Seattle man beaten as he walks by radical Oromo protesters
borkena July 25, 2020
A video circulating on social media among Ethiopians purportedly shows Radical Oromo youth groups,who were protesting in support of activists and politicians who are arrested in connection with the massacre of at least 181 people the Oromo region of Ethiopia, beating a Seattle man who does seem to have nothing to do with the issue they are protesting about.
borkena was unable to obtain details of the man who was beaten by at least five people in the city of Seattle this week.
Initially he seemed to have handled well the young man who started the fight but he was overpowered as multiples of as the crowds of the former gave a helping hand.
They took him down to the ground, kicked him and punched him. However, he sustained only minor injury.
“I am fine,” he said when an Ethiopian lady,who was mad with what the Oromo radicals did to him, asked him if he was okay.
The victim seems to be a teenager or in his early 20’s.
Emerging reports in social media indicates that Seattle Police have made arrests in connection with the incident.
It i unclear if the man is interested in going after them to hold them legally accountable.
The spread of Coronavirus has shown a remarkable increase in Ethiopia in the past few weeks. As of August 1, 2020, Ethiopia has tested 429,712 people for COVID-19 across the country, and confirmed cases are 17,999 (both active and inactive cases).
While the country’s testing capacity has reached about 8000 per day, the rate of daily infection was close to 10 percent in the past few days which represents a remarkable increase in the rate of infection. The bulk of the case is in the capital Addis Ababa.
Today, Ethiopia has launched a month-long anti-coronavirus community movement with the aim to intensify testing. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on Ethiopians to contribute to the success of the campaign.
The ministry of health is targeting to test over two hundred thousand people in the next two weeks. In the first 79 days after the first patient was confirmed in the country ( a Japanese national who arrived in the country from West Africa) only 1000 people confirmed with coronavirus disease.
Lately, as many as 900 people have been confirmed with the virus in a period of twenty-four hours. So far, 284 people have died of the disease.
Tigray regional state authorities said that the Ethiopian House of Federation does not have a constitutional right to warn Tigray over election
Graphics credit : Tigray Region Communications Office
borkena August 3, 2020
Last week, the Ethiopian House of Federation (Upper House) sent a letter to the Tigray regional state demanding the authorities in the region to immediately stop the move to conduct an election in the region. The House said so on grounds that regional election violates the constitution of the country.
Also, it was mentioned in the letter that the sixth general election is postponed based on a recommendation from a Constitutional Inquiry Commission after the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced that it cannot undertake an election due to the Coronavirus situation.
Tigray regional state sent a response letter to the House of Federation. In a letter dated August 3, 2020, the letter said that the process and the outcome of the exercise to extend the election violates the constitution and that the regional state opposed it at the time.
The warning letter to the Tigray Region National Council “has no constitutional base,” said the letter from the Tigray region.
The response also said that “Tigray regional state and the people of Tigray vehemently oppose it” for it contradicts what it called the sovereign rights of “Peoples, Nations, and Nationalities.”
It cited article 8 (sections 2 and 3) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia constitution as an expression of the “sovereignty of People’s Nations & nationalities.”
The letter exploited the controversial article 39 of the constitution. It said “peoples, nations, and nationalities,” have the right for self-government and self-determination up to and including session, and that the right is not restricted even under circumstances of the state of emergency situation, according to the letter from Tigray Region.
Authorities in Tigray said, as expressed in the letter, that the House of Federation does not have a constitutional right to warn the Tigray Regional State not to conduct an election.
Meanwhile, in what seems to be a show of power and militarism, the regional state undertook a massive military parade in the streets of Mekelle, the seat of the regional state, and marched to the stadium in the city. The region’s special forces and militia units in the region took part in it displaying light and heavy weapons. Tens of thousands of people were crowded in the stadium despite the coronavirus numbers in the region are spiraling up.
“I am not a murder,” Jawar Mohammed told the court in Addis Ababa during his last appearance
Jawar Mohammed. ( Photo : The Ethiopian Reporter)
borkena August 3, 2020
In jail after the assassination of Oromo musician Hacalu Hundessa, Jawar Mohammed has now begun highlighting his Amhara heritage in a clear effort to extricate himself from impending legal consequence for the role his media, Oromia Media Network (OMN), played for what a report by Minority Rights Group called ethnic cleansing in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. The attack in the region targeted non-Oromos and the followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
In the first week of July 2020, over 200 ethnic and religious minorities died. In addition to civilians, some Oromo militants — armed Qeerroo — were also killed by police and by federal security, who were deployed due to the lack of response by the local security.
Jawar told the court that the charge is “untrue” and that his mother is ethnic Amhara and Orthodox, and his wife is a protestant. The issue is not about crime, he said. “It is a political issue”, he told the court as reported by the Ethiopian Reporter on Sunday, August 2, 2020.
Jawar’s latest revelations of his Amhara identity have triggered social media parody, particularly since Jawar’s supporters used to mock Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s mixed-Amhara heritage, often using the derogatory term “Dikala” referring to ethnically mixed residents of Addis Ababa and other towns.
Furthermore, he told the court that he reached places that are not accessible to the government in the interest of creating peace and helped disarm over one thousand armed men. “I am not a murderer,” he said.
