The battle to keep racism alive!

Rundassa Asheetee | February 28, 2014

Getachew Haile

There is no doubt that all ethnic groups of empire Ethiopia are victims of the political catastrophe that the Abyssinian kings and clergy men have created.
Thought such catastrophe can and should be left behind as history, the Abyssinians who interpret this catastrophe as a Nobel work based on their narrow perspective have opened unhealthy conversations between them and their victims. Interestingly, this situation allowed the minority Tigre tribe to rule the country for 23 years with iron fist and the tribe is  going to stay in power as long as past continues to occupy, disturb and divide the people of empire Ethiopia, particularly the Oromo and the Amhara.
One way of finding meaningful and accurate reason that contributed to these misunderstandings is the poisonous opinions that old dying racist men like Getachew Haile and his parent’s slaves such as the Larebos are spewing against the Oromo people.  As far I can see, Amhara’s dying black Hitlers such as Haile and the like are so angry and restless by the victory that the Oromo people scored and spiting out the filth of hatred in which they were born and raised with.
In contrast to Oromo and other nations historians and educated men and women, racist men such as Getachew Haile like to stress certain basic Amhara specifics, consistent with their clergy men’s behavioral pattern. For example, they view their non-logical argument about the greatness of their cruel and inferior monarchs as an asset, not as a liability to themselves and to nations and nationalities of empire Ethiopia. They are proud of king Minilik’s breast cutting practice in places such as Anole and Calanqo of Oromia and wish to practice this tradition again because they think that it is efficient civil service methodology. The reason behind such conviction is that they believe they are different from the rest and thus they’re superior because of the Orthodox religion that they’ve borrowed from Greece and because of the Amharic alphabet they copied from Hebrew.
As it happens, the rest of ethnic groups in empire Ethiopia are increasingly being angered by the Amhara dying racists failure to stop promoting deceptive history and become agents of change.
Nevertheless, their attempt to promote false history continues to drain the trust which the society have built over a period of century and half. As expected, the Amhara’s little hitler named Getachew Haile ridicules Oromians state system known as the Gadaa system as a mafia system because he and his likes are increasingly frustrated by the return of the Gadaa system and the Oromo culture in general. Worse, this uneducated Arab Diqaalaa speak against the Oromo nation in a manner the street girls and bar prostitutes speak.
Obviously, this is an expected role that the son of those girls can play. Ever since these sick racists came to power in empire Ethiopia, they have used hate and the ridiculing of those whom they fear the most to shape government policies. Ever since then, they have marginalized tens of millions from being a part of the economic development by dismissing any talk of honesty and decency.
Thanks to these sick little racist Diqaalaas, their cousin, the Tigreans are ruling the country now for 23 years justifying their intervention to stop the conflict these little Hitlers artificially produce.
To intentionally confuse the mass, these little Hitlers often use terms such as “We” and “Unity” to suggest that people are united, of course as long as one interprets term “Unity” similar to their interpretation of hatful historiography.
Interestingly, even little old Hitler Getachew Haile attempts to explain the history of the Oromo people in a manner his racist parents taught him. All this is done to hide the undeniable and terrible part of their own historical heritage of cruelty, cheating, immorality and hate of black people.
Nonetheless, even if these dying racists will not admit the fact that their chauvinist political views were and still are the focal point and a driving force for secessionist tendencies that links the Eritreans experiences and the current Oromo and Ogadenia demands to liberate their own free state, the day in which their grand children will suffer the consequence of their racist hatred is not too far.
Certainly, there are few Amhara historians who do not deny the fact that their monarch’s approach to nation building has been the factor that contributed to the separation of Eritrea and they know that it will be their attitude that will lead to the collapse of empire Ethiopia. In short, the Amhara racism is the reason for the rise of the Oromo and other nations and nationalities nationalist movement and secessionist tendencies. Yet, old racist Diqaalaas such as Getachew Haile intentionally overlook these danger because they think that denial will fix the danger that their ignorance and hateful hearts produced. They do this because they think it is humiliating to accept and defeat and that is racists rationale.
But, at the same time, the Oromo people have already looked back to the nineteenth century and identified that Abyssinians political structures and it’s processes, of course was the factor and hindered the development of liberal democracy and ultimately facilitated the rise of the Eritrean, the Tigre and the Oromo nationalism. Further, a wide range of foreign scholars contributed to this argument without necessarily using the term “Oromo Nationalism.”
Basically, the Amharas racists rigid behavior became the main factor that manifest the past, current and future problems by  making every system that has been tried so far to malfunction.
Convincingly, the Amharas had been the elites of empire Ethiopia, particularly, hateful men like Getachew Haile and the like were considered as senior civil servants who retained much power and influence well into the 1970s.
When mass revolt took place in 1974, they tried to  stand in the way of the revolution; a case in point was Getachew Haile’s ill advice to Mangistu Hailemariam to deny his Walayita linage and call himself Dejazmach Kebede’s son. By manipulating ignorant Mangistu, Getachew Haile, Shimalis Mazengiya, Alemayehu and the like played detrimental role in the death of hundreds of thousands young and intellectuals though the military was blamed for all the killings.
Getachew Haile’s script in PDF
To be continued………
Rundassa Asheetee

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Getatchew Haile’s Profile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Getatchew Haile is an Ethiopian-American philologist, Regents Professor Emeritus of Medieval Studies, and Curator, Ethiopian Study Center at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.[1][2]
He was born in Shenkora (then Shoa, Ethiopia) on April 19th 1933. From 1945 to 1951 he visited Trinity School in Addis Abeba. He graduated from the Coptic Theological College, Cairo, Egypt with a B.D. in 1957, from the American University in Cairo, with a B.A. in 1957, and from the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, with a Ph.D. in Semitic Philology, in 1962.
Getachew has always been controversial.

