By: Taha Abdi*
My personal acquaintance with Jaarraa goes back to my days in high school, when in cooperation with his close friend Ahmed Yusuf, he undertook systematic politicising and organising of junior and senior secondary school students in the city of Harar. Abdulkarim (as Jaarraa was known then) and Ahmed were at the time seniors at the Medhane Alem Secondary School. In series of meetings Jaarraa spoke about the trials and tribulations the Oromo people under malign imperial rule with touching eloquence, emphasising the responsibility of the new generation to organise themselves for national resistance and to fight for the freedom of the Oromo nation.
He was supremely inspirational in his presentations and appeal for action and in mapping out a forward looking and optimistic vision of vibrant and progressive Oromia, free of imperial domination and tyranny. At the time a war of resistance led by Waaqo Guutoo, Adem Jilo and others was gallantly confronting the imperial regime in Bale. Jaarraa soon put his feet where his mouth was and joined the heroic Bale resistance. Intermittent and clandestine reports that filtered through acclaimed his total devotion to the cause and commitment to further widening of the struggle to cover other parts of Oromia.
His indefatigable drive later found him among combatants trying to reorganise in neighbouring Somalia, where President Siad Barre and his henchmen were scheming to distract Oromo national resistance, render it an appendage of Greater Somalia project, and repress our people’s aspiration for freedom. Jaarraa was a leading spirit to resist this unwanted interference from unexpected quarters. With other like-minded compatriots such as Hussein Sura he soon found a sanctuary in the then socialist Republic of South Yemen, whence he continued to play a decisive role in setting in motion plans to launch an Oromia-wide national liberation struggle. As a brave leader of brave pioneering combatants he daringly mapped-out and led a tricky route back to Oromia (1969), which unfortunately ended in over 5 years of detention in Somali jail. The tragic setback only hardened his resolve to give his all to the liberation of Oromia, which he gallantly carried through at the next available opportunity.
In early 1975 as the Siad Barre’s regime finalised preparation for a showdown with the Marxist military regime of the Derg, ready to invade and occupy huge swathes of eastern, south east and central Oromia, it released Jaarraa from jail, and invited him into a gathering of exiles ostensibly to listen to their wishes but in reality to impose a spurious adoption to Greater Somalia agenda. Jaarraa used the opportunity to courageously remind the president that he and other assembled Oromo wish to persevere with the sacred mission to liberate Oromia and appealed for the president’s support. This was obviously unacceptable to president Barre. Shortly after this, Jaarraa secretly slipped back into Oromia, and after consultation with underground activist leaders including Baro Tumsa, managed to carry through his mission to successfully reignite the fire of pan-Oromo national liberation struggle. To use the old cliché, the rest is history.
I wish to take the opportunity to recall the words of a leading member of President Siad Barre regime, General Ismail Ahmed about the late Jaarraa. Yes, there were Somali leaders who were opposed to Siad Barre’s Oromo policy but were unable to reverse it, and General Ismail Ahmed was one. As he entertained an OLF delegation, of which this author is one, in his home sometime in 1979, he talked at some length about the gathering at which Jaarraa fearlessly reminded President Barre that he and his compatriots wish to continue to fight for the liberation of Oromo nation and all they ask for is his government’s understanding and moral support. General Ismail stressed that it was very courageous of him to speak out in the manner he did against the president’s express wishes to contemplate no agenda other than that of his pet dream of Greater Somalia. “Abdulkarim was courageous, and he loved and respected his people very much”, he went on. He concluded his remarks by saying: “If you see him please give him my regards. Tell him it is General Ismail Ahmed, and he will know.” Alas, Jaarraa passed away before I got the opportunity to give him the message.
Jaarraa’s own mission and message was incrediblly persistence in the struggle for national liberation. This struggle has crossed miles thanks to the incalculable sacrifices of brave souls like Jaarraa. I have no doubt that this generation of Oromo combatants and nationalists will persevere and fearlessly carry the torch forward, and that the national goal of independence for which he so valiantly fought all his life will indeed be a reality before too long.
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* Taha Abdi was a former schoolmate of Jaal Jaarraa Abbaa-Gadaa and one of the founding members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
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