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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2011 - 06:05:33 EST
After Sudan;World should Focus on Oromo
By Kasembeli Albert
22/01/2011
http://www.africanexecutive.com/images/uploaded_images/0A/PlightOromoRefugee
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Oromo: Wretched of the earth? Photo courtesy
It has never known political stability after the colonial conquest and
subjugation by Abyssinia. It has never enjoyed real prosperity in spite of
being one of the richest nations in natural resources in the horn of Africa
with a population estimated at 33 million. It is Africa's longest political
conflict that appears to have been forgotten by the international community
including IGAD and Africa Union among others. It has won the unenviable
accolade of being the cradle of the world's largest forced mass movement
from one country in modern African history, namely the current exodus from
Ethiopia. Welcome to Oromia, the country of the Oromo people (375,000 square
miles).
In the last four decades, the Horn of Africa, with Ethiopia as an epicenter,
has experienced an unprecedented wave of refugee flows, resulting in large
concentrations of displaced persons. Nearly all these displaced persons are
from Ethiopia. Today there are an estimated over 10 million refugees
originating from Ethiopia, second only to those from Afghanistan and Iraq
put together.
The influx of Ethiopians fleeing their country to Kenya has always hit
headlines in the local and internal press. Ironically, most are apprehended
by Kenyan authorities and handed back to the Ethiopian authorities or locked
up in Kenyan prisons. Some of the refugees are said to be on transit to
South Africa.
The Oromo Liberation Front has for decades been embroiled in a protracted
war for the liberation of the Oromia. The most striking aspect to political
pundits and academics is the manner in which the international community has
accorded the conflict a blind eye, and regional governments, IGAD and AU
cannot explain why Ethiopians are fleeing their country in droves.
Who will save the Oromo people from institutionalized oppression and blatant
abuse of basic human rights by the Addis Ababa government? What is the IGAD
and the Africa Union doing to resolve the conflict? The 140 years of
continuous acts of cultural genocide by successive Ethiopian regimes is a
remarkable testimony to the resilience of the Oromo cultural values and
democratic heritage.
Even as the international community remain silent in the face of the
conflict that has claimed lives of millions of people, it is is important to
note that as a geo-cultural bridge between Europe, Africa and Asia, the Horn
of Africa has always been embroiled in some world-historic events, since the
times of the Roman empire. The Horn remains important in security
considerations of the Middle East and the increasingly competitive global
economy.
It is important to observe that the current Ethiopian regime is being
sustained in power by foreign western powers for imperialistic reasons.
Take the case of the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF), also known as
Wayyane, which was promoted in 1991 by foreign governments, particularly
that of the US, to fill the power vacuum created by the downfall of the
Dergue regime. As expected, this led to replacement of the Amhara regime by
a Tigrean power as was evident to those familiar with the Ethiopian
political landscape.
Under the pretext of opening the country for world market and
democratization, traditional supporters and partners of the Ethiopian empire
used the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pump huge
amounts of money into the coffer of TPLF. During the first four years of its
rule, the regime received about US$3 billion in bilateral grants. The Paris
Club member countries granted significant debt-cancellations and
rescheduling. The TPLF regime used the multilateral and bilateral assistance
to dismantle Amhara-centre state apparatus and to replace it by institutions
that are nothing more than appendages of a tightly controlled
party-apparatus of the Tigrean ruling class.
Today, there is no public institution, be it the military, the judiciary,
the civil service, the regulatory agencies, and financial institutions
outside the control of the TPLF and its surrogate parties. Thus, the regime
cannot claim democratic legitimacy by any standard. Most disturbing are
reports of Kenyan Borana Oromo near the border being harassed and imprisoned
in Kenya. These incidents are violating international law regarding
refugees. They could have been taken to Kenyan courts, if suspected of any
crime.
The human rights crisis in Ethiopia is so worrying. No one seems to
understand the scale of the violations. targeted and systematic tortures,
disappearances and extrajudicial killings are common place in that country.
There seems to be no hiding place for the victims of human rights violations
under the current regime in Ethiopia. Peasants in certain areas are
particularly targeted and expelled in broad day light from their farmlands
for the sake of the officials and of TPLF-led government financial gains.