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How Getachew Haile was paralyzed
By Amy Bowen , April 8, 2007
St. Cloud Times
Is this Dr. Getatchew Haile? the caller asks.
Yes, Getatchew answers into the telephone.
Can I come over and talk to you?, the voice asks.
Why and about what?, Getatchew asks, skeptical.
It’s Oct. 4, 1975. Getatchew is at home in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa. He knows the dictatorship government sees him, an outspoken critic, as a threat.
While his infant daughter sleeps in her crib and the rest of his family is at a party, Getatchew loads a .45-caliber revolver. It’s dinner time — 5 p.m.
Two men, one in a military uniform, see Getatchew waiting at his home’s gate with his revolver. They scurry away to call for assistance.
A group of 50 to 100 soldiers surround the home. Getatchew hears the whistle of bullets pass his ears and fires back.
Later he finds out the military shot 4,000 bullets into his house and considered demolishing it during the attack.
Getatchew runs out of ammunition. He tries to climb over the garden wall to escape.
He feels a bullet hit his back. He falls. A man with steel-toe boots kicks him in the head.
Where are the rest of them? he demands.
It’s just me, Getatchew utters, his mouth full of blood.
The man doesn’t believe him. He keeps kicking.
The military doesn’t know if they should leave Getatchew to die or take him to jail. The men shove him onto a truck bed and take him to the hospital.
That is the last time Getatchew sees his home in Ethiopia.
‘Like a movie’
The attack, and the incriminations that followed, pushed Getatchew out of his homeland, but his ties to a religious library brought him to a new home at St. John’s University.
Getatchew, now 75 and retired, sits in his lake home in Avon. He’s made Central Minnesota his home since 1976 — raising a family, working at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Collegeville for about 22 years and voicing his opposition to the communist influence on the Ethiopian government.
His expertise with Ethiopian manuscripts made him an invaluable resource at the library and the university. Getatchew also taught medieval studies.
Since 1973, he has spoken against the two communist governments that have run Ethiopia. He favors a democracy.
Even now, Ethiopian courts have charged Getatchew with treason for speaking out against the government in 2005. If he were ever to travel to Ethiopia, he would be jailed or hanged.
“My whole story is like a movie,” Getatchew says, sitting in his wheelchair, dressed in slacks and a warm sweater.
He now writes his life story for his family.
Hospital stay
After the attack, Getatchew lays for days on his back in the hospital. Doctors place him on a board with only a white bed sheet covering it.
He asks to be rolled over. Doctors move him.
The sheet, soaked with blood, sticks to his back. Doctors pull it off. The movement strips his back of skin.
The BBC and the Voice of America report Getatchew’s story that year.
Newspapers in England and the United States pick up the story. The international pressure proves too much for the government.
After a month in the Ethiopian hospital, Getatchew and his wife, Misrak, leave their three children to seek medical treatment near London.
When Getatchew arrives in London, hymn-singing choirs greet him at the gate. The choral salute was arranged by an organization he has served while in Ethiopia — the World Council of Churches. The organization pays for his medical bills.
“When you are rejected from your country and you are welcomed like this, what do you feel?” Getatchew asks rhetorically.
That winter, Julian Plante, then-executive director of the Hill library, visits Ethiopia’s manuscript preservation office in Addis Ababa. Getatchew, a deeply religious man, has worked with the Hill library in the past to preserve and record valuable Christian manuscripts.
Where’s Getatchew?, Plante asks.
Members of the Hill library’s Addis Abba’s office tell him what happened.
The director finds Getatchew in a London hospital.
Come to Collegeville when you are well, he says later. We have a position.
“The mercy was there,” Getatchew said. “The need was there. They had a job for me.”
Italian invasion Getatchew was born in 1931 in the Ethiopian countryside. As a boy, his parents divorce and he moves to Addis Ababa to be with his father.
Ethiopia is under Italian occupation in 1935. He and his father, who is educated as a priest in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, are homeless, living in a makeshift community in a local graveyard.
“It was almost an acropolis,” Getatchew said. His father teaches church lessons, reading and writing to the children living in the graveyard.
Italy withdraws from Ethiopia in 1941.
Getatchew studies theology and social sciences in Egypt. He then earns his doctorate in Semitic philology, the study of words, in Germany.
He settles in Addis Ababa and teaches at a university.
“That’s what I wanted to study,” Getatchew said of his love for language. “I was kidnapped by this discipline.”
Not again Getatchew sees hope when the army rebels against the Ethiopia monarchy in 1973. He wants the country’s people to have more freedom.
But the military starts ruling the country.
“There was no freedom. We wanted to have democracy, to make the monarchy a figurehead,” Getatchew said.
The government confiscates land. It stops newspapers. People starve.
The government creates a civil parliament; each major department and province appoints representatives. People in the province where Getatchew was born ask him to represent them. He sees it as a way to speak out.
“That revolution, I always compare it to a tsunami,” Getatchew said. “When a tsunami comes you run away. You can’t resist it.
Many of us tried to direct it — to redirect it. It didn’t work.”
Collegeville
Seven months after he was wheeled into a London airport on a stretcher, Getatchew contacts a travel agent.
I want to go to Collegeville, he says.
The agent scours maps. It’s as if it doesn’t exist.
The closest airport is in St. Paul. Is that OK?, she asks.
He receives a two-year visiting scholar visa.
He and Misrak discover a new home.
St. John’s gives Getatchew a job cataloging Ethiopian manuscripts.
He struggles to bring his children to the United States. Why do the children need to come if Getatchew plans to stay for only two years?, the U.S. government wonders.
St. John’s takes on his case. He will have to stay, they say. There is too much work, and he is the most qualified, they say.
Send the children, they plead.
A few months later, the family is reunited.
Getatchew still worries. St. John’s gives him one-year contracts. What if they don’t renew his work?, he wonders. He’s paralyzed. What kind of life can he give his family when he’s confined to a wheelchair? “This worry hangs around your neck,” he said.
After four or five years, he receives word the contract will not be renewed. There is no more money.
But before he can comprehend it, the university president finds him.
Don’t worry, says the Rev. Hilary Thimmesh, then-university president. Your work is not done, Thimmesh says. We will find the money.
Getatchew never worries again. His work is still not done. Although now technically retired, Getatchew continues to work at the Hill. He does research and writes about his experiences.
He also helps scholars who want to learn about his homeland. “(St. John’s) is hugely important to my family,” said Rebecca Haile, Getatchew’s oldest daughter. “For them, that’s where they came and set down roots.”
His co-workers call him an inspiration and a gift.
“He’s one of the most remarkable people I know,” said Columba Stewart, Order of St. Benedict, executive director for Hill. “I respect him. … There’s a personal story of survival, exile and making a new life in a very strange place.”
Study
peace_and_reconciliation Getatchew’s home office shows the luxuries of living in the United States. Hanging on his wall are the college diplomas of his six grown children from places such as Harvard and Yale. His room is filled with photos of his six grandchildren hugging him.
Despite the comforts of his current life, Getatchew watches the turmoil in his homeland. He still speaks out. His vocal opposition makes it impossible for him to go back. He visits his homeland mentally while reading its ancient manuscripts. He almost can hear the stories told in Ge’ez, a language spoken in Ethiopian churches. He becomes so immersed sometimes he forgets he’s at St. John’s. His scars from that 1975 attack are still evident. The mark where the bullet left his body still has an angry bump. His arms tell of him breaking through glass while trying to escape. His head still has a scar where the soldier kicked him. But never assume Getatchew carries pity for what has been taken away. His love for family, education and religion have
blessed him, Rebecca Haile said.
“He is able to see the joy in every (situation),” she said. “He has always been able to focus on the happiness and joyfulness. … He’s one in a million.”

The Violence in the Ogaden Rages On: Ethiopian Persecution, Threats and Kidnapping

