Obbo Baqqalaa Garbaafaa Mormii Nyaata Lagachuu Irra Jiraachuutu Gabaasame

Tuujubee Horaa

Boontuu Baqqalaa

Ethiopia’s Oromo people demand equal rights in protests

Largest ethnic group in Ethiopia continues to rally against the government despite crackdown.

By Charles Stratford

Wolonkomi, Ethiopia (Aljazeera) — Six-year-old Abi Turi and her nine-year-old brother Dereje have not been attending classes in Wolonkomi.

Their school was closed in January as the Ethiopian government began what its critics call a crackdown on protests by the Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group.

Dhimmi Dabbasaa Guyyoo Mana Murtii Keeniyaatti Laallame

Obboo Dabbasaa Guyyoo

NAAYROOBII (VOA Afaan Oromoo) — Manni murtii Keeniyaa nama Dhabamuu Obbo Dabbasaa waliin walqabatee himatame irraatti ragaa dhaggeeffate. Obbo Dabbasan nama ganna 70ti, keeniyaa erga jiraachuu jalqabanii waggaa 30 ol yoo tahu, fulbaana 27 erga ayyaana Irreechaa miseensota hawaasa baqattoota Oromoo as Naayiroobii jiraatanii waliin kabajanii booda, bakka buuteen isaanii dhabame. Ergasiis maatiin isaanii mootummaa keeniyaaf kan beeksisan yoo ta’u, haga yoonaa garuu maanguddoon kuni eessa akka jiran baruun hin dandaa’amne. Dhimma kana ka hordofaa jiru Poolisii Keeniyaa yoo ta’u, nama dhimma kanaan wal qabatee shakke jedhu irrattis Mana Murtii Naayiroobii Makadaraatti bitootessa gaafa 16/2016 ragaa dhaggeeffattee sanaan booda ammas ragaa hafe dhaggeeffachuuf beellama onkoloolessa 13, bara 2016 tti qabatee jira.

Unrest in Ethiopia: Grumbling and rumbling

(The Economist) –AN OUTBREAK of public protest unprecedented in its duration and spread since the ruling party took power in Ethiopia in 1991 is stirring a rare cocktail of discontent. Demonstrations started in November mainly by members of the Oromo ethnic group, which accounts for about a third of Ethiopia’s 97m-plus people, have refused to die down. Indeed, they have spread. The government has dropped its plan, the original cause of the hubbub, to expand the city limits of Addis Ababa, the capital, into Oromia, the largest of the federal republic’s subdivisions of nine regional states and two city-states. But the protests have billowed into a much wider expression of outrage. People are complaining about land ownership, corruption, political repression and poverty. Such feelings go beyond just one ethnic group.

Stunning photos of Ethiopia’s vanishing tribes

(CNN) — Kenyan-raised, Sydney-based photographer Louisa Seton undertook an epic journey into Ethiopia’s remote Upper Omo Valley to capture the traditions of the Surma people — before they’re lost.

#OromoProtests – March 21, 2016

‪#‎BilisummaaOromoo‬-(21.03.2016, ‪#‎DiddaaOromoo‬, Oromiyaa) Humni hin beekamne Bitootessa 19 Bara 2016 halkan Sanddaaffaati kan argamu mooraa Kooleejii Poolisii Itoophiyaa irratti tarkaanfii fudhate. Tarkaanfii kanaan loltootin hedduun kan miidhaman ta’un beekaame. Tarkaanfii fudhatame kanatti kan rifate mootummaan wayyaanee Bitootessa 20/2016 ganama ummata nagaa karaa adeemu sakkataan goolaa jiraachuu beekameera.

The Shadow Over Ethiopia’s Construction Boom

By William Davison

Artistota Oromoo Motummaan Wayyaanee Ajjeese

‪#‎BilisummaaOromoo‬-(17.03.2016, ‪#‎XumuraGarbummaaHurrumuu‬, Oromiyaa) Mootummaan Wayyaanee erga aangoo Impaayera Itoophiyaa qabatee biyya Oromiyaa keessatti buttaa garboonfatummaa siaa diriirsee egalee qamoota hawaasa Oromoo mirga saba Oromoof dubbatan, falmanii fi qabsaa’an dhabamsiisaa jira. Bara 1992 haga 2006 gidduutti, fakkeenyaaf, artistota Oromoo qaroo fi beekamoo 10 ajjeesee jira.

