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By
Foreign Relations Department of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
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III. The Political Landscape of Ethiopia IV. The Horn of Africa Destabilized to Perpetuate TPLF Domination V. Economic Consequences of Policy of Domination |
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The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is ready to go an extra mile in search of peaceful resolution of the political crisis in Ethiopia. The OLF will contribute towards any meaningful peace effort, as it did in the past, to reach at a comprehensive settlement to achieve just peace for the Oromo and other peoples caught in the political conflict of the Ethiopian empire state. However, it should be understood, at the outset, that the current conflict and resultant crisis in the Horn of Africa has its roots in the colonization of the Oromo and other southern peoples by Abyssinians over 105 years ago. This colonial domination still persists. And the current crisis in the Horn of Africa is, on the one hand, a struggle between oppressed people who are fighting for self-determination and, on the other hand, the regime of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that is trying to impose its rule by force. The regime has set loose war, hunger, poverty, and disease to ransack the country. In particular, the regime has been and is systematically violating human rights of the Oromo and other peoples. The enclosed brief:
The OLF believes in peace. As the main organ that is championing the right of self-determination of the Oromo people, it fully realizes the present day global reality. It affirms that the international community does have legitimate concern and interest in political stability and economic development of the Horn of Africa. Moreover, the OLF is cognizant of the fact that the day of carving spheres of influence and promoting clients in superpower rivalry has given way to globalization. Further, the OLF firmly believes in the immediate termination of the vicious cycle of political conflicts, economic backwardness, environmental degradation, natural and man-made disasters that today ravage the peoples of the Horn of Africa. Conflicts and wars should come to an end. Destabilizing causes should be removed from the Horn of Africa. Peace should prevail. In order to pave the way for that, it is suggested that, among other significant issues for the Oromo people, the international community and its leadership:
The OLF is certain of one thing—a lasting stability and development cannot be achieved in the region until and unless the tyranny of current Ethiopian regime is brought to an end. The OLF is ready for a dialogue to seek solutions for the foregoing issues and other matters highlighted in the attached brief. Our dream and ultimate goal is to help usher peace, stability, basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, and democracy into the Horn of Africa. The Horn Africa
is currently being destabilized by the regime of the Tigrean People’s
Liberation Front (TPLF) that has superimposed its tyrannical rule
over Ethiopia during the last nine years. War, hunger, poverty, infectious
diseases, and denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms are
ransacking the life of the inhabitants of Ethiopia. The Oromo people
are particularly the most abused victims of the tyranny. The objective
of this brief is to:
The Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF) fully realizes the present day global reality. It affirms
that the international community does have legitimate concern and
interest in political stability and economic development of the Horn
of Africa as in any other parts of the world. Moreover, the OLF is
cognizant of the fact that the day of carving spheres of influence
and promoting clients in superpower rivalry is giving place to globalization.
Further, the OLF firmly believes that the vicious cycle of political
conflicts and the accompanying abject poverty and natural disaster
that simultaneously ravage the peoples of the Ethiopian empire and
the rest of the Horn of Africa should come to an end as soon as possible.
However, this cannot be
achieved without probing into the underlying causes of these problems
and understanding the real issues. And the overall political problem
of the empire, the denial of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms,
the current Ethiopian‑Eritrean conflict, the frequent incursions
by the Ethiopian army into Kenya and Somalia, and similar regional
problems emanate from the same underlying causes. This brief probes
the underlying causes and exposes the core problems within the Ethiopian
empire. It also highlights what the Oromo people want and their pivotal
position for achieving stability, peace, and development in the Horn
of Africa. II.
Geocultural Settings The Horn of Africa
comprises primarily the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti,
and the Sudan. The region is punctuated by diverse climatic zones
ranging from arid to semi-arid and wetland, from shrubs to savannah
woodland and lush forests. The region exudes variety and diversity
of flora and fauna. The
rainfall is variable and seasonal. Desertification has been making
inroads into, and is currently threatening, parts of the region due
to natural as well as man-induced environmental degradation.
The arid and semi-arid zones where rainfall is too low and/or
unreliable are often drought-prone exacerbating poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa
is the primordial home of homo sapiens and an early
outpost of human civilization as recent archeological findings attest.
It is the ancestral home of the Cushites to which the Oromo belong.
The Oromo people are the largest Cushitic group and the second largest
nation in Africa. They have a distinct cultural and linguistic identity
of their own. They have inhabited a separate and well-defined territory
in the Horn of Africa throughout the millennia (see Map of Oromia
next page). Today their population is approximately 30 million—a good
half of the total population of the present Ethiopian empire. Oromia,
the country of the Oromo people, is 375,000 sq miles (600,000 sq km).
It is larger than France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands
combined. The Oromo people
who are a fiercely egalitarian people have lived under a remarkable
and complex indigenous
democratic system known as Gada before their
colonization by Abyssinia. Asmarom Legessa, a leading African anthropologist,
who has thoroughly studied the Oromo ways of life, has this to say
in his book, Oromo Democracy: An Indigenous African Political System: Oromo democracy
is one of those remarkable creations of the human mind that evolved
into a full-fledged system of government, as a result of five centuries
of evolution and deliberate, rational, legislative transformation.