In addition to Jawar’s alleged role in inciting riots by politicizing Hacalu’s funeral; his Oromia Media Network (OMN) has been accused of broadcasting hate speech against Amharas, Orthodox Oromos and non-Oromos living inside Oromia.
Jawar’s defense lawyers are reportedly scrambling to fend off multiple charges, including an old one from another ethnic cleansing in October 2019. At least 86 people were killed in Oromo region of Ethiopia when Jawar Mohammed wrote a facebook post claiming that his life was in danger as the government had removed the security details.
Nine defense lawyers are hired. Based on a report by Ethiopian Reporter, the lawyers opposed the extension of time for investigation. However, investigators, whom Jawar Mohammed described as professionals, said the crime was complicated which requires a complex investigation process.
Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan to reconvene tripartite meeting on August 10 after the lower riparian countries asked for it
borkena August 4, 2020
A day after the tripartite talk resumed discussing outstanding points of disagreement on the filling and operation of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the three countries (Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan) agreed to temporarily halt the meeting.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy disclosed on Tuesday that “Egypt and Sudan requested to adjourn the meeting to be able to consider the guidelines and rules on the filling of GERD which Ethiopia submitted.”
The Ministry added that the Egyptian delegation proposed August 10, 2020, to reconvene the trilateral meeting. Ethiopia anticipates that the meeting will continue on the stated date, as indicated in the statement from the Ministry.
African Union-led negotiation resumed on August 3, 2020, to discuss the amount of water that Ethiopia is to release to downstream countries in the event of an extended drought and on how to resolve disputes in the future, as reported by the Associated Press on Monday. It resumed a day after Ethiopians around the world celebrated the first phase of filling of GERD which retained 4.9 billion cubic meters of water. Ethiopia said that it managed to fill the dam exploiting heavy rain last month without causing any significant decrease in the volume of water flowing to the lower course of the river.
Ariel view of GERD after first phase filling
Officials from the United State and European Union attended the online meeting between the three countries.
Public opinion in Ethiopia swings towards the idea that Ethiopia should not be held responsible for droughts in the lower riparian countries so long as it is using its share of the water to fill the GERD reservoir which has the capacity to hold 74 billions cubic meters of water. Although Ethiopia contributes over 85 percent of the Nile water, it had never used it for millennia.
Ethiopia has been resisting the intended imposition of a binding agreement on the grounds that the future generation should not be a prisoner of harsh water arrangement while the lower riparian countries want an agreement that is binding.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on Monday the US government is warning that Ethiopia might be running out of time on the negotiation regarding the filling and operation of the dam.
Last month, Foreign Policy Magazine reported that the Trump administration is divided over Ethiopia’s refusal to sign an agreement that protects the interest of Egypt at the expense of Ethiopia. Cut in non-humanitarian aid is among the measures that the U.S. is considering.
Bekele Gerba claims that his arrest is politically motivated, and that he did not take part in the latest “unrest” in Ethiopia
Bekele Gerba (right) and Jawar Mohammed (left). Photo : Social Media (JMP)
borkena August 4, 2020
Vice-Chairman of Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), one of the largest ethnic Oromo nationalist parties, Bekele Gerba appeared at the Federal First Instance Court in the capital Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
Police investigation team told the court that it has finalized investigation on him in connection with the latest strings of carnage and destruction of property following the assassination of Hachalu Hundessa in the capital Addis and in many towns across the Oromo region of Ethiopia.
He is suspected of inciting what police called a civil war, and police have opened a file on a charge related to the incident that claimed hundreds of lives and destruction of properties worth hundreds of millions of birr.
Due to the order that the suspect gave, said police, he has incurred over 37 million birr damages in the transportation sector alone; of which 7.4 million birr loss in the public sector and 29.8 million birr worth of destruction of property in the private sector.
Furthermore, citing 27 witnesses’ police said that the ethnic and religious-based violence in Shashemene and its environs claimed the lives of 32 residents. 110 hotels and 239 residential homes are burned. 393 residential homes are looted. 56 stores blazed while 146 are looted. 80 vehicles, 1 factory, and 9 mills entirely destroyed with fire.
According to the police, 4 banks, and 2 credit unions, 63 businesses and 18 motorbikes were also destroyed, and 128 citizens displaced from their places in the town and its environs.
Police also told the court that it has seized seven handguns of which two, illegal ones, were recovered from Bekele Gerba himself.
Evidence presented to the court indicates that when Hachalu Hudnessa’s body was on its way to Ambo, his birthplace, on the request of the family, Bekele Gerba (from other reports, along with Jawar Mohammed) ordered road blockade and forcefully returned the body to the capital Addis Ababa with the plan to put the body at the Mesqel Square (seemingly for viewing), and march to demolish Emperor Menelik II statue in the center of the city near St. George church. According to the police investigation, Hachalu’s body was also taken to Oromia region’s Prosperity Party office in Addis Ababa where there was an exchange of fire between forces on the side of Bekele Gerba and special forces of Oromo region. One member of the special force was shot dead while three others were wounded, according to the police account.
Bekele Gerba on his part told the court that he did not take part in the crime. “Since it is known that I have prominent participation in politics, the intention is to arrest me and exclude me from the election.” It is to be recalled that The House of Federation has postponed the election until after nine months to one year after the Coronavirus disease is declared as no more a threat to public health.