By GRAHAM PEEBLES
February 28, 2014 (Counter Punch) — Hidden and isolated from the world the armed conflict raging in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia goes unnoticed. The killing and raping of innocent civilians at the hands of the military and their paramilitary partners in crime the Liyu police, the false arrests, torture and imprisonment remain largely hidden and unreported. The international media, human rights groups and most aid organisations (including the International Red Cross) have been banned from the region by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 2007.
Testimonies of extreme abuse and mistreatment reported by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and diaspora agencies have come mainly from refugees who have found their way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) administered Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, where hundreds of men, women and children have sought safety. “I was arrested without charge in 2010 and imprisoned for two years in a military barracks, when in prison I was repeatedly beaten,” relayed Noor Sayat, a 40-year old former local government worker. Omar Abdi told me how his wife and son together with his brother had been murdered in cold blood by the military, and how he “was imprisoned for one year and two months.”
During which time he “was tortured every night…late at night we were taken to the river, a rope tied around our necks and held under the water. They pulled me out and then beat me with wooden sticks and their rifles. Sometimes they would vary the method and put a sack over my head, tie it around my throat with rope and then submerge me in the river, then beat me.” Women tell of being subjected to gang rapes in prison: “I was raped by groups of soldiers,” 27-year old Raho told me. “It used to happen around midnight. I can only remember the first three men who raped me. They would take me out and leave the baby in the room with the other women, and bring me back in the early morning… the soldiers would come every night about midnight to take some of the women out for raping.” Raho was imprisoned for two years, the first eight months of which she was pregnant. She was raped throughout with the exception of the “40 days when I gave birth and had my new born baby.” She was released after complaining of abdominal pains caused, she believes, by the relentless sexual abuse.
For many community leaders the persecution continues inside Dadaab, with life-threatening telephone calls and text messages made by members of Ethiopia’s secret service, military and Liyu police. Ogaden Online relays that “the names, family history and even the pictures of Ogaden leaders [now living in] the Kenyan refugee camps,” have been collected by Ethiopian intelligence. The plan is “to hunt, kill, maim, or intimidate” members of the Ogaden diaspora, “especially in the Kenyan refugee camps and those present in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.” The men who make up such so-called security services, in Ethiopia and elsewhere, live in a dark and ugly world; Ethiopia is besieged by social and economic problems and yet the government, shrouded in paranoia and hatred, spends its time and scant resources persecuting those seeking sanctuary.
The many claims of rape, false arrest, torture and execution of civilians by military personnel and Liyu police officers were confirmed by the statement of a former Liyu commander I spoke to in Dadaab. He told shocking stories of mutilation, murder, burying people alive, rape and systematic destruction of property. The Ethiopian government, he said, “wants to colonise the people and get rid of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF); the main target is the oil.” The Ogaden is reported to be rich in oil and natural gas; the promise of buried treasures may explain the West’s acceptance of wide-ranging human rights abuses being committed by the Ethiopian government – not just in the Ogaden, but throughout the country.
The struggle for self-determination for the region has been waged by the ONLF since its formation in 1984. The freedom fighters, or ‘dangerous terrorists’ if one accepts the government’s rhetoric, where voted into office in 1992 in regional elections. They “won 60% of seats… and formed the new [regional] government” [Human Rights Watch (HRW)] reported. Two years later they called for a referendum on self-determination. The EPRDF government’s reaction was to kill 81 unarmed civilians in the town of Wardheer; disband the regional parliament; arrest and imprison the vice-president and several other members of the parliament; instigate mass arrests and carry out indiscriminate killings. These brutal acts ignited the current struggle and drove the ONLF into the shadows.
ONLF Peace Negotiators Abducted
In January this year, peace talks planned to take place in Nairobi were sabotaged when two key ONLF negotiators were kidnapped. “Press reports from Kenya indicate that two members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) were abducted on 27 January 2014 outside a restaurant in Nairobi… ONLF officials stated the two persons were ONLF central committee members invited by Kenyan officials to participate in peace negotiations with Ethiopian government officials.  ONLF officials further alleged that security agencies from Ethiopia and Kenya were involved in the abduction of the two ONLF negotiators.” [David Shinn former US ambassador to Ethiopia] The ONLF claim that, “a source inside Ethiopia [has] informed the ONLF that the two abducted ONLF officers were seen in a military hospital undergoing treatment for extensive wounds caused by torture.” They go on to relay how Sulub Abdi Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein – “senior negotiators for the ONLF in the talks being brokered by the Kenyan government – resisted torture and the accompanying pressure to sign (under duress) a “fictitious peace agreement”. The men had participated in the second round of talks between the Ethiopian Government and ONLF last year and were in Nairobi for the planned third round of talks.
It’s hard to see how peace talks worthy of the name can be entered into whilst one of the parties is committing abductions and assassinations, and wide-ranging atrocities in the disputed region. A reasonable and I would say essential condition of any talks is the cessation of violence by both the Ethiopian military/paramilitary and the armed wing of the ONLF.
The Kenyan police force is notoriously corrupt, two of its officers were arrested for their involvement in the kidnapping, both, “have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping two Ethiopian rebels in the capital, Nairobi. Painito Bera Ng’ang’ai and James Ngaparini are alleged to have driven to the Ethiopian border and handed them [ONLF negotiators] over to Ethiopian officials.” [BBC] The kidnapping is the latest in a long line of similar incidents; the ONLF report that in “1998, the Ethiopian Army killed three members of an ONLF delegation team and abducted two members participating in bilateral negotiations with the Ethiopian government inside the Ogaden.” They go on to state that, “two years ago, the Ethiopia government assassins killed another senior leader in Nairobi.”
Talks ‘stalled’ in September 2012 when the Ethiopian team (contrary to the unconditional basis agreed for the talks by both sides that, “no preconditions shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations”) demanded that the ONLF representatives acknowledged the Ethiopian constitution, a broadly liberal document written by the EPRDF in 1992 and largely ignored by them ever since. In its articles the Somali (or Ogaden) region is classified as a State of Ethiopia, a contentious statement implying sovereignty over the area, which the ONLF where not prepared to endorse. In a statement they made clear their position, stating that the constitution, “must reflect the will of the people and that the Somali people never exercised a referendum on the constitution.” They went on to say that, “the solution to the conflict in the Ogaden can only be achieved by accepting the principles of the [people’s] right to exercise their self-determination without any preconditions or restrictions.”
Unsurprisingly the Ethiopian government have denied any abduction took place: “the two abductees came willingly, and are kept somewhere inside Ethiopia while negotiating with the Ethiopian government, and will soon speak on Ethiopian TV.” This absurd statement was followed by another, this time from Shimelis Kemal the Minister of Government Communications Affairs Office, who claimed to have “no information about the alleged kidnapping of Ogaden officials in Nairobi”. Followed fictitiously by Dina Mufti (Foreign Ministry), who told VOA Amharic “that his government was not aware of the whereabouts of those men or any abduction.” The two men remain detained in an undisclosed location inside Ethiopia. Let us hope they are safe and that they are swiftly released.
Nationwide Violations
The human rights violations, many of which constitute crimes against humanity, taking place inside the Ogaden region are but the most acute examples of widespread government violence, abuse and suppression being meted out throughout the country. Genocide Watch “considers Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7 [of 8], genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes.” Ethiopia rarely attracts the attention of the international media and their western donors are content, it seems, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the people, happy that their ally in what is one of the most volatile regions of the world is on the face of it stable. It is a stability however brought about through fear, security forces personnel – police, military and secret service men – instilling fear of imprisonment, torture and death, amongst the people.
Political dissent is not tolerated, freedom of assembly all but criminalised, and intimidation to garner support for the ruling party is government policy. Membership of the EPRDF brings with it work permits, a range of essential aid from food to fertiliser, a home, university places, government jobs, business opportunities such as opening a shop, a hairdressing salon or driving a taxi – only possible if you are an EPRDF card carrying devotee, one prepared to hang a photograph of their cherished leader, former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in your Lada. Economic growth is said to be racing along at 8% per annum; however, the beneficiaries of any development dividend are those within the cosy government clique, and given that deceit and duplicity are government policy, there is considerable doubt as to the reliability of the growth claims. “It is not clear how factual Ethiopia’s economic data are. Life is intolerably expensive for Ethiopians in Addis Ababa, the capital, and its outlying towns. Some think Ethiopia’s inflation figures are fiddled” [The Economist].
Why, I was repeatedly asked by refugees from the Ogaden, “does Britain support the EPRDF regime”, why is the Department for International Development (DFID) funding the Liyu police, why do they not act for us – good question. The people of the Ogaden are suffering wide-ranging atrocities and throughout the country human rights are violated, the people are suppressed and fearful, all of which donor nations such as Britain and America are well aware. All pressure should be applied to the EPRDF regime to observe human rights, dismantle draconian laws like the internationally condemned Anti-Terrorist Proclamation and Charities and Societies Proclamation; desist from military action and withdraw troops from the Ogaden, open up the region to the international media and human rights groups and enter into substantive peace talks with the ONLF.
As witnessed in many parts of the world when the people unite change ensues, governments fall. The people of Ethiopia, in the Ogaden, Oromo, Amhara, Gambella and elsewhere, need to stand together and peacefully demand their right to freedom, to justice and to peace.
Source: Counter Punch
By GRAHAM PEEBLES
February 28, 2014 (Counter Punch) — Hidden and isolated from the world the armed conflict raging in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia goes unnoticed. The killing and raping of innocent civilians at the hands of the military and their paramilitary partners in crime the Liyu police, the false arrests, torture and imprisonment remain largely hidden and unreported. The international media, human rights groups and most aid organisations (including the International Red Cross) have been banned from the region by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 2007.
Testimonies of extreme abuse and mistreatment reported by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and diaspora agencies have come mainly from refugees who have found their way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) administered Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, where hundreds of men, women and children have sought safety. “I was arrested without charge in 2010 and imprisoned for two years in a military barracks, when in prison I was repeatedly beaten,” relayed Noor Sayat, a 40-year old former local government worker. Omar Abdi told me how his wife and son together with his brother had been murdered in cold blood by the military, and how he “was imprisoned for one year and two months.”
During which time he “was tortured every night…late at night we were taken to the river, a rope tied around our necks and held under the water. They pulled me out and then beat me with wooden sticks and their rifles. Sometimes they would vary the method and put a sack over my head, tie it around my throat with rope and then submerge me in the river, then beat me.” Women tell of being subjected to gang rapes in prison: “I was raped by groups of soldiers,” 27-year old Raho told me. “It used to happen around midnight. I can only remember the first three men who raped me. They would take me out and leave the baby in the room with the other women, and bring me back in the early morning… the soldiers would come every night about midnight to take some of the women out for raping.” Raho was imprisoned for two years, the first eight months of which she was pregnant. She was raped throughout with the exception of the “40 days when I gave birth and had my new born baby.” She was released after complaining of abdominal pains caused, she believes, by the relentless sexual abuse.
For many community leaders the persecution continues inside Dadaab, with life-threatening telephone calls and text messages made by members of Ethiopia’s secret service, military and Liyu police. Ogaden Online relays that “the names, family history and even the pictures of Ogaden leaders [now living in] the Kenyan refugee camps,” have been collected by Ethiopian intelligence. The plan is “to hunt, kill, maim, or intimidate” members of the Ogaden diaspora, “especially in the Kenyan refugee camps and those present in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.” The men who make up such so-called security services, in Ethiopia and elsewhere, live in a dark and ugly world; Ethiopia is besieged by social and economic problems and yet the government, shrouded in paranoia and hatred, spends its time and scant resources persecuting those seeking sanctuary.
The many claims of rape, false arrest, torture and execution of civilians by military personnel and Liyu police officers were confirmed by the statement of a former Liyu commander I spoke to in Dadaab. He told shocking stories of mutilation, murder, burying people alive, rape and systematic destruction of property. The Ethiopian government, he said, “wants to colonise the people and get rid of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF); the main target is the oil.” The Ogaden is reported to be rich in oil and natural gas; the promise of buried treasures may explain the West’s acceptance of wide-ranging human rights abuses being committed by the Ethiopian government – not just in the Ogaden, but throughout the country.
The struggle for self-determination for the region has been waged by the ONLF since its formation in 1984. The freedom fighters, or ‘dangerous terrorists’ if one accepts the government’s rhetoric, where voted into office in 1992 in regional elections. They “won 60% of seats… and formed the new [regional] government” [Human Rights Watch (HRW)] reported. Two years later they called for a referendum on self-determination. The EPRDF government’s reaction was to kill 81 unarmed civilians in the town of Wardheer; disband the regional parliament; arrest and imprison the vice-president and several other members of the parliament; instigate mass arrests and carry out indiscriminate killings. These brutal acts ignited the current struggle and drove the ONLF into the shadows.
ONLF Peace Negotiators Abducted
In January this year, peace talks planned to take place in Nairobi were sabotaged when two key ONLF negotiators were kidnapped. “Press reports from Kenya indicate that two members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) were abducted on 27 January 2014 outside a restaurant in Nairobi… ONLF officials stated the two persons were ONLF central committee members invited by Kenyan officials to participate in peace negotiations with Ethiopian government officials.  ONLF officials further alleged that security agencies from Ethiopia and Kenya were involved in the abduction of the two ONLF negotiators.” [David Shinn former US ambassador to Ethiopia] The ONLF claim that, “a source inside Ethiopia [has] informed the ONLF that the two abducted ONLF officers were seen in a military hospital undergoing treatment for extensive wounds caused by torture.” They go on to relay how Sulub Abdi Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein – “senior negotiators for the ONLF in the talks being brokered by the Kenyan government – resisted torture and the accompanying pressure to sign (under duress) a “fictitious peace agreement”. The men had participated in the second round of talks between the Ethiopian Government and ONLF last year and were in Nairobi for the planned third round of talks.
It’s hard to see how peace talks worthy of the name can be entered into whilst one of the parties is committing abductions and assassinations, and wide-ranging atrocities in the disputed region. A reasonable and I would say essential condition of any talks is the cessation of violence by both the Ethiopian military/paramilitary and the armed wing of the ONLF.
The Kenyan police force is notoriously corrupt, two of its officers were arrested for their involvement in the kidnapping, both, “have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping two Ethiopian rebels in the capital, Nairobi. Painito Bera Ng’ang’ai and James Ngaparini are alleged to have driven to the Ethiopian border and handed them [ONLF negotiators] over to Ethiopian officials.” [BBC] The kidnapping is the latest in a long line of similar incidents; the ONLF report that in “1998, the Ethiopian Army killed three members of an ONLF delegation team and abducted two members participating in bilateral negotiations with the Ethiopian government inside the Ogaden.” They go on to state that, “two years ago, the Ethiopia government assassins killed another senior leader in Nairobi.”
Talks ‘stalled’ in September 2012 when the Ethiopian team (contrary to the unconditional basis agreed for the talks by both sides that, “no preconditions shall be made to negate the inherent character and purpose of the peace negotiations”) demanded that the ONLF representatives acknowledged the Ethiopian constitution, a broadly liberal document written by the EPRDF in 1992 and largely ignored by them ever since. In its articles the Somali (or Ogaden) region is classified as a State of Ethiopia, a contentious statement implying sovereignty over the area, which the ONLF where not prepared to endorse. In a statement they made clear their position, stating that the constitution, “must reflect the will of the people and that the Somali people never exercised a referendum on the constitution.” They went on to say that, “the solution to the conflict in the Ogaden can only be achieved by accepting the principles of the [people’s] right to exercise their self-determination without any preconditions or restrictions.”
Unsurprisingly the Ethiopian government have denied any abduction took place: “the two abductees came willingly, and are kept somewhere inside Ethiopia while negotiating with the Ethiopian government, and will soon speak on Ethiopian TV.” This absurd statement was followed by another, this time from Shimelis Kemal the Minister of Government Communications Affairs Office, who claimed to have “no information about the alleged kidnapping of Ogaden officials in Nairobi”. Followed fictitiously by Dina Mufti (Foreign Ministry), who told VOA Amharic “that his government was not aware of the whereabouts of those men or any abduction.” The two men remain detained in an undisclosed location inside Ethiopia. Let us hope they are safe and that they are swiftly released.
Nationwide Violations
The human rights violations, many of which constitute crimes against humanity, taking place inside the Ogaden region are but the most acute examples of widespread government violence, abuse and suppression being meted out throughout the country. Genocide Watch “considers Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7 [of 8], genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes.” Ethiopia rarely attracts the attention of the international media and their western donors are content, it seems, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the people, happy that their ally in what is one of the most volatile regions of the world is on the face of it stable. It is a stability however brought about through fear, security forces personnel – police, military and secret service men – instilling fear of imprisonment, torture and death, amongst the people.
Political dissent is not tolerated, freedom of assembly all but criminalised, and intimidation to garner support for the ruling party is government policy. Membership of the EPRDF brings with it work permits, a range of essential aid from food to fertiliser, a home, university places, government jobs, business opportunities such as opening a shop, a hairdressing salon or driving a taxi – only possible if you are an EPRDF card carrying devotee, one prepared to hang a photograph of their cherished leader, former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in your Lada. Economic growth is said to be racing along at 8% per annum; however, the beneficiaries of any development dividend are those within the cosy government clique, and given that deceit and duplicity are government policy, there is considerable doubt as to the reliability of the growth claims. “It is not clear how factual Ethiopia’s economic data are. Life is intolerably expensive for Ethiopians in Addis Ababa, the capital, and its outlying towns. Some think Ethiopia’s inflation figures are fiddled” [The Economist].
Why, I was repeatedly asked by refugees from the Ogaden, “does Britain support the EPRDF regime”, why is the Department for International Development (DFID) funding the Liyu police, why do they not act for us – good question. The people of the Ogaden are suffering wide-ranging atrocities and throughout the country human rights are violated, the people are suppressed and fearful, all of which donor nations such as Britain and America are well aware. All pressure should be applied to the EPRDF regime to observe human rights, dismantle draconian laws like the internationally condemned Anti-Terrorist Proclamation and Charities and Societies Proclamation; desist from military action and withdraw troops from the Ogaden, open up the region to the international media and human rights groups and enter into substantive peace talks with the ONLF.
As witnessed in many parts of the world when the people unite change ensues, governments fall. The people of Ethiopia, in the Ogaden, Oromo, Amhara, Gambella and elsewhere, need to stand together and peacefully demand their right to freedom, to justice and to peace.
Source: Counter Punch

