoomina ABO Konyaa Victoriatin sagantaa qophaa’e kun kan eegalame eebba maanguddoo, wareegamtoota yaadachuu fi faaruu alaabaan yeroo ta’u wareegamtoota walii galatti fincila Oromoo keessatti wareegama kaffalan ittiin yaadachuu fi muldhata ifa fuulduree QBO akeeku dungoon dhaloota haaraan qabsiifamee jira.

Haalaa fi sababa kabaja ayyaana guyyaa kanaa ibsuun sagantaan ayyaanichaa dura taa’aa ABO konyaa Victoria J/ Abdataa Homaatin eega banamee booda uummata ayyaana kana irratti argaman baga nagaan dhuftan jedhiiru.

Oromo studies scholars bring important issues to the table at ASA meeting in Indianapolis

Fifteen fellow Oromo studies scholars from around the world presented papers on a wide range of topics under six panels, making this the largest presence of any panels from the Horn of Africa in the program as well as actually in the conference rooms of JW Marriot hotel in the beautiful and cold city of November Indianapolis.

A few scholars were new entrants into the field of Oromo Studies with brand new focuses such as gender issues, nagaa, Oromo ecotheology, the state of religions in Oromia and Ethiopia, genocide and land grabbing, among others . Well established topics in social sciences such as the conquest and domination of Oromia by Abyssinian northerners were part of the panels. Veteran Oromo studies scholars reinforced their previous work and introduced some newer developments in their fields.

Six men gang-raped me and walked free, narrates woman

November 21, 2014, Nairobi (Standard Digital News) — I came to Kenya as a refugee in October 2010. I had escaped from Ethiopia since I am an Oromo and my family members had been accused of being members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

I knew the government was going to arrest me next so I crossed the border and came to Nairobi, I didn’t know anybody but I made my way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees who gave me refugee identification status, and then housed me. I came with my little boy, then two years old.

I live in Dagoretti, Wanyee and life hasn’t been easy. This year, on February 10, at about six in the evening, I left my house to go buy a packet of milk. The shop is about half a kilometer from my house. On my way to the shops, I saw two men, standing next to a Nissan Van; the type used for matatus, though this one wasn’t a matatu. It didn’t have the yellow lines painted across its body. I stayed at the shop for five minutes then started walking back to my house.

Ethiopia: The Endless Violence against Oromo Nationals Must be Halted

                 Fear of Torture, HRLHA Press Release

__________________________________________________

           November 16, 2014

Harassments and intimidations through arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions without trial, kidnappings and disappearances have continued unabated in Ambo and the surrounding areas against peaceful protestors since the crackdowns of April, 2014, in which more than 36 Oromos were killed by members of the federal security force.

Intensifying Mass Arrest, Torture, and Killing will Only Inflame Struggle of for Freedom

Statement of Qeerroo Bilisummaa on Continued Arrest and Conviction of Oromo Students from Various Zones of Oromia

November 17, 2014 (qeerroo) — It is to be recalled that tens of thousands of Oromo nationals in general and Oromo students in particular have been arrested and severely tortured by the TPLF-led Ethiopian regime over the last few months in connection to a series of Oromo student protests which broke out in large scale and spread out throughout Oromia beginning the month of April, 2014. These protests, organized and led by the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (aka Qeerroo Bilisummaa), are just one incident in a series of continued struggle of the Oromo nation for freedom, democracy, and justice over the last 23 or so years. Hundreds have been gunned down by live bullets by the so called Agazi troops of the regime in the months of April and May, 2014. In addition to those who have been shot and killed during the protests, many have lost their lives in prison cells unable to stand the brutal torture. Many others have simply disappeared. Qeerroo Bilisummaa believes that those who disappeared have been killed and their bodies hidden – a practice repeatedly perpetrated on the Oromo prisoners by this regime.

Sydney, Australia – G20: Oromo Community Protests against killings of Oromo in Ethiopia

November 16, 2014, Brisbane, Australia

The Oromo community protests against Ethiopian killings which are happening within Oromia region.

They call for freedom, human rights, against the Ethiopian regime killing Oromo, only because of that they are Oromo.