10 Ethiopians wounded during the explosion ; all of them said to be in a stable condition
Part of Beirut city after the explosion. ( Photo : screenshot from CNN video)
borkena August 5, 2020
Ethiopians are among the victims from the explosion that rocked the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Tuesday.
A report by BBC Amharic on Wednesday said that it confirmed from residents (Ethiopians) of the city that Ethiopians living in different parts of the city have been affected.
Ethiopian Consulate in Beirut said 10 Ethiopians have been injured. According to Temesgen Omar, Ethiopian Counsel General, seven of them sustained minor injuries while two have a serious but non-life-threatening injury.
He told BBC that he visited the two Ethiopians where they are hospitalized (unspecified) and he confirmed that they are in a stable condition.
Also, there is a report that one Ethiopian is killed in the blast but the Consul General said that either the government of Lebanon or the employers did not confirm the death.
BBC Amharic report also indicated that there are Ethiopians whose whereabouts are not yet known.
The death toll has reached 135 and more than 5000 are reportedly injured. Two weeks of state of emergency is declared in the city, according to a report by Aljazeera on Wednesday.
In the latest string of planned massacre against non-Oromo in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, more than 200 Ethiopians had been savagely massacred. In stead of working on a plan to avert another round which is manifesting itself in the form of extensive mobilization by radialized groups, leaders in the region are covering up the nature of the attack. They are even after journalists who are describing the latest attack as ethnic-cleansing, rightly so. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government is still silent on the issue.
Shimeles Abdissa, Oromo region President. (Photo file/ ENA)
borkena editorial August 7, 2020 Updated on August 8, 2020
As more details about the savage nature of the ethnic cleansing in the Oromo region of Ethiopia emerges, authorities in the region assert that the killing does not constitute ethnic cleansing. They also denied that the followers of Ethiopian orthodox Church were not targeted and massacred. Communications affairs head of the region, Getachew Balcha, spoke this week with a tone that the killing did not have neither features of ethnic cleaning nor attacks against religious groups.
A group of journalists, actors and religious leaders in the country traveled to the region last week to document damages and investigate as to how the massacre started and how it manifested itself. Interviews with the families of the victims whose parents were killed as aliens, in the place where they were born and grew up, tell a story of politically motivated massacre by heartless savages who consider themselves as defenders of the “Oromo cause”.
All the videos released are shocking if that is not an understatement. Yet, what happened to Meron Tesfaye is beyond words. She was married for over twenty years and she was nine months pregnant with her third child. “Around 9:00 a.m. in the morning they came and knocked saying it is the house of Amhara and christian,” her husband told visitingjournalists and religious leaders . They took 480,000 Ethiopian birr from the residence and Jewelry but that was not enough. “Then they [radial Oromo attackers] said that the baby she is pregnant with is an Amhara and should not be born, and they beheaded her in front of her children,” he said. That happened in Shashemene. The incidents in other parts of the region are essentially similar. In Chiro, a man was stoned to death in front of his children, but his family was not allowed to collect the dead body. It was left in the open air for days until members of the defense force entered the town to “restore order.”
“Before the visit, I had the impression that maybe narratives of the massacre were exaggerated. After my trip, I found out that what was revealed was only about 10 or 20 percent of what happened,” said Berhanu Tekleyared who was among the group of journalists who traveled to the region. It is not the killing per se but the manner in which most of the killings were executed is beyond imagination.
What is also revealed is that within the framework of radical ethnic Oromo nationalism struggle against “neftegna,” (which is now clearly known to be a code word for Amhara), a sociological basis for an extreme form of barbarism and savagery is created.
Partly, it is meant to instill fear and make the region a hell for non-Oromos (mainly Amharas) to that they would leave the region. Partly, it seems more like vengeance to politically motivated narratives of history which were meant to produce a generation that is divorced from rationality – among other things. A young man who considers himself Oromo nationalist is now uprooted from his sociological base without leaving his village and linked to “Oromo leaders” or Oromo activists on social media (usually based in the Diaspora) with whom he has little or nothing in common except the Oromo language. When “his leaders” from oversea (or even from Addis Ababa) call for a massacre against “neftegna” (in their mind all the problems in the world is linked to neftegna), he does not hesitate to join a group of agitated radical groups to go on a killing rampage against “neftegna.”
In the mind of radicalized ethnic Oromo nationalists vandalizing and destroying businesses and government facilities including schools and health centers is essential for Oromo people – another evidence that seem to suggest that youth in the region are uprooted from their sociological bases and blinded to see their own economic realities. A radical young qeerroo is uprooted from his community through radicalizing “Oromo activists” and Oromo leaders’ messages.
Apart from Oromo youth whose common sense is robbed by hate propaganda of radical Oromo activists, a considerable part of the leadership in what is known as Oromia is governing at the mercy of “activists.” In fact, a good number of the leaders tend to believe in the hate creed which they which they project as “Oromo struggle.” Shimeles Abdissa, currently administrative head of the Oromo region, is a good example. He was speaking the same political language of hate when he addressed a big ethnic Oromo crowd that gathered to celebrate ethnic Oromo traditional religious practice – Irreecha – in September 2019. In consequence, they are nurturing a savage mentality and the worst form of barbarity – as manifested recently.
The latest string of massacre against non-Oromos in the region started hours after the killing of Hachalu Hundessa on June 29, 2020. Findings from the trip to the region confirmed, however, that the killing was planned well before the killing of the singer.