Magaaloti Oromiyaa guguddoon bulchiinsa Federaalaaf Kenname,Baadiyyaan Oromiyaa ammo Dureeyyii halagaaf gurguramaa jira.

Gurandhala 27,214 Finfinnee
Mootummaan gabroonfataa uummata Oromoo qe’ee fi lafa isaa irraa buqqisuu aadeffate har’a illee saalfii tokko malee magaalota naannoo FF kan akka L/Xaafoo L/Daadhii,Burraayyuu,Sabbataa fi Duukam fa’aatti lafa qonnaan bulaa irraa saamee maallaqattii gurguratuu irra darbee qonnaan bulaa Oromoo lafa isaa ifaan ifaatti irraa fuudhuun ummaata Amahaaraa fi Tigrree naannoo isaanii irraa fiduun sababa rakkattoota jedhuun qubachiisee uummata Oromoo jireenya gadadoo keessatti kuffisaa jiraachuun hubatamaa jira.kana malee sirni abbaa hirree uummata Oromoo lafuma isaa waliin uummata Oromoo dhabamsiisuuf tattaaffataa jiru,magaalota Oromiyaa kan akka magaalaa Jimmaa fi Adaamaa godina addaa jechuun Oromiyaa jalaa baasuun harka federaalaa galchuun beekkame,dabalataan magaluma Jimmaa kana keessa uummattoonni jiraatan harki guddaan/74%/ saboota biroo waan tahaniif afaan hojii fi barnootaa afaan amariffaa tahuu qaba jechuun illee jijjiiruuf tattaaffii godhaa jiraachuun
dhagahamaa jira.
Gabaasa KSBO!

Exceptions to the democratic rule: Sweden is not Ethiopia, but pretending that they have nothing in common does no one any favours

February 27, 2014 (Ajazeera) — In 2012, after having been sentenced to 11 years in prison for “terrorism” for illegally entering Ethiopia from Somalia in the presence of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye took the advice of their legal council, confessed to their “crimes” and requested an official pardon. It was a pragmatic move – both journalists vehemently denied the charges and considered any confession to be a charade – taken to save their own skins.
The request was granted, and the journalists were released after 438 days in jail. Their capture, trial, imprisonment and subsequent release were, as one would expect, all big news stories in Sweden. As told in the media, the Persson/Schibbye story followed a standard trope: Backward, undemocratic Africa versus progressive, democratic Sweden. Human rights violators versus human rights defenders. And, frankly, who could argue with that framing of events? 

