Amhara elites always repeat the lie that Oromo nationalists deny the role of Oromo individuals in building and keeping the Ethiopia empire. No, we do not. What we are saying is that the Ethiopian empire had been built and has been maintained by destroying the Oromo identity, culture and pride to extent that it turned them into servitude and second-class citizens in their country.
Even those Oromo persons, who helped build or protect the empire with the hope turning it into a common homeland for all, were usually victims of the very evil empire. Let’s look at the fates of few of the most notable examples.
1. Ras Gobana Dache: An Oromo war general who helped Menelik conquer central and western regions of the Oromo land. Once he completed the task, he was accused of conspiring to overthrow Menelik by organizing the very Oromo forces he helped Amhara’s conquer. Consequently, he was put in a house arrest in a remote part of Asosa, where he died in bitter isolation.i
2. Dej. Garasu Duki: When Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1937, most Abyssinians either switched side and became bandas or ran away like Haile-Silassie.
It was mostly the Oromos who stayed behind and initiated guerrilla warfare that denied rest to the fascist Italy. Dej. Garasu Duki was the most successful of those Oromo heroes and heroines. He mobilized some 55,000 Oromo soldiers terrorizing the Italians from Waliso to Jimma. Upon the restoration of Haile-Silassie and the Nafxanya rule with aid of British, Dej. Garasu was accused of planning to use that army to seize power. Consequently, his army was disbanded; he was moved from province to province until he was finally put under house arrest in Adama, where he was later murdered via poisoning.ii
3. General Tadesse Birru: The most famous general whose father was a patriot who died fighting the Italians. Gen. Tadesse himself joined the rebellion, but was captured on the battlefield. He was then imprisoned in Somalia. Impressed by his intellect, a British officer who freed him from an Italian jail offered him opportunity to go to the Great Britain to pursue education. However, he refused in favour of returning to his country and defending it by joining the army. He was an exceptionally gifted soldier, and quickly rose through the ranks. He served the country through deployment into all boarders and overseas missions. He was so loyal that he even played a key role in quashing the 1960 coup by the Neway brothers. His reward for all this was dismissal, life sentence, and finally, execution for the simple reason that he wanted to spread education to all people; he was told to discriminate against his own people. He rejected this, decided to stand up for his nation, and helped build the Macha-Tulama Association and the Oromo Liberation Front.iii
These are just few examples out of many heroes and heroines who helped build and keep the empire. Thus, we do not deny our forefathers due credits they deserve in building and keeping that empire. The problem is that they had built an evil empire that victimized their people and even turned on themselves. Each of the above mentioned military officers realized this fact and regretted their roles, but it was too late by then except for General Tadesse, who took the decisive step by initiating the liberation struggle. The new generation of Oromos have drawn lessons from their mistakes and regrets. Therefore, we, the young Oromo generation and all oppressed Southern people, will no longer build a system that serves others and victimizes us. We want to build a state, a nation and a government that serves our collective and individual interests first and most.
i – Tafla, Bairu.“Three Portraits: Ato AsmäGiyorgis, Ras Gobäna Dači, and Sähafe Tezaz Gäbrä Sellassé.” Journal of Ethiopian Studies 5, No.2 (1967): 133.
- Mohammed Hassen “Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 7-86”
ii – ታቦር ዋሚ “የደጃዝማች ገረሱ ዱኪ አና ሌሎች አርበኖች ታሪክ”
iii – ኦላና ዞጋ “ግዝት አና ግዞት፤ የመጫና ቱለማ መረዳጃ ድርጅት ታሪክ”
- Mohammed Hassen “Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 7-86”
ii – ታቦር ዋሚ “የደጃዝማች ገረሱ ዱኪ አና ሌሎች አርበኖች ታሪክ”
iii – ኦላና ዞጋ “ግዝት አና ግዞት፤ የመጫና ቱለማ መረዳጃ ድርጅት ታሪክ”
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* Gizachew Ebisa Soboksa: Graduate student in Wageningen UR, The Netherlands, and ISARA-LYON, France
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