It was also an orchestrated one. The attackers had a list of people, residential houses and businesses to be attacked. As they started the attacks in towns like Shashemene, Batu, and Ziway (among others), a pickup vehicle was supplying fuel to be used for burning the houses and businesses of non-Oromos (mostly Amharas.) The mobility of attackers from towns to towns, which required logistical coordination including transport, is also something that attests to the fact that the attack was pre-planned. More than 40 district towns in the region were attacked at the same time. Authorities in several cities of the region who could have stopped the attack rather played a supportive role for the attackers through a combination of inaction and facilitation.
The number of people massacred and displaced people and the extent of the destruction of property in the recent attack in the Oromo region of Ethiopia is much higher than what the explosion caused in Lebanon this week. Turning a deaf ear to the horrific massacre in Ethiopia is additional evidence that the rhetoric about human rights in the world is partisan, politically motivated, and hypocrite too.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government is yet to speak clearly as to what it is intending to do in the line of helping Ethiopians who lost loved ones and livelihood ( sometimes both at the same time) to the rising ethno-fascism in the Oromo region. Justice has to be served. His government has to make it clear also how it is going to protect the security and safety of non-Oromo Ethiopians in the region. They are Ethiopians. They are living in their own country. Defending the rights and safety of non-oromo Ethiopians should never be seen as an act of benevolence for Ethiopians citizens have a constitutional right to live in dignity in any part of the country. And the government, regional or federal, has a duty to defend that.
By Teshome Borago Follow him on twitter@MTBorago August 8, 2020
Obang Metho, one of the top civil rights activists in Ethiopia, is reportedly receiving death threats in Oromia after he condemned the latest mass killings of minorities in the region. Some observers say the government should provide Obang extra private security, considering the dangerous situation in the country.
Widely regarded as the MLK of Ethiopia, Obang has been a defender of human rights there for over 16 years, since the 2003 Anuak Genocide. In December that year, some civilian mobs in Gambella, together with security forces, targeted ethnic Anuak and massacred 424 of them.
Last month, Obang became the latest high profile Ethiopian to unequivocally condemn the religious and ethnic cleansings that occurred in Oromia after the June 30 assassination of musician Hacalu Hundessa. Over a hundred non-Oromos were killed by an Oromo mob while several Orthodox-Christian Oromos were also killed by Muslim Oromos. Obang warned that such mass killings will continue unless the drivers of nativism, extremism and tribalism are stopped in Ethiopia, including the infamous ethnic-federalism system. According to this system legalized since 1991, every ethnicity in Ethiopia must live in its own ethnic bloc or otherwise become a second class citizen upto quasi-citizenship.
Obang has repeatedly asked the Ethiopian government to outlaw the dangerous ethnic-federalism; in order to allow all Ethiopians the right to live anywhere or free movement of people nationwide.
“I am not scared,” said Obang, regarding the recent death threats he is facing. “I already died 16 years ago. Afterall, my reason to exist is to defend the human rights of all Ethiopians,” he added.
Obang is the founder of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), which is dedicated to unite Ethiopians by breaking ethnic and religious barriers. For over a decade, his advocacy was a major nuisance for the former rulers Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), damaging the TPLF diplomatically in the West as Obang was the face of Ethiopian human rights during several United States Congressional Hearings.
“Nobody with a conscience can deny the reoccurring ethnic cleansings taking place in Oromia,” Obang said. “As I have worked with many international human rights organizations before, I will continue to advocate and highlight the signs of genocide wherever they occur today.”
Obang also said he wants to raise more awareness for victims and organize marches for human rights; to support ethnic and religious minorities inside towns devastated by violence in Ethiopia.
The Prosperity Party branch of Oromo regional state of Ethiopia removed Lemma Megersa and Teyba Hassen from executive position
Lemma Megersa ( Photo : SM)
borkena August 9, 2020
The Prosperity Party branch in the Oromo region of Ethiopia reportedly suspended Lemma Megersa from his position of the executive committee.
The decision came following a party evaluation in the past two days which was led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The evaluative meeting was closed one; journalists were not allowed to cover it.
Head of the region’s Prosperity Party branch, Fikadu Tesema, who spoke to Oromia Broadcasting Network regarding the meeting, said Lemma Megersa was removed from his position for “failure to discharge the responsibility.”
Apart from Lemma, Teyba Hassen, also executive committee member, and Milkessa Midega who was central committee member of the party are removed from their position on similar grounds; failure to discharge responsibility.
Fekadu Tessema told the local media in the region that those whose suspension is disclosed on Sunday “could return to their positions whenever they are ready to serve to the extent of their responsibility.”
Lemma Megerssa has been serving as the Minister of Defense. And it is unclear if the Prosperity Party is removing him from his ministerial position as well.
Teyba Hassen (photo : SM)
Teyba Hassen has served in the past as the Mayor of Sashemene, a city that was ravaged by radical ethnic Oromo youth groups in early July of this year, until Lemma Megerssa picked her as the vice-president of Oromo regional state following the reform movement for which he was believed to be one of the leaders.
