Community in the United Kingdom

Today, 13 September 2013, members of the Oromo Community in the UK, protested against human rights violations and brutal killing exercised by the criminal Ethiopian Government.

The aim of the protest was to stand against Human rights abuses and the brutal killings of thousand s of Oromos including Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda and the Massacred Muslim Oromos in Arsi. The arbitrary arrest, torture, extra-judicial killings, mass murder & disappearances are not only the day- to- day practices in Ethiopia, but also reached the highest peak. For example, the Oromia Support Group in United Kingdom, a non-political organization that raise awareness of human rights violations in Ethiopia, has reported four thousand two hundred seventy nine (4,279) extra-judicial killings and 987 disappearances of civilians in Ethiopia from 1994 – 2010. These figures do not include the unreported killings and secret arrests that are exercised at several corners in the country particularly in Oromia region. The recent shocking incidents were the killings of twenty- seven innocent civilians including five children in Kofale, Arsi region of Oromia on August 3, 2013. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/ethiopian-repression-muslim-protests-must-stop-2013-08-08 and the murder of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda who has been tortured and killed in Kaliti prison custody on August 24, 2013.

The surprising news was that, despite all the repressions and killings, the Ethiopia Government was privileged to be the top aid recipient in Africa. Currently, the Ethiopian government is receiving $500,000,000 every year ($2 billion in the next 4 years) from the UK government alone.http://www.voanews.com/content/ethiopia-is-top-uk-aid-recipient-117204413/157544.html.. According to the current trend, the size of this aid is increasing and there is also a plan for huge investment at the cost of poor Oromo farmers’ displacement due to the land grab. The donors say ‘’we are trying to help the millions of very poor, very vulnerable Ethiopians improve their lives’’. But the reality on the ground is that they are financing the government who is terrorizing and suppressing its people and increasing poverty, while enriching the government officials and few of their cliques.

A number of independent bodies accused the Ethiopian government for using the aid money for repression and sidelining the opposition into submission. Also the Ethiopian Government officials openly use their power to enrich their families and close friends with the aid money. The corruption, poverty and injustice increased alarmingly at a higher rate in Ethiopia as the aid money goes up. Sowhere is the help for the poor?

We believe that the UK and US Governments are fully aware of all sorts of human rights abuses exercised by the Ethiopia Government.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201304231206.html?viewall=1. However, they give deaf ears to these repressive and brutal government actions and provide the huge tax payers’ money and give moral and technical supports. Therefore, we appeal to the UK government, the US government and the international community:

To stop indirect or direct involvements in activities suppressing the struggle of the Oromo and other victims of the brutal Ethiopian Government by revising their aid plan.
To seek justice for Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda who has been murdered while he was under the custody of the Ethiopian regime.
To seek justice for the twenty seven innocent Muslims, including 5 children, who have been massacred in Kofale, Arsi region of Oromia by the Ethiopian Government?
To support the Oromo and other victimized communities in Ethiopia to overcome injustice and help them to live in freedom, peace, and democracy and achieve stability in the region.

The Oromo community in the UK

London, September 13, 2013.