"The peoples of Oromia and Kenya share a longstanding cordial relationship.
In particular, Kenya, as a democratic and stable country, continues to
provide safety for a significant number of Oromo refugees fleeing from
persecution by the Ethiopian state. However, it is of also of grave concern
that recently, a large number of Oromo refugees have been handed over to the
Ethiopian authorities by the Kenyan agents who have been recruited by the
Addis Ababa spy network. More worrying is the fact that their operations are
not sanctioned by the Kenyan government. These refugees are sent back to
inhumane torture and certain death in the hands of the Ethiopian security
agents," says an OLF petition to Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki.
The petition, copied to the country's Prime Minister Raila Odinga further
notes: "We believe Kenya could play a positive and constructive role in
supporting a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Oromia and Ethiopia
and that would make Kenya a legitimate player in the international arena. We
respectfully urge you to appraise the situation and reconsider your policy
and assure supporting the just cause of the oppressed Oromo people rather
than assisting the bloodthirsty regime in Ethiopia."
In the recent months, Kenyans authorities have been accused of illegal
rendition of Oromo refugees and Kenyans to Ethiopia under the pretext of
cracking down on the Oromo Liberation Front (OLP) militias. While in
Ethiopia, the individuals are arraigned before special courts where they are
handed heavy jail sentences ranging from death to life in prison. The ORA
has accused the Ethiopian government and some elements within the Kenyan
government of gross violation of the basic human rights of the Oromo
refugees and Kenyans shipped to Ethiopia.
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was established in 1973 by Oromo
nationalists to promote the right to self-determination for the Oromo people
against what they call "Ethiopia colonial rule." There are reports that the
OLF has increased its activity following the general elections of 2005 and
has offices in Washington, D.C. and Berlin.
The international community particularly IGAD and the AU ought to appreciate
the fact that the fundamental objective of the Oromo liberation movement is
to exercise the Oromo peoples' right to national self-determination and end
centuries of oppression and exploitation by Ethiopian colonialism. The
foreign policy of OLF stipulates that it respects the territorial integrity
and national sovereignty of Kenya and all neighbouring countries. Kenya, the
host state to the refugees has been accused of violating the 1951 UN
Convention and 1967 Protocol on the status of the refugees for handing over
the Oromos who have fled their homes to escape persecution.
It was through the initiative of IGAD, AU and the EU that a protracted peace
deal was negotiated between SPLM and the Khartoum government, effectively
putting an end to one of Africa's longest conflict then. As the Southern
Sudan people undertake a decision on the future of the nation through the
referendum, it is important that the international community focus attention
on the Oromo conflict to save the plight of the Oromia nation.
The Oromo people's demand of self-determination is neither a question of
secession from a country with whom they have willfully integrated nor a
matter of a periphery struggling for decentralization or devolution of power
from a central government. It is a demand by the Oromo people to restore the
sovereignty taken away from them and to freely determine their own political
status. This demand does not, therefore, violate the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of the Khartoum government. The Oromo people have
never been meaningfully represented in Ethiopian political process. There
has never been a moment in the political history of the Ethiopian
empire-state when the state possessed a government representing the "whole
people."
Moreso, the Oromo people's demand for self-determination is not an internal
affair of Ethiopia. Many nations in the world including Kenya are
shouldering the burden of refugees from the Ethiopia. UNHCR is spending
millions of dollars to sustain refugees from Ethiopia. Much more too is
spent on relocating some of the refugees to friendly countries in Europe.
This indeed, makes the conflict a matter of interest and concern to the
international community including regional bodies like IGAD, AU and relevant
UN agencies. In the same vein, the liberation struggle of the Oromo people
against successive Ethiopian regimes cannot be characterized as "an internal
civil strife, banditry, terrorism, or civil war." It is a struggle of people
under alien domination.
What the international community must realize is that TPLF regime constantly
fabricates false accusations to criminalize and demonise Oromo political
organisations as a smokescreen to conceal the regime's acts of genocide
against Oromo social and cultural life. An attempt by the regime to link the
Oromo liberation movement with fundamentalism and international terrorism is
a fabrication to discredit and garner international community's sympathy.
By Kasembeli Albert
Kasembeli Albert is the Editor, Business Journal Africa, a regional business
and finance magazine
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