Rumor on social media has it that the Oromo region Branch of Prosperity Party is on the verge of a split over ideological line. Some espouse radical ethnic Oromo nationalism – an ideology that is said to be among the reasons for the massacre of over 240 people. Over one thousand residential houses and hundreds of businesses were also burned in multiple cities like Shashemene, Ziway, Batu, and Arsi Negele, among others.
Dozens of Security and administrative officials in the region were arrested following the massacre for failing to defend the lives and properties of thousands of non-Oromo Ethiopians living in the region. In Shashemene, Meron Tesfaye who was in her ninth month of pregnancy was forced to be nude after a mob broke into her residence and beheaded her only because the killers believed that “Amhara baby will not be born.”
The Oromo region Prosperity Party did not say if the “failure to discharge responsibility” of removed leaders is linked to what many Ethiopians believe to be an ethnic cleansing crime committed in July of this year.
Milkessa Midega (photo: social media)
News of Lemma’s purge from the party came a day after leaked audio from Oromo regional state meeting unveiled plans of Oromo regional state leaders to Oromize Ethiopia at the expense of the rest of Ethiopians.
Lemma Megerssa and Abiy Ahmed: from political allies to foe
They were among the leaders of the reform movement that, in coalition with members of what was then called Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), brought the Tigray People’s Liberation Front control for the Federal government to an end. in fact, the reform leaders in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, including Abiy Ahmed, were known as Team Lemma to signify that Lemma was the leader of the movement.
As members of the former Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and five other support parties in the regions merged to form a single party, Prosperity Party, the difference between Abiy Ahmed and his former boss Lemma Megersa came to the surface.
In November 2019, Lemma Megersa declared his difference when he appeared on VOA Amharic. Figures with leverage of Political patronage within what was the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (later Oromo Democratic Party) managed to contain the difference so that it would not cause a roadblock to the reform movement.
As it turns out, the mediation effort did not bring about a lasting solution to the former allies. Lemma is believed to have teamed up, as rumor had it, with the radical ethnic-Oromo politicians whose political ideology contains a great deal of hate.
The political differences between the moderate and the radical ones have now become along which the struggle for power between the Oromo elites are fought.
The radical group has a network, both with the regional government structure and outside of it, to wreak havoc in the region by exploiting radicalized ethnic Oromo youth, Qeerroo, against non-Oromo.
The moderate Oromo group which is now the creme de la creme of the Federal government, including the Prime Minister, on the other hand, seems to have an interest, based on their stated stand, to enforce the rule of law in the region.
“No one is above Ethiopia,” the Prime Minister declared during his appearance in the parliament last month, which remains to be seen in the months to come.
Protesters who opposed the arrest of leaders in Wolaita zone, South Ethiopia, clashed with the Defense Force. Dozens reportedly killed. Authorities in the region confirmed only four deaths.
Deployed Defense Force (Source: SM)
borkena August 10, 2020
Dozens of people have reportedly been killed following a clash between protestors and deployed government forces in Sodo and Boditi towns in the Wolaita zone since Sunday. Social media sources put the number to 20 while eyewitnesses who spoke to VOA Amharic say more than eleven people are killed in different parts of the Wolaita zone. At least four others are wounded.
However, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), Peace and Security Office Head, Alemayehu Baudi, said that the number of people killed is four.
Protestors opposed the arrest of 26 leaders and activists in what they believed are an attempt on the part of the government to stifle people’s demand for ethnic Sidama statehood status.
According to the VOA Amharic report, cities like Sodo, the seat of Wolaita zone administration, are under the control of security forces.
Protestors were trying to block roads which apparently triggered the response from deployed security forces. Activists on social media criticize the government for the killings saying that an excessive force was used.
Lack of uniformity of government action is another point that is drawing criticism. When radicalized ethnic Oromo mob went from house to house killing non-Oromo Ethiopian in several towns in the Oromo region following the assassination of Hachalu Hundessa, and burning thousands of residential and businesses, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration took time to deploy members of the defense force in areas where the mob allegedly “overpowered” regional security forces.
Statehood Demands
The demand for ethnic-based statehood in the Sidama region brought about killings of hundreds of people in the region sometime in July 2029. All those killed were of non-Sidama ethnicity.
This year the zone, which was part of SNNPR region, is recognized as a regional state. Ten other zones in the SNNPR region with a comparable number of population size, or more, demanded ethnic-based statehood status which the government says are in the hands of the House of the Federation.
The Sidama region’s demand gained momentum as radicalized ethnic Oromo radical politicians and activists were behind it due to what many analysts say a vested interest to disintegrate the SNNPR and Oromize it subsequently.
Still, the same political forces seem to be supportive of the demands. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is another key political actor that is rallying behind the demand for ethnic-based statehood although it was TPLF itself that created the region and controlled it for 27 years.
Reaction from Wolaita National Movement
Wolaita National Movement (WNM) issued a statement on Sunday calling for the government to stop what it called “activity to turn peaceful and legal popular demand to violence.”
The statement also said that the coordinating council of the Advisory board for the formation of Wolaita National Regional State took prisoners as they were having a meeting. According to the statement, it is the Defense Force deployed in the area that arrested the coordinators.
Head of the Wolaita Zone Administration, elders, and Wolaita National Movement organizational affairs head and activists of the region are also arrested, according to a statement from WNM.
“The movement will not be stopped by arresting leaders,” said the statement accusing the Federal government and SNNPR regional government.
The movement called on the government to release arrested leaders.