Claire Beston’s Washington Public Speech on “Because I am Oromo” Report

Part I	Part II

Claire Beston, Amnesty International’s Ethiopia and Eritrea Researcher, visited Washington DC and gave a public speech on the groundbreaking report “Because I am Oromo”, a 166-pages report which documents that  Oromo people are targeted with ‘sweeping” repressions in Oromia region and elsewhere in Ethiopia.

Because I am Oromo Rally, Phoenix, Arizona milkiin xumurame

Sadaasa 14, 204

Jaarmiyaan Hawaasa Oromoo Sadaasa 13, 2014 hiriira ba’uun gabaasa dhaabbatni mirga namoomaa Amnesty Interrnational Onkoloolessa 28, 2014, dalagaa faashistummaa ummata Oromoo irratti mootummaan Wayyaanee raawwatu saxiluun dhiheesuu isaatiif degerssa qabu agarsiise.

In Defense of the Latest Amnesty International (AI) report Repression in the Oromia

Begna Dugassa, Ph.D | November 14, 2014

Dear the Secretary General & the Minsters of the Ethiopian Federal Government:

I am writing this letter to defend the latest Amnesty International (AI) report BECAUSE I AM OROMO’ Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia1 from the attacks and mischaracterizations of the Ethiopian government presented on BBC Radio and other media outlets. I believe I am entitled to do this for four reasons.

The first reason is, I was born and raised in Oromia among the followers of the Oromo indigenous religion– Waqefaata. I have witnessed human violations perpetuated by consecutive Ethiopian regimes. During the Haile Selassie regime, I witnessed my family members giving a quarter of their harvests to the Abyssinians and paying taxation without representation in the government. I witnessed many Oromo family members tried not to allow baptizing their children in the Abyssinian Orthodox Church. In the belief that if someone first goes through the Waqefaata ceremony known as Amachisa, the person will remain Waqefaata, my community members developed strategy to take their children through the indigenous ceremony first. Accordingly, in the Amachisa ceremony I got the name Tolera = things are good. After that, they had me baptized because the Oromo people were forced to baptize their children in the Orthodox Church. In the ceremony of baptism they gave me a name Gebre Giyorgis = the slave of George. I leave it to the readers to compare the differences in meaning between the two names.

Conference on Land Policy in Ethiopia and a statement of oakland Institute

November 13, 2014 (Human Rights Horn of Afrique) —  The Conference on Land Policy in Africa starts today, November 12, 2014, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Government officials, representatives from international institutions, aid agencies, and civil society organizations have gathered around the theme “ensuring agricultural development and inclusive growth.”

Given the recent explosion of land grabs across the African continent, this international conference seems pertinent and timely, especially for the millions of smallholder farmers and citizens across the continent. But let’s not allow some key facts to be drowned by the enthusiasm expressed from those attending.

We need to consider the venue and the host country, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government is not only offering a facility for the conference, but has also played a key role as a member of the Steering Committee for the gathering. The same country is arguably one of the worst offenders when it comes to forced displacement resulting from land grabs.

Cooperation with the Regime Hostile to the Peoples’ of Ethiopia is Against the Principles of International Law

A Statment by Oromo Liberation Front in Support of Report of Amnesty Intrnational on Human Rights Violation Against the Oromo People

Afaan Oromoo version - PDF

November 10, 2014 (Oromoliberationfront.org) –In the history of shocking tortures of dictatorial regimes against the peoples ruled under thier iron fist the Ethiopian government cruelity is unparalleled. Since its ascension to power by force in 1991, the Ethiopian government’s records of human rights violation through extraordinary killings, forced disapearance, massive imprisonment, displacement and other means of suppresion against the Oromo people is incalculable. The world has repeatedly witnessed that the incumbent regime of Ethiopia is a government that adopted a policy of ruling by violence and commit harsh and cruel actions flagrantly.

Land Wars: Ethiopia Accused of Massacring Civilians to Clear Way for Foreign Farms

WARNING: This article contains disturbing images

By Lara Whyte 

An image said to show corpses piled up following the alleged market massacre

November 10, 2014 (Vice News) — Ethiopia, one of the world’s hungriest countries, is selling off vast chunks of its land to foreign investors who are growing food products for export — and those who get in the government’s way are being killed or silenced, according to a new investigation.