Persson and Schibbye, as it turns out. Upon their return to Sweden, the two reporters, while naturally critical of the Ethiopian regime, spared no words in their critique of Sweden. Schibbiye, for example, had this to say:

“Relations between Sweden and Ethiopia have never been as good as they are now. After having imprisoned two Swedish journalists for 14 months, some kind of reconciliation has taken place. We are in a new phase and H&M and Ikea will be starting up there (in Ethiopia).”
Schibbye also noted in a recent public lecture in Uppsala that he and Persson were told by Swedish officials that there was no way the Swedish government would sacrifice their relations with Ethiopia over their case, no matter how blatant the injustice (hence the suggestion that the two men falsely “confess”). And, Johan Persson made note of how treatment of journalists and whistleblowers in the supposedly “developed” world helped to justify their treatment:
“This double-standard… just look at the USA where whisteblowers are chased all over the world and threatened with life in prison. That is the problem. Ethiopia can always say, ‘We are no worse than you’.”
While their imprisonment and release garnered much attention, their critique of the relationship between Swedish diplomacy and economic interests in an authoritarian regime did not. Interestingly, and perhaps lesser-known, is the fact that the journalists were in Ethiopia to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by the Sweden-based Lundin Petrolium.
Undemocratic thuggery
The Persson/Schibbye case is one of many in recent years where international authoritarianism is viewed by media in, for example, Europe and the United States with a superior, disapproving shake of the head, while domestic or regional rights violations (or turning a blind eye to such violations in “allied” states) are often dismissed as exceptions which prove the democratic rule.
Jailing journalists for 14 months? Undemocratic thuggery. Negotiating with those same undemocratic officials to further privately-owned economic interests? Good diplomacy.
Persson’s point about Snowden – which can also be made about Chelsea Manning, Barrett Brown andJeremy Hammond- is key: The imprisonment and threatened imprisonment of individuals who have blown the whistle on perceived injustices not only undermines the credibility of the governments who pursue these people, it also calls into question the consistency of media which lament a lack of democratic values in Country X while significant violations take place, in relative media silence, in their own Backyard Y.
This is not to say that the presence of a functional Guantanamo prison – in any way – justifies the killing of 88 protesters in Ukraine. Nor does it suggest that coverage of Kiev, Gezi, Cairo or Rio is de facto inaccurate because the death penalty does not get enough critical press in the US.
But, as I noted in a piece on Turkey, those engaged in the suppression of democratic rights often point to both journalists and politicians in Europe and US and accuse them of double-standards. And we have provided them with that ammunition. Sweden is not Ethiopia, but pretending that they have nothing in common does no one any favours.
I have also made the argument that one of the problems with coverage of recent global protests has been ashort-term perspective: When the images are hot and sexy, there is attention (for a good discussion on “disaster porn” in relation to Ukraine, see the piece by Sarah Kendzior and reaction from Emily Bell), but when the far less sexy long-term process of democratisation begins, media attention fades.
This leaves us with images of Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine as rooted in protest and violence, divorced from any semblance of progress. But there is more. These images are enhanced and solidified by an unwillingness to confront, in a comprehensive fashion, our own violent, anti-democratic tendencies – from drones to weapons exports to the death penalty.
This unwillingness allows us to take a position of righteous indignation rife with hypocrisy.
Christian Christensen is Professor of Journalism at Stockholm University, Sweden.
Source: Aljazeera

Diddaan baratoota Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa jabaatee itti fufuu irraan Mootummaan Wayyaaneen humna Poolisa dabalataa itti bobbaase

Gabaasaa: Guraandhala 27,2014 Jimma

Yuunivarsiitiin Jimmaa tajajiila baranootaa kennuu irra gara tajaajila Waraanaa kennuutti darbee jira. Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaatti goototni baratootni Oromoo guyyoota shaniif haala itti fufinsa qabuun diddaa sirna abba irree Wayyaaneef qaban itti fufanii jiru. Goototni Baratootni Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa hanga gaaffiin keenyaa karaa nagaa nurraa fuudhamee deebiin nuu hin kennamnetti FDG jabaatee kan itti fufu ta’uu hubachiisuun diddaa isanii nyaata dhaabuun, barnoota dhaabuuni fi qabsoo FDG Qeerroon gaggeessuu itti fufuuf murteeffatan.

Haala kanaanis mootummaan Wayyaanee seeraa haaraa mirga baratoota ugguru barruu fuula torba qabu Wayyaaneen baastee mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessa fi doormii baratootni keessa jirattan hunda irratti maxxansitee goototni baratootni Oromoo fi ilmaan cunqurfamoo sabaaf sablamootni biyyatti fudhatama dhabsiisuun bakka Wayyaaneen maxxansitee walitti funaanuun ibiddan gubuun fudhatama dhabsiisan, seeraa jaamaan uummata itti miidhuuf baastu dhabamsiisuun Wayyaanee qaanessan. gochaan kun mootummaa Wayyaanee maraachee jira.

Yuunivarsiitiin Jimmaa ergama Wayyaanee hojii irra olchuuf jedhee tajajila barnootaa fi hawwaasummaa irra gara tajaajila Waraana kennuutti darbee jira, waraannii wayyaanee Mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa kessaa qubsiifame jiru yeroo amma kanatti tajajilaa nyaataa kaffee baratoota irra argachaa jira, tajajila geejjibaa immoo konkolaataan service adda addaaf ramadame hojii gaggeessa Yuunivarsiitichaaf ture sana dhaabuun waraanaa fee’ee mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessa nanna’a oola.

Yeroo amma kanatti waraanni wayyaanee mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa, Magaalaa Jimmaa, fi Aggaaroo irra rabsifamee jira, keessaattu waraannii heddumina qabu mooraa Yuunivarsiitii daandii gara hospitaalatti geessuu fi nannoo caffee baratootni fayyaa baratan irraa nyaatan gararraa kan qubsiifame ta’uun bira ga’amera. Mootummaan Wayyaanee waraana kana illee halkanii guyyaa ta’umsaa fi dhaabii dhorkaa jiraachuun ibsamee jira. Ilmaan Oromoo waraanaa kana keessatti argaman akka baratoota Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii keessa jiran kan ijaan beekan, hiriyummaan wal beekan, kan waliin baratan fi firumma dhiigaa wal irra qaban illee yoo argan akka hin dubbifnee, fi dubbisee kan argamee seeratti kan dhiyaatu ta’uu isaa odeessii keessa waraana wayyaanee kana ba’uu saaxilee jira.
Haala kanaan mootummaa wayyaanee dabalatee Yuunivarsiitiin Jimmaa fi Magaalli Jimmaa raafama guddaa keessa seentee jirti.

Dhiha Oromiyaa Wallagga, Ona Limmuu Ebantuu fi Aanota Adda Adda Addaa Keessatti Gaaffiin Mirgaa Barattootaan Ka’e Daran Jabaachuun Beekame.

Gurandhala 26,2014 Naqamte

Saboontootni baratootni Oromoo manneen barnootaa sadarkaa 2ffaa Onotaa Wallagga Bahaa manneen barnoota akka: M/B Haroo Limmuu sadarkaa 2ffaa, M/B Leeqaa Dullachaa sadarkaa 2ffaa, M/b Ukkee sadarkaa 2ffaa, M/B Jimmaa Arjoo, M/B Kiramuu sadarkaa 2ffaa, jedhaman keessatti argaman gaaffii mirgaa qabna gaaffii keenya nurraa fuudhaa jechuun directors mannen barnoota kanneenitti dhiyeeffachuun hanga gaaffiin mirga fi mirgi uummata Oromoo kabajamutti nurraa hin fuudhamnetti barachuu hin dandeenyu, mirga hin qabnu, rakkoo keenyaa fi rakkoo uummata keenya hiriira bahuun ibsanna mirgi hiriira nagaa gochuu fi rakkoo ofii ibsachuu nuf haa eeyyamamu jechuun gaaffii FDG kaachiisan. saboontotni baraatootni Oromoo kun dhaadannoo Oromiyaa ni bilisoomti (Oromia shall bee free), ka’ii ummata Oromoo mirga kee falmadhu, qabeenyaa uummata Oromoo saamuun dhaabbachuu qaba, Oromoo ilaalcha siyaasaan qoqqodanii bituun ni dhaabbata, dhaaba keenya tokkicha ABO ni jaallanna, Ummatni
Oromoo abba biyyati, Ummatni Oromoo lafa isaa irratti of bulchuu qaba, yoo Mirgi Oromoo kabajame malee nagaa fi Misoomni guddinni itti fufinsa qabu dhufuu hin danda’u.
Kanatti dabalees mirgi dimookiraasii nuf kabajamuu qaba. hidhamtootni siyaasaa Oromoo fi kaanis hundi gadhiifamuu qabu, Oromiyaan mootummaa mataa ishee malee waggoota 23 dabarsitee jirti amman booda mootummaa mataa keenyaa hundeeffachuuf ni qabsoofna, dhaadannoolee jedhan uummata keessa fi baratootni walii isaniif rabsuun diddaa Wayyaaneef qaban argisiisuun jaalala ABOf qaban mul’isa jiru.
Haaluma walfakkatuun Onoota kanneen keessatii fi Onotaa guutummaa godina wallaaggaa bahaa cufa keessatti barruun warraaqsa FDG bittinneefamuun dhaaba lukkee wayyaaneetti yaadddoo dhalchee halkanii guyyaa wardiyyaa dhaabbachaa jiraachuun gabaafamera.
Maatii fi uumanni Oromoo jiraattota naannoo ta’an gaaffii barattootaa hordofuun ykn cinaa dhaabbachuun gaaffiin keenya fi gaaffiin baratoota keenyaa yeroo garaagaratti dhiyeessa turre deebii argachuu qaba, jechuun guraandhala gaafa 25/2014 Onotaa akka Limmuu Galiilaa, Haroo Limmuu, Sassiggaa fi kiramuu keessatti uummanni hanga gaaffiin keenya deebii argatutti mootummaa wayyaaneef gibra hin kaffallu, walga’ii wayyaneen gootu hin hirmannu, ajaja gama kamiin iyyuu lukkee wayyaanee irraa darbu hin fudhannu, wayyaanee irratti fincillee mirga keenya ni kabachiifanna jechuun uummanni murtee waliifdabarsee jira.
Ergamtootni Wayyaanee haala sochii diddaa FDG uumamaa jirutti rifachuun humna poolisaa kora bittinneessaa jedhamuu Onoota hundaa irra qubsiisuu fi uummata ittin sodachiisuf halkanii guyyaa uummata keessa baattee fiiga jirachuun gabaafamera.
Kana malees barruuleen FDG Godina Wallagaa dhihaa magaalawwaan akka Mandii, Ginbii, Danbii Doolloo fi Gullisotti bittinneffamuun lukkele Wayyanee wareersaa jirachuutu gabaafame jira. uummannis waamicha dhaabni kallacha qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo ABO irraa bifa garaagaran godhamaa jirutti gammachuu gudda qabachuu isa FDG mul’ifachuuf qophii xummuraa jiraachuu isaa gabaasa nu qaqqabe irra hubanne jirra.