Government authorities, on the other hand, claim that there was credible information indicating that the leaders were engaged in an activity “that could endanger the existence of the country.” It accused leaders that they are working with Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). It is to be recalled that the government has implicated those organizations in the killing of popular singer Hachalu Hundessa.
Furthermore, the government said that National Information and Security Services, The Command Post and the Defense Forces were involved in the arrest of leaders and zone level authorities.
Wolaita Zone has 38 representatives in the SNNPR council. According to the DW Amharic report, they protested that the regional council is not addressing the demands of the Wolaita zone for statehood status.
Sudan asked for Ethiopian Dam Talk to be postponed for the second time
Seleshi Bekele, Minister for Water, Irrigation, and Energy (file/ENA)
borkena August 10, 2020
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) talk that was supposed to resume on Monday, August 10, 2020, is postponed again.
The Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Energy announced that the talk is postponed with the request of the government of Sudan. However, the ministry did not specify why Sudan had to ask for the postponement of GERD talk again.
After Ethiopia submitted a document on the filling of the Dam about two weeks ago, Sudan and Egypt asked for the talks to be rescheduled for August 10, 2020. The two countries said that they needed more time to respond to Ethiopia’s proposal.
Now, the talk is expected to resume on August 17, according to the statement from the Ministry.
Ethiopia reiterated its commitment to continue to work relentlessly for the success of the negotiation.
The three countries are not on the same page when it comes to points related to the filling and operation of GERD, especially on issues regarding extended drought management whenever that situation arises.
Egypt and Sudan want a binding negotiation on the amount of water to be released from the Ethiopian Dam while Ethiopia declines to sign that kind of water arrangement.
Also, Ethiopia is standing on a position that it will not sign an agreement that would limit the rights of the next Ethiopian generation from undertaking other development projects on the Abay river which constitutes about 70% of the country’s basin system.
In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principle in which they agreed to use the water equitably and fairly. Egypt gets the lion share of the river over 85 percent of which originates from Ethiopia. Sudan too has been using a portion of the water. Ethiopia’s use of the river has been zero through the ages.
WCHR condemns the latest massacre of Wolayta people by the Ethiopian Government. At least 21 Wolaytas have been shot dead by the federal forces while dozens were injured. WCHR urgently asks for a deescalation by the federal security who are using disproportionately force to stop a legitimate and constitutional demand by the people and zonal administration.
The protests by Wolayta youth were relatively peaceful with no major property damage and zero attacks on non-Wolayta minority. Any further escalation will change the above dynamic because people are frustrated, not only due to the delayed statehood quest but also as they sense deep lack of respect of Wolayta people displayed by the Oromo/federal government’s uneven reaction.
Wolayta people are under siege for all directions. Just two years ago, innocent Wolaytas were massacred by Sidama youth in Hawassa and other towns; quickly followed by killings of Wolayta by Oromo youth in Burayu. The Oromo/federal security never took proportional measures to avert nor cease these mass killings of Wolayta.
In contrast, Abiy Ahmed’s premeditated brutal military reaction to peaceful Wolayta protests is viewed as a disdain and an insult to Wolayta nation. WCHR asks Wolayta people to continue nonviolent struggle, continue protecting minorities and ignore the instigation by non-Wolayta politicians. WCHR asks international rights groups to categorically condemn these unprovoked and savage killings of Wolaytas by the Oromo/federal forces.
Arrested Oromo regional state officials are said to have involvement during the massacre on non-Oromos in early July 2020
borkena August 11, 2020
About 1700 zone and district level government officials are reported arrested in connection with the massacre in the Oromo region of Ethiopia in early July which claimed the lives of over 240 people. Heads of Kebele administrations are also arrested.
1200 of the arrests are said to be heads of administrations in towns and districts while 500 are said to be public servants in the region.
The region’s Communications Affairs Bureau said in a statement, as reported by Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC), they are arrested for failure to discharge their government responsibility.
The statement also indicated that some officials have played a part during the violence which affected dozens of towns in the region. However, their involvement is unspecified. Reports in the past, covered by borkena, indicated that some security officials went so far as lending their guns to the attackers.
Over the weekend, Prosperity Party Oromo Region Branch announced that it had terminated Lemma Megersa, Teyba Hassen, and Milkessa Midega from executive committee membership “on a temporary basis.” Lemma Megersa was one of the key leaders of the reform movement that ushered into a post-Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) political era in Ethiopia.
Public Relations head of the party in the region, Taye Tendea, indicated, in an interview with the ESAT television, that there could be individuals who could be facing legal action due to their involvement in the massacre. Rumors on social media indicate that Teyba Hassen, former Mayor of Shashemene and vice-president of Oromo regional state, was involved in the massacre and destruction of property in Shashemene.
Apart from the killing of over 240 people, which are said to be mostly non-Oromo although the administration in the region downplayed it as incorrect information, thousands of businesses and residential houses were burned. Several dozens of cars burned. Health centers and schools attacked and public properties, estimated to be worth millions of birr, were destroyed in cities like Shashemene, Batu, Arsi Negele, and even the capital Addis Ababa.
From Security forces investigation into the massacre, the mob that was roving in towns and going on a house to house killing rampage had lists of people to be attacked (either non-Oromo or the followers of Ethiopian Orthodox Church if they happened to be ethnic Oromo).