Under the country’s controversial “villagization” scheme, huge populations of farming communities are being moved out of their homes on land eyed for development and into new settlements built by the government. Residents not lured out by promises of better infrastructure and services are often forced to go against their will, and resistance often brings violence or intimidation into acquiescence or exile, US-based rights group the Oakland Institute says in a report due for release on Monday.

Now, for the first time, pictures obtained exclusively by VICE News appear to show evidence of the widespread atrocities and abuses being reported by farming communities and minority groups across the country.

The pictures were sent to the Institute in April 2012, and are said to depict a massacre carried out by government officials and members of the ethnic Dizi group on behalf of the Ethiopian state against the Suri, one of Ethiopia’s many ethnic indigenous farming groups, in the market town of Maji in February that year.

Gootota Baratoota Oromoon, Jalabultiin Yaadatnoo FDG Sadaasi 9 Mooraa Yuuniversitii Jimmaa Keessatti Bifa Howwaa Taheen Kabajamaa Bule

Guyyaan Yaadannoo FDG Sadasni 9 marsaan 9ffaa gootota Qeerroo barattoota Oromoo Yuunibarsiitii Jimmaan jalbultii isaa irraa eegaluun haala ho’aa ta’een kabajamaa jira.

Goototni Qeerroon dargaggootni baratootni Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa mooraa arfan main Campus, Agriculture, Sayinsii fi Teekinooloojii, Economics and Bussiness fi Kolleejjii barsiisota Jimmaan haala ajaa’ibsiisaa ta’een kanbajamuu egalee jira. Goototni Qeerroon barattootni Oromoo sagalee faaruu goototaa dhageesisuun gootota ilmaan Oromoo bilisummaa saba isaaniif jecha wareegama lubbuu baasan farfachuun namoota dhuunfaa, akka walitti dhufeenyaa fi caasaa ijaarsaa fi miseensotni Qeerroo barattoota Oromoo addaatti bifa qinda’een Sadaasa 9 yaadannoo FDG marsaa 9ffaan bifa adda ta’een kabajamuu eegalee jira.

Sadaasa 9 Guyyaa FDG Ilaalchisee Faaruu Hawwisoo Qeerroon

Minnesota: Because I am Oromo Discussion Nov 8 2104

Oromo Community of Minnesota: Call for Public Forum to Discuss the #BecauseIAmOromo Report by Amnesty International

#BecauseIAmOromo Announcement: Meeting in DC with Amnesty International’s Claire Beston (Friday – Nov. 7, 2014)

#BecauseIamOromo Announcement: Claire Beston of Amnesty International will be speaking in Washington DC this coming Friday about the recent Amnesty International’s report on the sweeping repression against the Oromo people in Ethiopian.

Place: Oromo Center, 811 Upshur Street, NW Washington DC 20011
Time: 7 PM

If you are in the DMV metro area, you should not miss this event.

Building Momentum in Geneva with the Oromo Diaspora

H.E. Mr. Minelik Alemu Getahun (left), Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office in Geneva

November 6, 2014 (The Advocates Post) — This fall was a busy time for advocacy at the United Nations on human rights in Ethiopia. It was also a great time to see The Advocates for Human Rights’ new toolkit, Paving Pathways for Justice and Accountability: Human Rights Tools for Diaspora Communities, in action.

Universal Periodic Review Concludes with Some Fireworks
In a one-hour session on September 19, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of its second Universal Periodic Review of Ethiopia. You can watch the video of the session here.

I’ve blogged about the UPR of Ethiopia before, and the adoption of the outcome is the last step in the process. The adoption of the outcome is also the only opportunity civil society organizations have to speak during the UPR process.

Human rights campaigner says African Union should move headquarters out of Ethiopia

Human rights abuse in Ethiopia

November 6, 2014, JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African Union should move its headquarters out of Ethiopia because of concerns about freedom of expression there, an Angolan journalist and human rights campaigner said.

Journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, who has been jailed and faces numerous legal challenges for his investigative work in Angola, said in Johannesburg on Tuesday night that the African Union is hypocritical for keeping its base in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The union represents 53 countries on the continent and says it is committed to transparency and human rights.

