By- Henok Abebe (LLB, LLM)
Introduction
In the current administrative map of Ethiopia, a large junk of territory is categorized as Oromia Regional State and the region is the home of not only Oromos but also millions of other non-oromos and various religions. Though the Oromo ethnic group is considered the largest in terms of population, it is problematic to reach this conclusion since all who live in Oromia Region do not belong to Oromo; and some are changing or concealing their true ethnic identity due to fear of frequent attacks that target non-oromos. In Ethiopia, population is politicized and hence exaggerated and it is truly misleading.
Ethiopia follows ethnic federalism that empowers certain groups at the expense of others. When ethnicity is institutionalized, it creates a local majority in a heterogeneous society and the local majority (the elites or those who are at the helm of power) tend to homogenize their specific region (especially to scramble resources owned by “others”). Usually, if not always, this homogenization involves ethnic cleansing by way of attacks, displacements, thereat, harassment, and indirect and direct pressure on the minorities to flee their own village. Oromia Region is infamous for ethnic cleansing, especially targeting the society labeled as “Neftegna”. Due to multiple, heinous, perpetual, and indiscriminate attacks of “non-Oromos” in Oromia, the region can be described as the Auschwitz of “Neftegna”; a derogatory term employed to refer to Amhara (Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination center of the Nazi where millions of Jews people lost their lives).
The Victims
Those who are engaging in cleansing non-Oromos from the Oromia Region target the section of the society who are derogatorily labeled as Neftegna. From the vantage point of Oromo nationalism, Neftegna has three dimensions.
- Ethnic Dimension; Neftegna means Amhara (here, religion has no value, both Christians and
Muslims are Neftegna if they are members of ethnic Amhara).
- Religious Dimension; Orthodox Christianity (here Ethnicity has no value. Orthodox
Christians of any ethnic group are labeled as Neftegna).
- Ideological Dimension; Anyone from any ethnic group who loves Ethiopia, Ethiopiawinet, Ethiopian History, and the Ethiopian flag is Neftegna (here, neither ethnicity nor religion has no place).
If you fall in any one of these dimensions, you will be hated and vilified by Oromo nationalists, and you may not be spared from attacks that come from organized vigilante groups (Qerroo), or organized rebel groups (like the Oromo Liberation Front/Army (herein after “OLF” and “OLA”respectively) or local and regional government officials and security personnel. Somehow, depending on the dimension it takes, the hate and the corollary attacks have different magnitude. The magnitude is higher if you are Amhara, especially Amhara and Orthodox Christian, and more especially Amhara, Orthodox Christian and love Ethiopia.
Neither New Nor Isolated
The attack against Amhara who lives in Oromia Region is not a new phenomenon. It started immediately after the TPLF-led regime ascended into power and ethnicity seized the center stage of the local politics in the early 1990s. Starting from the era of the Transitional Government, speeches fanning hatred against Amhara filled the air. The constitution and the federal form of administration were framed pinning Amhara as an enemy of the nations and nationalities. Afterward, continuous mass atrocities started to be committed by the Oromo Liberation Front, the local communities, and local civil administrations under the approval of the then leader of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi across the nation in Wollega, Balie, Hararge, Arsi, Jigjiga, Sheka, and BenchiMazi zone, Jimma, etc. The atrocities continued unabated throughout the reign of Melese Zenawi and Hailemariam Desalegn. After Abiy Ahmed came to power, attacks against Amhara intensified across the nation, especially across Oromia Region from where the Prime Minster originated. In the recent atrocities, thousands of innocent Amhara were exterminated on Saturday, June 18, 2022. And this attack is not a single and isolated incident, but the continuation of the policy of homogenizing the Oromia region which started a couple of decades ago and intensified due to Abiy’s subscription to this dangerous policy.
The Villain: Government and Non-government entities joined their hand!
As described above, the attacks against the Amhara people are committed by different entities. When there is a communal conflict, the regional and local administration favors the Oromos and suppresses the rights and interests of the non-oromos, and exacerbates the situation. In the ethnic cleansing that have been committed in the early 1990s, local communities, local government officials, and regional government officials were involved. The army of OLF also wiped out thousands of Amharas throughout the Oromia region until it is weakened by the political and military decision of the TPLF lead government of Meles Zenawi. In recent years, in every attack that has happened as a result of the so-called “Oromo-Protest”, vigilante groups called Qerros (the youths who participated in violence as a means of bringing down the regime) were the primary perpetrators. This group continued its attacks against non-Oromos especially Amharas even after Abiy Ahmed came to power. Multiple incidents have been reported from Shashemene to Ziway, from Jimma to Hararge, and from Arsi to Bali. All aimed at Amharas and their properties.
