Cooperation with Regime Hostile to Peoples Against Principles of International Law: [A Statment by Oromo Liberation Front in Support of Report of Amnesty Intrnational on Human Rights Violation Against the Oromo People]

November 10, 2014 | A Statment by Oromo Liberation Front in Support of Report of Amnesty Intrnational on Human Rights Violation Against the Oromo People

In the history of shocking tortures of dictatorial regimes against the peoples ruled under their iron fist, the Ethiopian government cruelty is unparalleled. Since its ascension to power by force in 1991, the Ethiopian government’s records of human rights violations through extraordinary killings, forced disappearances, massive imprisonments, displacements and other means of suppression against the Oromo people is incalculable. The world has repeatedly witnessed that the incumbent regime of Ethiopia is a government that has adopted a policy of ruling by violence, and commit harsh and cruel actions flagrantly.

Although the political objective of the Oromo Liberation Front is primarily to achieve and protect the rights of the Oromo people, it has never remained silent when other oppressed peoples of the Ethiopian empire were attacked by the regime. It has confronted the regime, exposed and denounced its maltreatment and gross human rights abuses. The Oromo Liberation Front has accomplished its duty by repeatedly exposing and denouncing the brutal annihilation committed against the Sidama, Gambela, Ogadenia, Amhara and other peoples and also asked those powers assisting this government to stop and re-evaluate their policies and relations with such government. The Oromo Liberation Front will continue to do so. However, lack of adequate response and action from outside for the cry and appeals of these oppressed peoples fighting for democracy and liberty has encouraged the TPLF Government to continue its brutal actions against these peoples and still it has intensified state terrorism.

It is to be recalled that on October 28, 2014 the international human rights organization, Amnesty International, exposed and released a report on a gross human rights violations specifically focusing on the Oromo that has been committed by the TPLF government. The Oromo Liberation Front would like to thank Amnesty International in general, and the head of this report Mrs. Claire Beston in particular, for releasing this genuine and detailed report.

The Oromo Liberation Front understands that the investigation and compiling of this gross human rights violations has been conducted under difficult circumstances where the government of Ethiopia never allows such inquiry. Because of this, though Amnesty International has worked hard under such difficult situation and revealed the suffering of the Oromo people, the Oromo Liberation Front would like to inform the international public that the gross human rights violations committed by TPLF government against the Oromo people is by far larger, wide and shocking in scope than the report of Amnesty International.

Nowadays, no one knows how many prison cells exist in the empire state of Ethiopia. However, even if the places and the number of the prisons are not exactly known, the peoples in Ethiopia know very well that there are a number of secret prison cells in different parts of the country. In particular, members of the Oromo nationals who are suspected having link with the Oromo Liberation Front have been detained in prison cells outside Oromia so as to distance them from their relatives. Most of these Oromo nationals are detained in the region of TPLF, Tigray, and mistreated by TPLF loyalists who are purely Tigrayans.

In addition to mass killings, the TPLF government torture the Oromos psychologically, mutilate men’s sex organs, extract their teeth, rape Oromo girls and women, detain the Oromos in extremely hot and cold rooms, shower boiled and cold water on their body. They shoot and kill one Oromo in front of the other, and commit so many other types of torture in order to force the Oromo to refrain from demanding and exercising their rights. Arbitrary killings, mass detention and eviction of the oppressed peoples in general, and the Oromo in particular, from their ancestral land are the crimes against humanity that are blatantly committed and known to everyone.

These crimes have been committed for the last 23 years in front of the Western and Eastern diplomats, the African diplomats, and regional and international human rights organizations. It is sad that when all these gross human rights violations are committed in front of them, including the DAG and African Union (AU) – all of them remained silent. When such International entities are silent on such criminal acts, the peoples in Ethiopia are forced to raise questions, such as what are the meanings of good governance, democracy, and human rights that these institutions and organizations are talking about.

Consequently, based on the existing reality, the Oromo Liberation Front would like to pass the following messages:

1. Advocates of all human rights have a moral responsibility to thoroughly investigate and work on exposing and reporting the ongoing brutal actions by the Ethiopian government;
   
2. The diplomatic communities of different countries, including African diplomats, should not be silent on the brutal actions committed against the oppressed peoples of Ethiopia in general, and the most targeted Oromo people in particular. They should expose and put pressure on the TPF government to stop its inhuman actions;
   
3. Above all the African Union(AU) and DAG should stop their attempt to conceal the reality of the Oromo people, and they should work on stopping the inhuman actions of the TPLF regime;
   
4. The Oromo Liberation Front also calls on local and international media to assess the injustice that the TPLF government commit against the oppressed peoples of the empire state of Ethiopia and disclose it to the international public;
   
5. There are no peoples unaffected under the brutal and hostile regime of Ethiopia. All the peoples have faced their children detained, their properties confiscated and displaced from their ancestral land. Therefore, the Oromo Liberation Front would like to remind the oppressed peoples in Ethiopia that the only means to remove the dictatorial rule of the TPLF is a concerted action. The success of the Oromo liberation struggle paves way for the success of all other peoples; hence, the Oromo Liberation Front calls for other peoples in Ethiopia to cooperate with the Oromo people to remove this brutal regime of the TPLF;
   
6. The Oromo people: you are the prime victim, and you know more than anybody else that the Ethiopian government categorized you as its main enemy. Although others understand that great majority of you have been impoverished and subjected to harsh rule during the whole reign of the TPLF government, it is only if you step up the struggle for your rights that others extend their hand. Therefore, you should understand that there is no other way than intensifying your struggle, and we call for strengthening your resolve and unity for the struggle. You should understand that there is no alien who will willingly lose its advantage to protect your rights;
   
7. In addition, the Oromo Liberation Front calls on the Oromos in the Diaspora, to energetically appeal to different governments, human rights organizations, donors and organizations based on Amnesty International report and expose that the Oromo people are suffering under the TPLF regime and deserve attention to end this agony.

Victory to the Oromo People!

Oromo Liberation Front

November 10, 2014