The killing was carried out under the guise of protesting the assassination of Hachalu Hundesa on June 29, 2020, in the capital Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency said that Ethiopia’s inflation rate reached 22.3 percent in July 2020. It has been increasing for three consecutive months, as reported by the VOA Amharic service on Tuesday.
An increase in the price of food, up to 23.7 percent at times, is said to be the major factor in the new high inflation rate. Compared to the inflation rate last year, this year’s is up by 24.9 percent according to the Central Statistical Agency report.
The ministry of agriculture attributes the increase in prices of food items to the problem in the market chain rather than a supply problem. During the production year, there was a plan to cultivate 1.9 million hectares of land and the ministry claims that over 2.1 million hectares are cultivated. The problem in the supply chain is due to price gouging by “greedy businessmen” as the ministry calls them.
VOA Amharic spoke to Bisrat Teshome, an economist, and he said that baseless speculation in the supply-chain is responsible for the price hikes on food items.
According to economists, devaluation of the Ethiopian currency has also played a part for the rising inflation and price hike of food items.
As is the case always, the burden of price inflation is too heavy on low income earning families and individuals. Prices of vegetables, cereals, and grains have been unaffordable for that section of the population, the bigger component of the Ethiopian population.
In the ending budget year, the government pledged to bring the inflation rate to a single-digit. However, the goal has not been achieved yet, and price inflation continues to rise. Economists advise the government to work on fixing supply-chain problems so that producers and consumers could have direct access.
Defense Chief of Staff said he does not believe that special fores in region are armed with heavy weaponry but sees no constitutional basis for the force.
General Adem Mohammed, Chief of Staff of the Defense Force
borkena August 12, 2020
Ethiopian Defense Chief of Staff, General Adam Mohammed, had on Tuesday an interview with state media, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC).
Divisive propaganda, as he called it, on the Defense Force, special forces of the regions, and internal and regional affairs were among issues he raised during the interview.
“There have been attempts to divide the defense force, especially the leadership, along ethnic, religious or regional lines. However, the army has been accomplishing its mission in unity under a single leadership,” The Defense chief told EBC.
It is implied in the interview that the attempt to divide the army has backers from outside forces but the misnomer is spread on social media through the agency of internal forces.
In what seems to be an attempt to emphasize the importance of national consensus and unity, he said that internal disorder and chaos could bring about vulnerability in the region where several countries have already established a military base. “Internal cohesion is a prerequisite for the task to defend Ethiopia’s national interest,” seems to be his key message.
The Defense Force had been deployed to different regions on several occasions for law enforcement missions due to ethnic-based violence. During the massacre in July 2020 in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, the region’s special force failed to protect non-Oromos. It was after the Defense Force was deployed that the massacre was stopped.
On Regional Special Forces
Noting the fact that special forces in regional states (states are instituted based on ethnicity) have been growing, in terms of numbers, in the past two years, the Defense Chief said that he does not believe that they are armed with heavy weaponry. His remark is, clearly, a response to the criticism that ethnic-based special forces are armed with heavy weapons.
In the past two weeks, media outlets in Tigray regional state have been showing videos of the region’s special forces making military parades, with individual and group weaponry, in the streets of Mekelle and other towns in the region.
Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, and Somali are among regions with hundreds of thousands of special forces. Politicians and activists had been expressing concern about the size of special forces in the ethnic-based regions in view of polarized ethnic-based politics.
Social Media conversation among Ethiopians seems to suggest that there is an interest in the replacement of regional special forces with Federal police.
General Mohammed Adem remarked during the interview with EBC that the regional special forces do not have a constitutional basis.
There were reports recently that the decision-making body in the Federal government is considering limiting the type of weapons to be used by the special forces.
Lemma Megersa reportedly terminated from Ethiopian Upper House Membership.
Lemma Megersa during the inauguration of Ethiopian Consulate in Minnesota in March 2019/
borkena August 12, 2020
When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed awarded Lemma Megersa a necklace that he himself awarded from the Ministry of Peace and the “peace family” in an event organized at the Millennium Hall in October 2019, the former had a pleading tone. The body language also hinted (watch video) that something was not right between the two ethnic Oromo politicians who were seen as the motors of the reform movement.
In November 2019, it became clear that they have developed a political difference. Lemma himself made it public when he used the Voice of America platform to declare that he does not believe in the “Medemer” — a sort of new political ideology that Abiy Ahmed is said to have developed. It is articulated as a “political philosophy,” with four pillars; “Building a vibrant democracy, Economic vitality, encouraging public-private partnerships and Regional integration and openness to the world.” And it is sold as if it is an indigenous political philosophy.
The former boss of Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megersa, opposed Medemer saying that the “Oromo question” is not yet addressed.
Next phase for the new ideology was to create a support structure for it. In that line, Abiy Ahmed initiated the merger of four members parties of the former ruling coalition, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), and five other parties that were known as “support parties,” (or sister parties). That was another “No” for Lemma. He did not want to lose the “Oromo Democratic Party” for the same reason; “Oromo question is not addressed.” His argument was : “the idea is not right. Even if it is right, the time is not right.”
Lemma Megersa (far right on the front row) during a vote administered on the fate of the former coalition, EPRDF.