After Abiy came to power, he created an enabling environment for terrorists to operate in the country with no accountability and fear of retaliation from the government forces. One of these terrorist groups is the OLA (a rebrand of OLF) which used to be ousted from Ethiopia and its
operation was limited to the periphery of Ethiopia and was stationed in Eritrea for a long period of time. Seizing the opportunity that Abiy’s administration created, the Oromo Liberation Army is operating freely in various parts of the Oromia Region and the Amhara population living in the region becomes a simple and direct prey. Since Abiy came to power OLA armed itself with modern weapons and has executed Amharas indiscriminately en masse. It is even alleged that the regional government intentionally harbored and armed this terrorist group since those in power and OLA agreed on the policy of homogenizing the Oromia Region, especially by cleansing Amharas. Nor does the federal government take any meaningful action and this can be evidenced by OLA’s stretch of operation even beyond the Oromia region into the neighboring Amhara Region, Benshangul Region, Gambella Region, and others. OLA burned cities into ashes in Amhara Region, it attempted to capture the capital city of the Gambella Region some days ago and wiped out Amharas and Shinashas in Benshangul Region. Every move of this terrorist group including its incursion into other regional states is facilitated by the modern arms that the federal and Oromia regional governments bought from abroad, internet service provided by Ethio-telecom, and government vehicles handed by the government.
Primi Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Shimelis Abdisa are responsible
On Saturday, June 18, 2022, thousands of Amharas were exterminated in Wollega by OLA. However, OLA said it is the government forces who indiscriminately executed innocent lives. Either way, the federal and regional governments have a responsibility to protect their own citizenry. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Oromia Rgions’s President Shimelis Abdisa once again failed to execute their responsibility. This is not even a single and isolated incident. It is a new normal since Abiy and Shimelis came to power. These two persons were working together with the Oromo Liberation Front (the former name of OLA) while they were also part of the TPLF lead regime. And there is no difference in terms of the goal of wiping out Amharas across Oromia between Abiy and Shimelis on the one hand and OLA/OLF on the other hand. That is the reason why Abiy Ahmed said hardly anything against the ethnic cleansing against Amhara in Oromia Region. And whenever he says something, as he wrote down four lines in one Facebook post, he twisted the fact, deviates from the reality, does not dare enough to call the victims and the perpetrators directly by their true identity, and hardly mentioned any apology for failing his own citizen and even no any sign of condolence.
The President of Oromia Regional State has repeatedly and intentionally disseminated hate speech against the Amhara community living across the nation. And after he become the leader of the Oromia Regional state, OLA has become an army parallel to the infantry of the national army of Ethiopia, and thousands and thousands of Amharas indiscriminately killed, their property looted and the survivors fleed to the jungle and others become internally displaced persons. The President said no word against OLA and the repeated attacks, he didn’t express condolence, and he didn’t give assurance to the survivors. And in fact, his administration immediately engaged in distributing the lands of the deceased to the youths even before the dead
bodies are buried. President Shimelis’s failure to restore peace and security in the area, to express his condolence and assure the survivals to return to their home village and his administration’s engagement in illegally expropriating the properties of the deceased and the survivals are circumstantial pieces of evidence that shows that he is a partner in crime to OLA. Moreover, he facilitated the killing by ordering his special police force to block every way possible to flee the area and skip death.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed should take responsibility and acknowledge the failure of his government to maintain peace and security in the Oromia Region and devise a mechanism to stop such kind of heinous crimes. Shimelis Abdisa and the security leaders of the Oromia Region should be accountable for all the atrocities committed during their leadership. Abiy Ahmed should open the opportunity to revise the constitution and help the nation to disentangle itself from this evil ethnic federalism and facilitate to come up with a new constitutional and administrative dispensation that detaches Ethiopia from identity politics.
Henok Abebe (LLB, LLM)