Hiriira Mormii Godinaa Arsii fi Ka Wallaggaa Bahaa Keessaa

Mormii Oromiyaa, 2016 (Faayilii)

WASHINGTON, DC (VOA Afaan Oromoo) — Godina Arsii Anaa Muneesaa magaalaa Qarsaa keessatti barattonni mana barumsaa sadarkaa lammaffaa fi qophaa’inaa kibxata Bitooteessa 15 bara 2016 hiriira mormii gaggeessuun waraanni Agaazii qubatee jiru haa ba’uu, murtiin haqaa nuuf haaeegabuu, mirgii keenya haa eegamu jechuun gaafatanii jiran.Yeroo kanattis polisiin naannoo fi Federaalaa hiriirtoota diguuf reebaa fi Gaaza himiimaansuun gargaaramuu isaanii barattonni ibsanii jiru.Yeroo gabaabaa keessatti waraanni mootummaa seenee reebicha hamaa geesisuu isaa fi barattonni lakkofsaan torbaatamaa ol ta’an hidhamuu jiraattoota keessaas namoonniishan dararaa barattoota irratti gaggeffame bilbiila harkaan waraabdan jedhamuun hidhamuu isaanii ibsamee jira.

SBO Bitootessa 16, 2016

Oromo Voice Radio (OVR) Bitootessa 16, 2016

(SBO/VOL – Bitootessa 16, 2016) Qondaalonni ol’aanoon dhaaba maxxannee wayyaanee, OPDO, lakkoofsaan 500 caalan Galma Abbaa Gadaa magaalaa Adaamaatti argamutti walgahii gaggeeffatuun ibsameera. Lukkeeleen hogganoota baanaman kunneen walgahii isaanii guyyoota Lamaaf gaggeeffatuuf kan yaadanii turan tahus, gaaffiiwwan mirgaa, mormii fi yaadota faallaa fedhii diinaa tahan waltajjicharratti ka’anirraa kan kahe waliigalteerra gahuu hanqatanii guyyaa dabalachuudhaan akka walhammacan ibsameera.

UN Human Rights Council: General Debate under Item 4 – Human Rights Crisis in Ethiopia

(HRW) — A human rights crisis is taking place inEthiopia. It has received little attention internationally but is the biggest political crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 elections.

Since November 12, 2015, protesters across Ethiopia’s Oromia region have been risking their lives and liberty in the face of a brutal—and sometimes lethal–response from security forces. Soldiers and police have used deadly force and killed several hundred peaceful protesters. We understand that thousands of people have been detained in official and secret detention facilities. While there have been some incidents of violent clashes and some members of the security forces have also been killed, the vast majority of the protests have been peaceful.

The protests were triggered by the so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan, which envisioned expansion of Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary 20-fold. Protesters raised concerns that ethnic Oromos living in the area of that boundary expansion would be displaced from their farms. Ethnic Oromos, who make up approximately 35 percent of Ethiopia’s population, have long felt politically marginalized and culturally discriminated against by successive governments.

The government’s cancellation of the master plan in January came weeks too late for many protesters, who have seen too many killed and arbitrarily arrested. Over the four months of the protests, Human Rights Watch has documented security forces firing into crowds of protesters with little or no warning, the arrests of students as young as 8, and the torture of protesters in detention. Security forces have also arrested teachers, artists, political opposition leaders, and other influential Oromos who they believe are mobilizing protesters.

Since 2009, the Ethiopian government has systematically restricted independent media and civil society groups, both domestic and international. As a result, there has been limited reporting on the crackdown and inadequate international attention to this ongoing crisis. These restrictions make it difficult to verify the death toll and scale of the crackdown. It is clear, however, that the crackdown is putting Ethiopia on a very dangerous trajectory that could endanger its long term stability and progress.

Human Rights Watch urges the Council to raise concerns over the serious abuses taking place in Oromia. The Council should call on the Ethiopian government to cease using excessive force against protesters and release everyone arbitrarily detained. The Council should also support an independent investigation into the killings and other abuses. Any investigation should include sufficient levels of international involvement to ensure it is independent, credible, and impartial. Thank you.

Ethiopian Pastor Pays the Penalty for Speaking Out

By Felix Horne

(HRW) — A year ago today, Ethiopian security forces arrested Pastor Omot Agwa and six colleagues at Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport and took them to the notoriousMaekelawi police station, where torture is routine.

The arrest came several months after Omot, a respected activist from Ethiopia’s Gambella region, served as translator for the World Bank Inspection Panel. The panel investigated the Anuak indigenous people’s allegation that the Ethiopian government was committing widespread forced displacement and other serious human rights violations in relation to a World Bank project in Gambella.