Despite that, the former coalition parties merged to form a single united party — Prosperity Party in late November 2019. However, the newly merged party did not lose its ethnic character. Because the Federal regions are based on ethnicity, the new party becomes an ethnic party when it operates in the regions.
Prosperity Party offices in the regions mostly retained executive committee members from the defunct formal ethnic parties. In the case of the Oromo region of Ethiopia, for example, executive members of the former Oromo Democratic Party became executive committee members of the Prosperity Party Oromia Branch.
Lemma Megersa himself remained in the executive committee member of Oromia region Prosperity Party, but he was not a member of it as details emerged later.
This week, the party announced that it has terminated him as an executive committee member. The party said that he was terminated “temporarily” — it means that if he wants to be a member of the Prosperity Party, he will be accepted again. Among the reasons for his termination, according to the party, was that he failed to discharge responsibility and was not attending party meetings.
Days after this termination as an executive committee member, reports came on Wednesday that he is also terminated from his role as a member of the House of Federation (Ethiopian Upper House). Based on reports from social media, he was regularly skipping sessions.
Since he is not a member of the Prosperity Party, he is also losing his position as the Minister for Defense which is anticipated to be formally announced anytime.
Oromo region Prosperity Party Public relation head, Taye Dendea, says those purged members, including Lemma Megersa, have four options : to establish their own political party, to join other political parties, to return to the Prosperity Party, or to quit politics. Lemma’s move is unclear at this point in time.
Ethics and audit committee of Oromo Liberation Front looking into dispute between the chairman and central committee, which temporarily suspended him as chairman of the organization
Dawud Ibsa
borkena August 14, 2020
The fifty years old radical ethnic Oromo nationalist organization, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), suspended its leader Dawud Ibsa as a member of the Organization’s Executive Committee.
Kejela Merdassa, the spokesperson, said on Friday, as reported by DW Amharic service, that the Chairman is suspended temporarily.
He said the decision was passed following an emergency meeting of the party’s central committee members to evaluate the chairman’s message in connection with the July 26/27 meeting of the party officials at the Gulele office in the capital Addis Ababa which was called without his knowledge. At the time, Mr. Dawud was in House arrest like situation – a circumstance the Ethiopian Government deemed necessary for his own personal safety and security.
It was the deputy chairman of the Oromo Liberation Front, Ararsa Bikila, who chaired the meeting. “Since the chairman was under the protection of Government security forces in his residence, it was predicted that he would not take part in the meeting,” DW Amharic cited Kejela as saying.
For the spokesperson of the party, the central committee meeting was organized in accordance with “OLF’s rules and regulations.” Furthermore, he said the meeting was not about removing the chairman from his position.
In an interview with the Voice of America Amharic Service during the time when he was restricted to his house in late July, Dawud Ibsa said that he does not know anything about the meeting in a way insinuating that he did not authorize it.
The controversy following his remark is what initiated the evaluative meeting of the central committee members, Kejela has disclosed during his interview with DW Amharic.
The decision from the central committee’s evaluative meeting is forwarded to the legal and audit committee of the organization which will deliberate on whether the chairman will be removed for good or not.
The news source said that Dawud Ibsa was not reachable on the phone for remarks about the Central Committee Members’ decision.
Information about division within OLF recently became a point of conversation on social media. Adamancy to abandon a combination of armed and peaceful struggle is said to be at the core of the division within the OLF. Dawud Ibsa’s faction sees merit in both approaches in the race for power.
The struggle for power between ethnic Oromo political organizations, which at times claim innocent lives of non-Oromos as manifested in the recent massacre in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, is sometimes waged within a single organization too.
OLF went through numerous internal struggles for power although they were projected as difference over strategy, and sometimes goals – a process that worn-out even some of the founders of the organization to the extent that they had to split and form a different form of ethnic Oromo nationalist organization. Maybe the current wrangles within OLF are of similar nature which means that they are likely to bring some form of changes to the organization.
Preliminary findings from investigations into the killing of singer Hachalu Hundessa revealed that an OLF has formed a new alliance with Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and they are linked to the killing.
When OLF “ended its armed struggle” from its base in Eritrea, TPLF, the political force against whom it was fighting, had lost power at the Federal government and retreated to Mekelle in North Ethiopia. Ironically, it was TPLF that organized a welcome ceremony for OLF fighters in Mekelle hoisting the flag which they outlawed earlier. That was the harbinger of the second alliance. The first alliance was before 1991 and ended in war and OLF had to leave the country after it lost the war to TPLF.
Tigray Region Security and Administration Bureau announced that it had pardoned 1568 convicts.
The decision is informed by the campaign to reverse the spread of Coronavirus disease in the region, as reported by state media Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC)
38 of the prisoners released are females.
A total of 1704 inmates were proposed to the “Command Post,” in the region. 136 convicts were not included in the pardon. According to the source, they were not included because their crime is linked to rape, homicide, or human trafficking.
Tigray has the highest number of Coronavirus cases in the country next to the capital Addis Ababa where more than 17,000 people are said to have been confirmed to have coronavirus disease.
Meanwhile, the regional state is going ahead with its decision to conduct an election – a decision that brought it in a collision course with the Federal government and relevant Federal institutions like the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia whose constitutional mandate is to organize fair and credible elections.
The election was canceled nationally as part of the campaign to reverse the spread of Coronavirus disease in the country.