Marques cited the ongoing Ethiopian trial on terrorism-related charges of bloggers from Zone 9, a collective that publishes critical news and commentary. He also mentioned the three-year prison sentence handed last week to Temesgen Desalegn, the former editor of the now-defunct newspaper Feteh who was convicted of charges including incitement.

COMMEMORATION OF OROMO STUDENTS RESISTANCE AGAINST SUBJUGATION IN OSLO NORWAY

COMMEMORATION OF OROMO STUDENTS RESISTANCE AGAINST SUBJUGATION IN OSLO NORWAY NOVEMBER 1 2014	New Oromo Oromia music 2014 Baratooni kaate qabsoo finiisite Hirphaa Gaanfuree

Ibsa ABO Guyyaa Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa Ilaalchisee

Sadaasa 3, 2014 (Oromo Liberation Front) — Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo hirmaatnaa ummataan caalaatti utubuu fi sirna gabrummaatti xumura gochuuf bara 2005 ABOn ummata bal’aa Oromoof alagaan bitamuun nu haa gahu! Jedhee akka diina irratti finciluuf waamicha dabarse. Ummatni Oromoos waamicha Dhaaba isaa ABO irraa dabreef gammachuun ofitti fudhatee Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa (FDG) guutuu Oromiyaa keessatti adeemsisuun tarkaanfii boonsaa yoomiyyuu yaadatamaa jiraatu fudhate.

Fincilli bara 2005 itti fufame bifa adda addaa fi sadarkaa adda addaatti adeemsifamaa har’a gahuunis haqa qabatamaa fi mul’ataa dha. Itti fufi Fincilli Diddaa Gabrummaa bara 2005ni kunis baatii Eblaa Bara 2011 irraa eegalee muratoo ilmaan Oromoo Qeerroo fi Dargaggoon haaraatti bifa jarmyaa qabatee caalaatti ol kaafame guutuu Oromiyaa waliin gahee akka itti fufetti jira. Fincilli Qeerroon Bilisummaa ol kaafame hirmaatnaa ummata bal’aa Oromootiin tumsamuun kan mooraa diinaa raase QBO ammoo galii isaatti dhiheesse tahuu FDG bara 2014 keessa adeemsifamaa turee fi jiru caalaatti mirkaneessa.

OMN: Amharic Interview with Ob. Gadaa (Tesfaye) Gebre-ab (November 1, 2014)

Britain axes aid to Ethiopian police amid human rights outcry

Document warning that aid programme posed ‘high’ risk to human rights deleted from Government website as £27 million aid scheme axed

By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

Britain has given £1 billion in aid, including around £70 million for “governance and security” projects, to the country over three years Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP

October 31, 2014 (The Telegraph) — Britain has suspended most of a £27 million aid programme to support Ethiopia’s police force, The Telegraph has learnt, amid mounting allegations of torture, rape and murder by the regime.

Mootummaan Itiyoopiyaa uummata Oromoo Irratti Kallattiin Qiyyaafatee Dararaa Geggeessa

Jaallannee Gammadaa irraa

October 31, 2014, WASHINGTON DC (VOA Afaan Oromoo) — Gareen mirga dhalaf falmu ka sadarkaa Addunyaa AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL  Itiyoophiyaan,  saba biyyattii keessatti guddaa tahee  lammiwwan Oromoo -mootummaa mormitan” sabaabaa jedhuun,  itti xiyyeeffattee haala gar-laafina hin qabneen dararaa irratti geggeessaa jirti jedha gabaasaa haarawa facaaseen.

“Oromoo ta’uu koo qofaaf”  dararaa fi hiraarsi kun na irratti geggeeffama mata-duree jedhuun ka maxxansame gabaasaan Amnesty International haaraan kun  Lammiwwan saba Oromoo kuma hedduutti lakkaawaman “ajaja seeraa ti ala hidhamuu, himannaa seeraa malee yeroo dheeraaf mana tursiisamuu, humnaan butamanii dhabamsiisamuu, dararaa deddeebi’ee geggeessamuu fi ajjeechaa humnoota mootummaaf saaxilamanii jiran jedha.  Dhuga-ba’insa namoota dhibba lamaa olii walitti-qabuu isaa illee dubbata.