The authorities eventually released four of the seven, but Omot, Ashine Astin, and Jamal Oumar Hojele were charged on September 7, under Ethiopia’s draconian counterterrorism law. The seven had been on their way to a food security workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, organized by international groups. It was described in the charge sheet as a “terrorist group meeting.”

Surviving the Second Conquest: Emperor Menelik and Industrial Plantations in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley

A Mursi girl and young man, photographed in 2008

(The Solutions Journal) — The many times I arrived at Bole airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, there was always a sign that said “Welcome Home.” Its meaning never registered until an official from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said it reminds all visitors that their ancestors were originally Ethiopian. Not only have fossils of our pre-human ancestors Lucy, Australopithecus afarensis, and Ardi,Ardipithecus ramidus, been found in Ethiopia, but so have the oldest known fossils ofHomo sapiens. These come from an area near the Omo River, now home to a small indigenous group, the Mursi. This area was designated the ‘Lower Valley of the Omo World Heritage Site’ in 1980 because of “its fundamental importance to the study of human evolution.”1 One theory has it that humans may have first settled on the shoreline of Lake Turkana 200,000 years ago when the lake was about 60 miles north of where it is today.2,3 Lake Turkana was once so large that it connected to the Nile River, with which it still shares the same species of fish. Turkana is the world’s largest desert lake. It has no outlet and counter-balances the inflow of the Omo River, from where it receives 90 percent of its water, by evaporation.4

#OromoProtests – Continued, March 10, 2016

Oromo Protests – 100 days of Public Protest

Oromia, the largest regional State in the Ethiopian Federation, has been rocked by series of protests in the past 100 days since mid-November 2015. The protests began with the aim of having the proposed Master Plan of the capital, Addis Ababa, officially referred as the ‘Addis Ababa–Finfinne[1] Integrated Development Plan’ (‘Master Plan’) scrapped. The Master Plan was designed by Addis Ababa City Administration in collaboration with the government of Oromia Regional State and introduced early in 2014. The protestors opposed the Master Plan, which covers 1.1 million hectare of land (approximately twenty fold the current size of Addis Ababa), saying that its implementation will result in the eviction of millions of farmers and families from their land. The first protests against the Master Plan were held mainly by students of Oromia regional State in April/May/June 2014 which resulted in deaths, injuries and imprisonment of many people all over the state. The protests erupted again in November 2015 and continued up until now.

Oromo protesters: ‘We are still on the streets because we want self-rule

By Ludovica Iaccino

Students believed to have been injured during protests at Wallaga University

Hariiroo Dhaabotni Oromoo keessaa fi alatti qabaachuu malan ilaalchisee – Ejjennoo Qeerroo Bilisummaa

Ummatni Oromoo qabsoo hadhooftu gootowwan ilmaa isaa biyya isaanii keessatti gegeessaa jiraniin qarqara Bilisummaa isaa ga’ee jira. Har’a mirgi abbaa-biyyuummaa ummata keenya sadarkaa haalamuu hindandeenyerra ga’ee jira yoo jenne soba hinta’u. Wareegamni gootummaa ilmaan isaa gumaachaa jiran, mootummaa Wayyanee rommisiiseera, of-irrummaa ishees addunyaa guutummaaf saaxileera.

Appeal Letter to the Leaders and Tax Payers of the Citizens of the Western World

Somebody who owns a pet is obliged to discipline his/her pet

Puppet group leader of the TPLF serving few, ignoring mass

The leaders of Western Countries have many pets in Africa, which are assumed to lead different African States. Out of all these pets the most favored by these pet masters is the one who call itself “Ethiopian government” (a bunch of Tigray bandit’s thugs). Why I call these stooges/puppets/ a pet is, they were not elected by their countries’ peoples, but they came to power by the sponsorship or approval of these Western countries’ leaders, to bark and bite peoples whenever they are ordered to do so.  A disciplined pet never bark or bite anybody. But these pets bark and bite people (intimidate, arrest, torture, kill, kidnap, rape, keep in unknown detention centers, etc.,) that dies of hanger and destitution due to their robbery (corruption), bad governance, oppression, suppression and harassment, day and night to serve the interest of these Western masters.