Diddaa Hojjetootaa Warshaa Sukkaaraa Finca’aa Irraa Eegaluun Dhagahame.

Gabaasa Qeerroo Finca’aa Gurn-dhala 26,2014
Godinaalee oromiyaa tokko tokko keessatti diddaan kallattii adda addaan wal qabatee kaaa jiraachu isaa yeroodhaa yerootti gabaafamaa jira. Gabaasaa Qeerroo Wallaggaa,Finca’aa irraa hara Guraandhala 25 addeessuun warshaa Shukkaaraa Fincaatti argamu irraa hojjetootni hojjetan gaaffii dabaliinsa miindaan kan wal qabatee diddaa jabaan uumamee jira. Gaaffin kunis torban tokko dura kan eegale yoo tahu sochii Qeerroon kan buuura kan buuura tae mootummaa wayyaane irratti hojjetootni gaaffii deebii argachuu hin dandeenye dhiyeessuu irraan gama hundaan diddaan akka jabaatee kau taee jira,ammatti gaaffiin hojjetoota warshaa kana irraa dhiyeessan mootummaa irraa deebii hin argatin waan jiruuf guutummaan guututti hojjetootni warshicha hojii dhaabuu murteessuun dhaamsa waliif dhaamaa jiru,waraqaan qeerroos naannichatti kan bittimfamaa jiruudha,daandiin gara warshaa sanii geessuus diddaa hojjetootaan kan kaee cufamee akka jiru Qeerroon gabaasee jira. Gama kanaan gabaasaan jiru itti fufa!

Sababaa Qorannoo Jedhuun Qondaaloti Wayyaaneen Jiraattota Magaalaa Sulultaa Guyyaa 5f Walgayii Gaggeessaa Jiru!!

February 25, 2014 By Qeerroo in Oduu/News 

Gabaasaa Qeerroo Guraandhala 25 godina addaa Finfinnee Sulultaa irraa addeessuun mootummaan wayyaanee yeroo ammaa ABO qofa osoo hin taanee sodaan isaa miseensotuma isaayyuu shakkuudhaan sodaa keessa galee jira,seelii ABO fi seelii keenya adda baafachuu qabna jedhani labsii labsaa jiru magaalaa kana irratti,kaleessa;guraandhala 24 irraa kaasanii miseensota OPDO kan taam hunda walitti qabuudhaan wal gayii ariifachiisaa qaama nu hordofuu fi nun hordofne adda baasuudha jedha mootummaan jedhuun hanga guyyaa 5niitti walgayiin wayyaanee magaalaa Sulultaa irratti dhimma kanaaf adeemsifachaa jirti. Wal gayii kana irratti namoota hirmaatan addatti ammo miseensa ABOti jedhuun shakkaa ture mootummaan wayyaanee tikoota isaatiin gara qorannaa federaalatti akka fuudhataman taee jira,isaan keessa kan maqaan nama lamaa nu gahee jiru:
1. B/saa Tamasgeen Hirkoo
2. B/saa Guddataa Takkaaliny Oliiqaa
Kan jedhaman kun barattoota siyaasa barsiisa,maatii barattootaa waamuudhaan sabboonummaa akka baratan,aadaa fi seenaa oromoo barattootni keessan hubachuu qabu kan jedhu maatii isaa gorsaa barattoota maatiin isaanii deggeraa mootummaa tae ammoo ilaalcha gaarii hin qabaniifi,walii galatti sammuu barattoota siyaasaan jijjiiranii jiru jedhuun yakka kanaan gara qorannootti dhiyaatanii jiru,keessi isaa bifa hidhaatiin tikoota wayyaaneetiin qabamanii gara federaalaatti akka geeffaman gabaasaan Qeerroo addeessa. Itti fufee mareenii fi qorannoon Wayyaanee magaalaa Sulultaa irratti gaggeeffama kan jiru guyyoota 5f seemii isaanii adda baafachuuf ajandaa godhatanii kaanii jru bakka biroo irratti kan itti fufu akka tae odeeffannaan ibsa. Diddaan Itti fufa!

Ethiopian immigrants ‘walked for nine months’ to Zimbabwe

February 25, 2014, Nairobi (Daily Nation) — Twelve Ethiopian illegal immigrants walked for nine months to Zimbabwe to escape religious tensions in the Horn of Africa nation, a court was told on Monday.

They were arrested late last year in Bulawayo but the trial delayed because of lack of an Amharic interpreter.

On Friday, they were sentenced to three months in prison, which was wholly suspended for five years on condition they do not remain in Zimbabwe without proper documentation.

“I walked for nine months to Zimbabwe because of religious tensions in my country. I was hoping to get peace and job opportunities,” one of them said.

ADMISSION OF GUILT

The group had been arrested on December 4, 2013 while hiding at a house in Bulawayo.

“My parents were killed while I watched and they burnt our farm which was our only means of survival. We came here seeking asylum because life had become difficult in Ethiopia.

The group signed an admission of guilt letter where they urged the authorities to grant them refugee status.

“This letter serves as an admission of guilt and request for refugee status. There is a social and political unrest in the region where we come from,” the letter reads.

According to the magistrate Abedinico Ndebele, it would be a waste of money to fine the immigrants as they had no money.

ETHIOPIAN PLANE HIJACKED

“This court understands that there is instability in your country and that most of you are young people who entered Zimbabwe for the first time,” Mr Ndebele said.

“Therefore there is no need for us to fine you or put you in prison because you have been in remand for almost three months now. You can go but do not commit such an offence again.”

Last week, an Ethiopian pilot was arrested in Geneva after he hijacked the plane in a plot to get asylum.

The man told police he “felt threatened in Ethiopia and wants to seek asylum in Switzerland.”
Source: Daily Nation

USAID Sponsored Innovation LAB to Improve Chickpea Production Launched in Ethiopia

USAID, UC Davis, and EIAR collaborate on international research program to benefit farmers

For Immediate Release

February 25, 2014, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (USAID)—The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the University of California Davis (UC Davis) launched the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient Chickpeas housed at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). The 5-year, $4 million genetic research program will create more and stronger varieties of chickpea to increase smallholder farmer productivity.
Chickpeas are the third most widely grown legume crop (after soybean and bean) and of particular significance in developing countries, where it provides a crucial source of income, food security, and nutrition to poor farmers. The crop’s ability to “fix” atmospheric nitrogen also contributes to soil fertility.
According to Dr. Asnake Fikre, crop research director at EIAR and project lead in Ethiopia, “Enhancing the value chain of chickpea production and, thereby, improving the livelihoods of small holder farmers in Ethiopia are among the expected outcomes of this project.”
The potential gains are particularly large in Ethiopia. As the largest chickpea producer in Africa, more than one million of the country’s rural households cultivate chickpea. In recognition of the crop’s potential benefits, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) prioritizes chickpea in its current five-year strategy. The strategy aims to double the country’s 2010 yield by 2015 with the help of Ethiopian scientists and farmers, global researchers, brought together through the Chickpea Innovation Lab.
Dennis Weller, director of USAID’s mission in Ethiopia, emphasized the program’s significance. “In funding the new Chickpea Innovation Lab,” he said, “We expect that new genetic resources and improved varieties developed by this program will improve Ethiopia’s agricultural productivity and help improve livelihoods and wellbeing in Ethiopia’s rural highlands where chickpea is cultivated.”
Under the project, researchers plan to improve the yield, climate resilience, nutritional value, and nitrogen-fixing properties of chickpea varieties selected in consultation with local farmers. According to Doug Cook, professor at UC Davis and director of the USAID research project, “Developing chickpea for increased resilience to climate stress and other high value traits will be greatly accelerated if we can expand the range of genetic adaptations available to breeders,” and the project’s strategy to incorporate new variation from wild species aims to do precisely that.
The new Chickpea Innovation Lab is the latest of 23 USAID-funded Innovation Labs awarded under Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Led by UC Davis, the new research consortium includes, in addition to the EIAR, the University of Southern California, Florida International University, and Turkey’s Harran University.
Source: USAID

Qabsoon Qeerroo Bilisummaan Oromoo Godinaalee Iluu A.Boraa fi Jimmaa daran Itti Fufe.

