A Call of Oromummaa to all Oromo Nationals from Members of the Central Committee of OPDO

3 December 2012

Dear our Oromo Brothers and sisters:

It is an undeniable fact that the dictatorial Woyane regime has been killing, arresting, plundering the Oromo wealth, and expelling Oromos from their ancestral homeland by using the Oromo political organization, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) as a tool. Members of the OPDO have also been subject to investigation (qorannoo), killing, being fired from their job, and forced to leave their country. These and other atrocities are clear testimonies that the Woyane regime created the OPDO to use it as a tool to subjugate the Oromo Nation. It is also undeniable that OPDO members have been branded as having connection with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) or accused of being members of the OLF and fired from their job and demoted from their nominal posts.
We are making this call to all Oromo nationals at a time when the atrocities on the Oromo have reached to unbearable stage, when Oromos are hunted down like wild animals in their own country, when the Woyane regime is extensively plundering the Oromo resources, selling Oromo land and wealth to foreign investors, and leaving all Oromos and our country Oromia in poverty, in order for us to fight back these heinousness crimes and injustice on our citizens and to get back our dignity.
Accordingly we make the following call of Oromummaa:

1. To all OPDO members studying in universities, colleges, and high schools: at this critical moment in our history when the regime is weakened and shaking from its core due to internal power struggle and an unexpected power vacuum, we call upon you to:
   
   
   • Say ENOUGH and REFUSE to collaborate executing the commands, especially to the atrocities and oppression committed by the Woyane regime exclusively targeting the Oromos and to its plan and action to keep the Oromo Nation under eternal subjugation and slavery.
   •  Join all nationalist Oromo students who are constantly intimidated by the regime and discuss about the struggle of the Oromo Nation for freedom and support and stand with the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (Qeerroo). Because the demise of the Woyane regime is inevitable, you should stand up today and avoid being on the wrong side of history in order for you not to regret later.
    
2. To the remaining OPDO Central Committee members: we cannot deny the glaring fact that there were very few moments when we decided and executed on the matters that affect the Oromo people and Oromia. We cannot deny that from time to time we never got the chance to decide on Oromo wealth and resources, on Oromo land, and on key issues related to the Oromo other than listening to the pre-prepared writing read to us by the President of Oromia, Alemayehu Atomsa, for which we are obliged to execute. Meetings have been organized from time to time only for us to listen what has already been decided. You all know that any of our CC members who raise a different opinion is branded as a member of the OLF. We are only 65 of us, being used as a tool in keeping 40 million Oromos in eternal slavery. We cannot escape from being judged by history. Therefore, we respectfully call upon the remaining members of the Central Committee of OPDO for us to stand in unison and support the quest for freedom and contribute to the struggle of the Oromo Nation to be free from the Woyane rule.
   
3. To all OPDO members and cadres operating in different zones of Oromoia: you know very well that you have been teaching Oromo farmers the regimes politics, dragging Oromo farmers from their job and wasting their precious time. You recall that at a time when Oromo farmers are unable to sustain their daily lives due to rising prices, rising cost of living, higher taxes, increasing cost of fertilizer, we have been registering so called ENEMY CELL putting them in constant fear. Although you have been accomplishing the commands and obligations which have been flowing down to you, you benefited nothing in return. To the contrary, you have been harassed by the so called ‘qorannoo’ (investigation). Therefore, we call upon you, OPDO members and cadres, to say ENOUGH and REFUSE executing the orders given from the Woyane regime in any shape or form.
    
4. To all Oromos who have been serving in the regime’s intelligence: you know very well that you have been a key tool for the regime and a major obstacle to the struggle of the Oromo Nation for freedom and justice by hunting down Oromo nationals who are holding the torch of freedom. We would like to remind you that the Oromo freedom is also your own freedom. You know that many Oromos working in intelligence have been secretly killed. We call upon you that instead of standing on the way of Oromo freedom, you need to throw away the chain that is put on your neck and join the struggle for freedom and restore your own dignity.
    
5. To all Oromos serving in the regime’s armed forces: we call upon you not to disarm your armament and to turn the barrel of your gun from forces of freedom and democracy to the Woyane regime which is the real enemy of the Oromo people. The military equipment you are carrying is purchased by the Oromo wealth and resources, but is used for hunting down your Oromo brothers and sisters. You cannot deny that when an order is given to search for the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), it is exclusively Oromo children (solders) who are sent to the fire line. This is done deliberately to kill an Oromo by his own Oromo brother. We call upon you to bring about the Oromo freedom by showing courage and asking the legitimate question: “when does having one Tigre commander and 9 Oromo foot soldiers be stopped?”
    
6. To all Oromo farmers: the Wyane regime has killed your children which you sent to school by working hard season after season and year after year, while at the same time living a miserable life for yourself due to rising cost of fertilizer, higher tax, losing your land to foreign investors. The regime has intensified atrocities on you and your children more than ever. Because this regime sees the entire Oromo generation as its primary enemy, we call upon you to stop paying taxes to this oppressive government, if you are expelled from your ancestral land ask to return to your village and your former home, refuse to participate on any meeting called by the government.
    
7. To all Oromo civil servants, namely, teachers, health professionals, experts of bureau of agriculture, and so on: you are aware that the current rising cost of living is due to corruption and rampant exploitation of wealth and resources by the few government officials. Therefore, we call upon you to contribute to the struggle by showing your resistance by refusing to work for the regime, going to work late, or cutting the working hours or any other means at your disposal.
    
8. To all Oromo business community: you are aware that taxation on business community is sky rocketing and that the profit of commodities sold in hotels goes directly to the government under the title of so called VAT. We call upon you to refuse giving more money to the government by asking questions such as: where did all the money collected from Oromia go? What did you do with it for us?
    
9. To all Oromos in the Diaspora: we call upon you to strengthen your unity, stand together and support the struggle being waged by your own people in your homeland, and raise your voice to foreign governments. We ask you to resolve your minor differences that our enemies have created between you.
   
   Victory to the Oromo People!!
   We Shall Struggle in Union and get our Freedom Through our Unity!!
   
   Members of OPDO Central Committee
   
   December, 2012
   
   Read Afaan Oromoo Version here