The TPLF Agazi Army is an Ethiopian Interahamwe

Stop killing Oromo Students Agazi, fascist TPLF Ethiopia’s forces attacking unarmed and peaceful #OromoProtests in Baabichaa town central

In Rwanda “up to seventeen thousandInterahmwe members had apparently been trained to act as an extermination squad against civilians. (An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, p.75)

As Mr. Rusesabaginaput it “Interahamwe means either ‘those who stand together’ or ‘those who attack together’ depending on who is doing the translation.” (Ibid, p.67)

#OromoProtests – March 9, 2016 (Update 2)

#‎OromoProtests‬ barattoonni yunivarsitii Finfinnee dheengadda gaaga’ama ( risk) jiru osoo beektanii fuuldura embassy Ameerikaatti hiriira baatan injifannoo ajaa’ibaa galmeessitan. Akka karooraatti bakka yaaddan san gahuu isin jalaa gufachiisanis yeroma gabaabaa san keessatti akeeka keessan galmaan geessanii jirtu. Hamma ammaatti akkan ani lakkaayetti miidiyaalee addunyaa 37 oltu wal harkaa fuudhee gabaase. Kuni waan laafaa miti. Injifannoo cululuqaa yeroo murteessaa keessati galmaa’eedha. Dogongoroota xixiqqoo ( tactical errors) turan irratti mari’adhaatii kana caalaa waan gurguddaa hojjachuu akka dandeessan shakkiin hin jiru. Isiniin boonne!!

#OromoProtests – Call Your Senators This Week

Please take just 5 minutes to call your two United States Senators and bring to their attention the gross human right violations against Oromo schoolchildren by Ethiopian Government. Simply dial the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your U.S. Senator or call you senator direct phone number found on the link at the bottom this page. After being connected, ask for the legislative assistant.
In this case, the demand is specific:

What do Oromo protests mean for Ethiopian unity?

Image copyright AFP

(BBC  News) — As protests in Ethiopia over the rights of the country’s Oromo people continue, Addis Ababa-based journalist James Jeffrey considers if they are threatening the country’s unity.

The lost world of the Omo Valley: Incredible photographs reveal the untouched tribal communities of Ethiopia whose ancient way of life is now under threat

• These incredible photographs show tribesmen living an almost untouched ancient way of life in the Omo Valley
• The area is known for the lip-plated Mursi and the Karo, famed for using red ochre and white chalk as body paint
• They were photographed by Italian Massimo Rumi during a two month trip to the region in southern Ethiopia

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

#OromoProtests – Mass Protests, March 8, 2016 (Update 2)

(Australia) Today I raised the plight of the Oromo community in State Parliament.

As many of you would know, recently, I attended the second Oromia Media Network Launch with Labor’s Candidate for the Federal Seat of Melbourne, Sophie Ismail.

The Oromo community are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia, northern Kenya, and parts of Somalia.

With around 38 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnicity in Ethiopia

Interestingly, the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Abbaba, is surrounding by Oromia, which is one of nine ethnically based regional States in Ethiopia. The Oromo community have suffered years of oppression and deprivation in their home country.

Recently, the Ethiopian Government has sought to expand the capital into Oromia. This has prompted protests.

Ethiopian students demand end to police crackdowns in rare protest

By Aaron Maasho

Oromo Students protest at US Embassy, March 8, 2016

Addis Ababa (Reuters) — Dozens of university students protested in Ethiopia’s capital on Tuesday, demanding an end to police crackdowns that followed months of demonstrations over plans to requisition farmland in the country’s Oromiya region late last year.

The government wanted to develop farmland around the capital, Addis Ababa, and its plan triggered some of the worst civil unrest for a decade, with rights groups and U.S.-based dissidents saying as many as 200 people may have been killed.

dhaamsa hidhamtooti siyaasaa Oromoo Manneen hidhaa Qaalittii, Qillinxoo fi Zuwaay keessa jiran

‪#‎BilisummaaOromoo‬– (05.03.2016,‪#‎DhaamsaHidhamtootaa‬, Oromiyaa) Kun dhaamsa hidhamtooti siyaasaa Oromoo

FXG Itti Fufee jira – Bitootessa 4, 2014

SBO/VOL – Bitootessa 04,2016) Warraaqsa ummata Oromoo FXG sirna cunqursaa fi gabroomsaa wayyaanee hundeen raasee gatuuf jiru dhaamsuuf Oromiyaa guutuutti bulchiinsa waraanaa kan Jeneraal.Saamooraa Yuunus ajajaa waraanaa biyyattiin durfamu jala galchaniyyuu warraaqsichi caalaatti tooftaalee qabsoo gara garaa horatee fi hammatee belbelaa jira.
Oduun amma keessa wayyaaneetii bahe akka mul’isutti Jeneral.Samooraan jeneraalota waraanaa walitti qabee dubbii dhageessiseefiin warraaqsa/FXG kana yeroo gabaabaa keessatti hin dhaamsinu taanaan, empaayerattiif osoo hin taane, nu mataa keenyaafuu sodaachisaa dha jechuun dubbachuun isaa barameera.