Guraandhala 25,2014 Yeroo irra gara yerootti,FDG’n godina dhihaa Oromiyaa keessattuu Godina Kibba dhihaa Oromiyaa Jimmaa fi Iluu Abbaa Booraa keessatti qeerroon gaggeessaa jiru jabaachaa adeemuun hawwannaa uummata argatee jira. Mootummaan abbaa Irree Wayyaanee TPLF fi EPRDF warraaqsa qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo ija uummataa keessa seenee jiru kanatti rifatuu guddaa keessa seenun waan qabee gadhiisuu dhabee Oromoon hin baratiin jechuun Wayyaaneen baratoota Oromoo barnoota irraa arii’uu murteeffatte jirti. Haaluma kanaan:
Injiineerotni Baratootni Oromoo qaroo ta’an Yuunivarsiitii Mattuu irra baratootni 11 barnoota irra arii’atamani baratootni lama immoo akeekkachiisa dhumaan kan jiran ta’uu torbanota darban keessa gabaasuun keenya ni yaadatama. Ilmaan Oromoo qaroo fi abdii biyyaa ta’an kun badii tokko malee dhugaa uummata Oromoo qofa waan dubbataniif arii’amuun uummataa Oromoo Magaalaa Maattuu akkam kan aarsee ta’uu ibsuun Manguddoonni Oromoo fi abbootiin amantaa Oromoo ta’an balleessa malee arii’atamuu baratoota Oromoo maalii jechuun bulchiinsa Yuunivarsiitii Mattuu akka meeshatti wayyaaneen itti fayyadamee Oromoo barnoota irraa arii’atu gaafatan, dabbaalloonnii Wayyaanee kun manguddoo kabajamooni fi abbootii amantaa salphisuun dhimma kun isin hin galchu maaltu isin galche jechuun of irra deebisan.
Qeerroon Bilisummaa Oromoo gochaa fashistummaa kana kan manguddoo keenya salphisee, afaan qawwee abdatee nutti roorrisuu kana of irra dhaabuu kan dandeenyuu fi mirga abba biyyummaa keenya kabachiifachuufi barnoota irra arii’atamuun, hidhaan, ajjeechaan, biyyaa irraa arii’amuun nu ga’aa, jennee nuti dhaloonni haaraan kun wareegama barbachisuu kanfaluun yoo of irraa hin fonqolchine, dhaloonni baaddeedhan dhufuu carraa lubbuun jiraachuu iyyuu hin argatu jechuun qeerroon harka walqabannee wayyaanee irratti FDG gaggeessuun furmaata waaraa fiduun of kabachiisuudha jechuun itti fufee barruu Warraqsa FDG bitinneessuu Godina Jimmaa, Yuunivaersiitii Jimmaa, Godina Iluu A/Booraa, Yuunivarsiitii Mattuu, Yuuniversiitii Miizaan Teeppii, Yuunivarsiitii Walqixxee, Yuunivarsiitii Amboo , fi Yuunivarsiitii Wallaaggaa keessatti barruun waraqaa FDG itti fufee bittinneeffama jiraachuun hoggansii qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo gareen hoggansa dhihaa Oromiyaa beeksisee jira.
Uummaanni Oromoo Magaalaa Jimmaa fi hordoftootni amantaa muslimaa fi Goototni baratootni Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa bu’uura kana godhachuun sochii warraaqsaa FDG irratti argamuu, Diddaa Qeerroo tumsa uummataa argachaa jiru kanatti barraaguun wayyaaneen guutummaa magaalaa Jimmaa fi Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa humna Waraanaa mooraa 44 Waraanaa kan dhihaa keessaa gadii bobbaasuun egsisaa jiraachuun ibsame jira.

Gaaffiin Mirgaa Ummataa fi Barattoota Oromoo Godina Jimmaan Qabsiifame Dhaamsuuf Waraanni Wayyaanee Heddumminaan Bobba’e.

Gabaasaa FDG: Guraandhalaa 24/2014 Godina Jimmaa, fi Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaatti FDG haalan jabaata ta’ee Qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo gootota baratoota Oromoo fi hawwaasa Oromoo Magaalaa Jimmaatiin bifa adda addaatiin itti fufee oole .
Dargaggoonni baratootni Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa utuu waraannii mootummaa Wayyaanee lakkofsaan kumaan lakka’amu mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessa qubsiifamee jiruu guyyaa har’aa ifatti nyaataa fi barnoota dhaabuun mormii sirna wayyaaneef qaban ifatti argisiisuun FDG finiinsaan. Guyyaa kaleessa Guraandhala 23/2014 Goototni sabboontotni baratootni Qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo sababaa Oromummaa isaniin yakkamaa ta’anii hoggantoota waraana wayyaanee mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessaa qubsiifamani jiranii fi poolisotaan karaa bulchiinsa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa seeratu isin barbada jedhamuun wamamanii dorsifamuun ittuma dargaggota Oromoo gara FDGtti jabeessuun dorsiifni diinaa, hidhaan, heddumminni waraanaa fi qawween,sochii warraaqsa bilisummaa Oromoo qeerroon gaggeessa jiru yoom iyyuu duubatti deebisuu kan hin dandeenye ta’uu, kunoo guyyaa har’aa qeerroon ifatti beeksise jira. Waamicha FDG qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo tasiseef irraa ka’uun hawwaasni Oromoo magaalaa Jimmaa guyyaa har’aa hojii idlee isaanii illee dhaabuun mormii sirna wayyaaneef qaban ifatti argisiisaani jiru. Keessattuu daldaltootni magaalaa Jimmaa dukkana daldalaa isaanii cfattii olchuun diddaa sirna fashiistii wayyaaneef qaban argisiisaniru,kana malees hojjetootni mootummaa sabboontotni Oromoo hojii dhaabuun diddaa qeerroon gaggeessa jiru keessatti qooda fudhachuu isanii beeksifatan.
Kana malees hordoftootni amantaa Muslimaa uummannii Oromoo fi sabaafi sablammoonni mirgii amantaa isanii sarbamuu fi abba irrummaa Wayyaanee irratti dammaqanii jiran guyyaa har’aa kayyoon FDG garbummaa Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo godina keenyaa fi Oromiyaa keessatti gaggeessa jiru sirriidha, kayyoo kanas ni deeggarra, qeerroo cina dhaabbannee mirga amantaa keenyaa fi mirga eenyuummaa fi dimookiraasii sarbamaa jiru kabachiifachuu ni dandeenya jechuun guyyaa har’a FDG Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo gaggeessuu keessatti qooda fudhatan. Haala kanaan fulduraaf illee nam-tokko biyya dimookiraasiin hin jirree fi biyya mirgi namummaa sarbamaa jiru keessatti mirga amantaa isa egsifachuun waan ulfataa ta’eef FDG qeerroon gaggeessaa jiruu keessatti ga’ee keenya gumachuun mirgoota namummaa, dimookiraasii fi eenyummaa haa kabachiifannu jechuun diddaa sirna wayyaanee Qeerroon gaggeessa jiru keessatti qooda fudhachuu isani waliif beeksisan. Bifa kanaan hojii idlee isani dhaabuun mormii sirna wayyaaneef qaban argisiisaniru. Gabaaasaa humna Waarana Wayyaanee Qeerroo bilisummaa irratti bobbafame kan ilaallatu Guraandhala 22/2014 irra egaluun Mootummaan abbaa irree Wayyaanee humna waraana guddaa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessa qubsiisu egale. guyyaa kaleessa qofa humni waraana wayyaanee guddaan konkolaataa 30 ol kan ta’uu ganama irra egaluun magaalaa Jimmaa galee, waraannii kun irra guddaan isaa nannoo Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa Mooraa Yuunivarsiitichaa keessaa fi mooraa Yuuniversiitichaan ala qubsiifame, Waraana guraadhala 22 moora Yuunivarsiitii seenuu eegale irraatti qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo barruu warraqsaa FDG irraatti bittineesseen sochiin qeerroon itti jiruu ulfaataa waan ta’eef humna guddaa nuf dabalaa jechuun kitillayoonnii Wayyaanee iyyatachuun humni waraana guddaan hammana ga’uu kun uummata irra qubsiifamee guyyaa har’a magaala Jimmaa fi Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessatti sakkata’insa da’imman umrii waggaa 8 olii irra egalee hanga manguddoo jaarsa gadamoojjiitti namuma daandii irra deemuu dhaabuun sakkataa jiraachuun ibsamera.
Wanti baay’ee nama dhibuu mootummaan Wayyaanee muddama sochii qeerrootiin qabamee dhukkubsatootaa hospitaalaa Jimmaa Mooraa Yuunivarsiitii jimmaa keessa jiru keessa ciisaa jiranii fi namotaa dhukkubsatoota dhukkubsachiisa jiran illee sakkatta’insan dararaa jiraachuun gabaafamera.
Dhabbannii Barnoota olaanoo guddaa fi Yuunivarsiitii biyyatti keessa jiran hundaaf fakkeenyummaan qaba jedhuu Yuunivarsiitiin Jimmaa heddumina waraana wayyaanee irraan kan ka’ee guyyaa har’a dirree leenjii waraana fakkatee jira, kana irraa ka’uun halli baruu fi barsiisuu illee uguramee barnoonni dhaabbatee kan olee ta’ee jira.
Konkolaatootni tajajila(service) hojjetoota fi baratootaa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa guyyaa har’a kana tajajila dhaabuun humna waraanaa Wayyaanee Fe’uun mooraa Yuunivarsiitii fi magaalaa Jimmaa keessa nanneessa kan olee ta’uun, Yuunivarsiitiin Jimmaa dirree waraanaa fi ergama waraanaa nurraatti gaggeessaa jirtii jechuun uummataan mufii guddaan irratti ka’aa jira…. gabaasaan kun itti fufa.

