Oromia; The Auschwitz of Amhara

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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.

 

  1. Ethnic Dimension; Neftegna means Amhara (here, religion has no value, both Christians and

Muslims are Neftegna if they are members of ethnic Amhara).

 

  1. Religious Dimension;  Orthodox   Christianity     (here  Ethnicity  has  no  value.  Orthodox

Christians of any ethnic group are labeled as Neftegna).

 

  1. 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)

Addis Insight
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