Statement of Qeerroo Bilisummaa and Union of Oromo Students on the Ongoing ‘Revolution to Culminate Slavery’ (RCS)

Amajjii 01, 2016 | Qeerroo Bilisummaa and Union of Oromo Students (Finfinne Oromia)

We the new Oromo generation living close to the civilized world are not willing to live in slavery in the 21st century. As we are the most conscious of our society, we cannot watch idly as our people are evicted from their ancestral land; we cannot accept the fact that our country is a place where human liberty, dignity, and democratic and human rights are violated. The minority TPLF-led Ethiopian government’s so called ‘Integrated Master Plan’ is a genocidal plan concocted to irradiate the Oromo race from the face of the earth and incorporate our forefather’s land, Oromia, into their own property. We are presenting our legitimate questions using our democratic rights in a peaceful manner and will not stop our non-violent struggle until all of our questions have been answered.

Instead of answering our legitimate questions the government has dispatched the so called Agazi, Federal Police, and the regular army and committing a genocidal crime on Oromo students and the Oromo people in general. Over the past five or so weeks, the answer of the TPLF/EPRDF regime to our legitimate questions has been the following.

1. The government ordered its brutal forces and committed a mass massacre which is equivalent to genocide. So far 125 people have been confirmed killed, thousands severely wounded, and hundreds of thousands arrested from every corner of Oromia.
   
2. The government has declared war on the Oromo people who have peacefully opposed the Master Plan and the declaration of Oromian towns labelling the protesters as “terrorists” and ordered its armed forces to shoot and kill civilians and unarmed protesters.
   
3. The Master Plan which has been an immediate cause for our protests still stands. Although the government officials are deceiving the public indicating that “the Master Plan will not be implemented if the public opposes it”, there is no law or declaration officially cancelling the Master Plan. Nothing is mentioned about the so called “Proclamation of Oromian towns”.
   
4. The Oromo people do not have proportional power share and economic and political influence according to their population and the area of land they cover based on the rules of federalism.
   
5. The government continues distorting our legitimate questions of democracy, human rights issues, and justice by labelling peaceful protesters as “terrorists” and charging them using the “terrorism law” which it uses as a weapon to quash dissenting voices since it was declared in 2009.

At this point the Oromo people have ignited their rightful struggle and the Revolt Agaist Slavery they have been waging for years have drawn immense international attention. Our people have arrived at a decision of struggling for their own right by paying any sacrifices needed during the 2015 Irreecha celebration at Lake Arsadi, Bishoftu, where representatives from various regions of Oromia got a chance to get together. Our revolution will not stop until we get our full democratic and human rights and become the owner of our land and our country. Based on these premises the motto of our struggle has been transformed from Revolt Against Slavery (RAS) to Revolution to Culminate Slavery (RCS). We call on the entire Oromo people to continue their struggle by focussing on the implementation of the following key points. 

1. The ongoing popular revolution should continue. This time is a decisive moment for the Oromo. More than any time in our history, the Oromo people have demonstrated their strong desire for freedom and rose up from every corner to do away with tyranny and dictatorship and bring about freedom, democracy and human dignity. We call on all Oromo nationals in and outside of Oromia to strengthen their Revolution to Culminate Slavery until the oppressive regime is completely uprooted.
   
2. The Oromo people should put economic sanction on the regime. The TPLF led Ethiopian regime has declared war and is committing indiscriminate massacre on the Oromo. We should put economic sanctions on the regime: not paying taxes, isolating and socially punishing those who pay taxes and cooperate with the regime, boycott buying products affiliated with the regime, refusing selling of our products and services of the regime and its affiliates, and boycotting all meetings of all levels called by the regime.
   
3. All roads in Oromia should be closed persistently and continually. Hereafter, the forces of the regime must be stopped from moving in and out of Oromia as they like and terrorize our people and exploit our resources. Therefore, we call on all Oromo nationals, young, old, men, women to close roads continuously and deny all vehicles of the regime access and movement in Oromia.
   
4. All attempts of “negotiation” must be rejected. One of the tactics of the regime to put down the inflaming revolution is to send surrogates and puppets of the regime called OPDO and tell our people a promise they cannot keep and promises that are beyond their power and send elders to several locations in an attempt to pacify the protest while at the same time the regime is dispatching its armed forces and continue arresting, beating, torturing and killing people. The regime uses “negotiation” to disperse the movement and then arrest leaders of the protests and all that are involved in the movement by making house-to-house search once everything is settled. Therefore, the Oromo people should not be deceived and listen to any call for negotiation until all forces of the regime get out of Oromia and the Oromo people erect their own administration.
   
5. Oromo and non-Oromo intellectuals and lawyers should work on bringing this regime to International Criminal Court (ICC). All human rights activists, lawyers and intellectuals should work together and bring the current Ethiopian regime for the crimes of mass and unlawful killings, torturing, abduction and disappearances perpetrated on the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
   
6. TPLF/EPRDF/OPDO government must go. Hereafter, the Oromo people cannot and should not live under the TPLF/EPRDF/OPDO government. This government has massacred the Oromo people; it has Oromo blood on its hands. TPLF/EPRDF regime is a criminal and bloody regime. We call on all Oromo people to refuse living with a regime that is the killers of their children.
   
7. We call on all Independent Oromo Political groups to form alliance and be united. This is a critical and decisive time for the Oromo people. In order to foil the divide and rule sabotage of the regime and maintain the unity of our people towards the common enemy, it is essential that all independent political groups narrow their differences and form alliance to support the popular revolution. We call on all Oromo political groups who are not working for the enemy to stand in unison, form alliance and work shoulder to shoulder and hamper the divisive objective of the enemy.
   
8. We call on all Oromo nationals who are in the armed forces not to disarm their weapon and also to protect their people. We have seen that the regime is engaged in disarming the Oromian police and other Oromos working in federal police, the army, militia, and dispatch them barehanded while non-Oromos are carrying lethal weapons. You should ask why. Why is that you are denied to carry weapon in your own people and in your own country and aliens who have no mercy for your people are allowed to carry weapon and allowed to shoot and kill? This is what slavery is all about. Not only the Oromo people, but you are enslaved as well. When the Oromo people get their freedom, you will have your freedom. Do not disarm yourself. Do not shoot your people. Do not allow aliens shoot and kill your people. This time will pass and that time will come when you will be praised or blamed and responsible for your actions. 

Victory to the Oromo People! 

Qeerroo Bilisummaa December 31, 2015