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Sababaa Qorannoo Jedhuun Qondaaloti Wayyaaneen Jiraattota Magaalaa Sulultaa Guyyaa 5f Walgayii Gaggeessaa Jiru!!

Gabaasaa Qeerroo Guraandhala 25 godina addaa Finfinnee Sulultaa irraa addeessuun mootummaan wayyaanee yeroo ammaa ABO qofa osoo hin taanee sodaan isaa miseensotuma isaayyuu shakkuudhaan sodaa keessa galee jira,seelii ABO fi seelii keenya adda baafachuu qabna jedhani labsii labsaa jiru magaalaa kana irratti,kaleessa;guraandhala 24 irraa kaasanii miseensota OPDO kan taam hunda walitti qabuudhaan wal gayii ariifachiisaa qaama nu hordofuu fi nun hordofne adda baasuudha jedha mootummaan jedhuun hanga guyyaa 5niitti walgayiin wayyaanee magaalaa Sulultaa irratti dhimma kanaaf adeemsifachaa jirti. Wal gayii kana irratti namoota hirmaatan addatti ammo miseensa ABOti jedhuun shakkaa ture mootummaan wayyaanee tikoota isaatiin gara qorannaa federaalatti akka fuudhataman taee jira,isaan keessa kan maqaan nama lamaa nu gahee jiru:
1. B/saa Tamasgeen Hirkoo
2. B/saa Guddataa Takkaaliny Oliiqaa
Kan jedhaman kun barattoota siyaasa barsiisa,maatii barattootaa waamuudhaan sabboonummaa akka baratan,aadaa fi seenaa oromoo barattootni keessan hubachuu qabu kan jedhu maatii isaa gorsaa barattoota maatiin isaanii deggeraa mootummaa tae ammoo ilaalcha gaarii hin qabaniifi,walii galatti sammuu barattoota siyaasaan jijjiiranii jiru jedhuun yakka kanaan gara qorannootti dhiyaatanii jiru,keessi isaa bifa hidhaatiin tikoota wayyaaneetiin qabamanii gara federaalaatti akka geeffaman gabaasaan Qeerroo addeessa. Itti fufee mareenii fi qorannoon wayyaanee magaalaa Sulultaa irratti gaggeeffama kan jiru guyyoota 5f seemii isaanii adda baafachuuf ajandaa godhatanii kaanii jru bakka biroo irratti kan itti fufu akka tae odeeffannaan ibsa. Diddaan Itti fufa!

Trauma of Ethiopia’s needless baby deaths – Kate Garraway reports

February 24, 2014 (Mirror News) — Daybreak’s Kate Garraway visits Ethiopia and sees firsthand the heart break of needless baby deaths.

Emotion: Kate holding Zewdit’s hand on the ward. Jiro Ose / Save the Children

Lying in her hospital bed, Zewdit Mekonen looked up at me with a bereft, haunted expression that I will never forget.
I listened as she recounted how she had gone into labour at her home. But then, sensing something was going badly wrong, she had started on the three-hour walk to her nearest hospital.
She was expecting twins and as she walked the first twin began to emerge. Zewdit feared he was dead as he was so quiet. In agony and terrified that she had already lost one baby, she staggered on, desperate not to lose the second.
After her horrific ordeal I hoped that the doctors at the Dessie Hospital in Ethiopia had been able to save at least one of Zewdit’s babies.
But no, all that awaited her at the end of her journey was heartbreak.
Doctors told her the terrible news: both her twins had died.
On top of that, medics said she may have to endure an operation which would prevent her from having any more children.
I felt compelled to take her hand and, via an interpreter, tell her I was a mother myself. We looked into each other’s eyes and she squeezed my hand.
It was as if we were saying to each other: “Our lives are so different but in our hearts we are the same.”
Except, of course, I could never really know what she had gone through.

Hope: Bahirnesh teaching how to be a birth attendant. Jiro Ose / Save the Children

True, I have given birth to two children, Darcey, seven, and four-year-old William. But when I think of all the things I fretted about before my first labour, they seem so shamefully minor compared to what Zewdit had to deal with.
My children are healthily thriving. I can’t help but think that if Zewdit’s had been born in a developed country her two babies would have had a chance too.
During my visit to Ethiopia for ITV’s Daybreak and Save the Children, I saw the horrendous circumstances in which some children are brought into this world – and how quickly they can leave it.
This corner of Africa is one of the most deprived in terms of the medical expertise, staff, resources and facilities we take for granted in Britain.
The Dessie Hospital serves seven million people and simply cannot cope. Every year, 28,000 Ethiopian babies don’t live more than 24 hours. Across the globe, that number is one million.
Even more heartbreakingly, a report from Save the Children, called Ending Newborn Deaths, shows it’s possible for the number of these first-day deaths to be halved.
The biggest danger comes from complications during labour which can be avoided if mothers and babies have greater access to free healthcare and skilled midwives. Save the Children is now calling on world leaders to commit to a blueprint for change which would start to provide the resources.
The scale of the problem was obvious when I visited the hospital in the Amhara region.

Struggle: Cardboard in intensive care unit.  Jiro Ose / Save the Children

Even if an infant isn’t one of the 1.2 million who are stillborn around the world every year, they are at serious risk in those first few hours. It is not hard to see why.In the intensive care unit at the hospital the few cots they have are clad in old cardboard boxes, the only thing available to help keep these vulnerable babies warm.
There are no incubators – staff make do by putting old plug-in radiators between the cots. Yet, despite the lack of resources, the staff are dedicated and the mothers who come into the hospital are inspiring.
At another maternity facility, the Kelalla Health Clinic in the Kelalla district of Amhara, I asked male midwife Gashaw Geleta if pain relief such as epidurals were available. He grimaced and said: “I’m the only midwife looking after up to 25,000 women. We don’t have enough hygienic mattresses let alone pain relief. But the women don’t even ask.”
I found that amazing. The women here are so focused on doing the best for their babies they tolerate the pain. Despite the overwhelming number of patients, the dedication of staff is amazing.
And so is the gratitude the patients show – often in the face of huge adversity.
In a nearby village I met Asamenech Hamid, who was just 18 but had already become pregnant three times.
She became pregnant aged 11 and lost her first two babies when she went into labour as she walked to her parents’ home for help. Such prolonged labour, a result of not having services nearby, is a major cause of death for mums and children.
When she finally got medical help through a Save the Children-backed centre, Asamenech had her third baby safe and sound, and now encourages all mums to push for the help they need.
We hear a lot about tiger mummies in this country but women like Asamenech seemed to me to be the real tiger mummies. Surviving against the odds – fighting fiercely for their unborn babies.
One of the most emotional moments in my week-long trip was meeting a group of expectant mums, many aged 15 or 16, who had been abandoned by their partners.
They all said they were scared but they’d walked, often for miles, to get help. All of them would have been helped by education – by people being taught simple things such as washing hands to prevent infection, or how to extract a baby at the correct angle to prevent injury to mother and child.
In Ethiopia just 10% of births take place with skilled help and, around the world, some 40 million women are denied this.
I recall how scared I was to be 38 and having my first baby, even though I had the support of family, doctors and midwives.
I gave birth in a birthing pool for the first stage. My husband had made a CD of relaxing tunes, yet it was still terrifying and very painful. In Ethiopia my experiences would be a dream.
It’s a lottery there as to who survives and who dies. Yet people refuse to see their situation as hopeless.
At a farm in Kelalla I met 43-year-old Bahirnesh Legasse, who was 12 in the terrible famine of 1984. Most of her family died, but she miraculously survived.
She observed that the people who fared best when “the rains didn’t come” as she put it, were the ones who were educated.
So she vowed to strive to educate herself and her kids, and now is proud of the farm she runs for her family. She also trained as a birth attendant and volunteers to help others – proof that countries like Ethiopia can and do want to help themselves.
But they face difficult challenges and, for now, what they need most is our help. Save the Children wants us to put pressure on the world’s governments to act.
We might also, even though times are tough here, see if we can donate something that may be a sacrifice to us but might have made all the difference to Zewdit and her poor lost twins.
Source: Mirror News