(p. 95) The Oromo egalitarian
culture, their Gada democratic government, and other institutions
have continuously endured the last 105 years of continuous open and
clandestine war by foreign occupying forces. This remarkable endurance
is a testimony to the deeply inculcated Oromo cultural identity and
democratic heritage. The Oromo people follow three major religions:
Islam, Christianity, and Waqefachaa—indigenous Oromo religion. Because
of their democratic heritage, there is no religious extremism or intolerance
among the people. True to their democratic heritage, independent Oromo
political organizations are coordinating their liberation struggle
under one umbrella organization. The second cultural
group in Ethiopia, the Habasha (Abyssinians), consisting of the Amhara
(approximately 16% of the Ethiopian population) and the Tigreans (less
than 5%) are of Semitic origin. The Abyssinians have a distinct culture
and language of their own. Unlike the Oromo and other peoples of the
south, their national ethos is characterized by hierarchic social
stratification and authoritarian tradition. The third and fourth
groups, known as Omotic and Nilotic respectively, are indigenous inhabitants
just like the Oromo. These groups who occupy southern Ethiopia constitute
over 25% of today’s Ethiopia. Oromia shares borders
with all cultural groups in Ethiopia and across the internationally
recognized boundaries adjacent to its territory—Sudan in the west,
Kenya in the south, and Somalia in the south-east. Consequently, the
cultural tie and economic interaction that the Oromo people have with diverse
peoples, living adjacent to Oromia’s huge land-mass, give them a unique
opportunity to cultivate peace, social harmony, and economic interdependence.
This geographic position of the Oromo is highly significant for mutual
benefit of the peoples of the region as well as for the benefit of
the international community having interest in the region. Oromia is a “water-tower”
of a drought-prone region that is constantly threatened by desertification.
It has 16 major rivers with a total length of about 4,700 km with
approximately 366, 907 sq km of catchment area.
It has also ten lakes with a total area of about 2,000 sq km.
Oromia's average annual rain fall amounts to 1,101 millimeters. Most of the arable
land of
the entire Horn of Africa is located in Oromia. Coffee, which
generates about 60% of Ethiopia's foreign exchange earnings, grows
mainly in Oromia. Oromia accounts for about 80% of the total coffee
export of the country. Other major exportable agricultural products
such as hides and skins, pulses and oil‑seeds are also produced
mainly in Oromia. If
properly managed, Oromia can supply most of agricultural products
needed for all the urban population, people in the arid areas, and
drought‑affected regions. From the estimated 27.2 million cattle
population, about three-quarters of it is found in Oromia. Oromia
also has the potential to provide hydroelectric power to the Horn
of Africa. The total energy supply of Ethiopia is generated by Oromia
river system. In addition, Oromia is a mother lode of geothermal power
particularly in the Great Rift Valley section which passes through
the heartland of Oromia. Most significantly,
Oromia has large reserve of gold, platinum, nickel, tantalum, iron,
marble, and other non-metallic and construction minerals. All the
mineral exports of Ethiopia are produced in Oromia. With a huge land-mass,
the second largest population in Africa, long standing democratic
cultural heritage, and enormous natural resources, it is evident that
the Oromo people hold a pivotal position in the Horn of Africa. Yet,
as colonized people they remain politically
marginalized, economically deprived, and culturally oppressed in the
land of their origin. We will next briefly explain why it is so. III.
The Political Landscape of Ethiopia Ethiopia is an
empire state. It consists of the core Abyssinian state, which was
first founded by the Tigreans and then consolidated over centuries
by the two ethnic groups of Abyssinia—Amhara and Tigreans. Emperor
Menelik II (1889-1913) of the Amhara ethnic group is the creator of
present day Ethiopia. First as a vassal king under emperor Yohannes
IV (1871 - 1889) of Tigray, and later on as an emperor, Menelik conquered
the Oromo and other non-Abyssinian peoples during the era of “scramble
for Africa”. In conquering and incorporating these peoples’ territories,
he transformed the core state of his ancestors into an empire state
increasing its size by two-thirds. Menelik sought
and obtained acceptance by European powers as the only black partner
in the “scramble for Africa”. The Abyssinians denied their identity
with any black
people. They gave their empire the name “Ethiopia” to claim legitimacy
based on antiquity and divine authority of biblical proportion. At
the same time, the idea of Abyssinia/Ethiopia as a Christian outpost
and that the Abyssinians “have a much higher form of intelligence
than do the purely Negro peoples of Africa” was strong among the colonial
powers. Menelik accomplished
his colonial conquest by heavily investing in contemporary European
weapons in a region where spear reigned. He also acquired advisers
skilled in military science from European powers.
He employed the strategy of divide-and-conquer to mobilize
tribe against tribes, people against peoples. Menelik and his
successors, once defeated the Oromo people, targeted their national
integrity by employing the strategy of divide and rule. Hereditary
leaders were promoted from among the subjugated peoples to serve as
intermediary between the myriad members of the colonial administration.
The colonizers consisted of warlords, militias known as "naftenyas",
and the clergy all of who were organized
into decentralized feudal hierarchies subsisting on levies, slaves,
and personal servitude of the subjugated peoples. It is a historical
fact that, on the one hand, the subjugated peoples suffered devastation
of genocidal magnitude. On
the other hand, slave trade, feudal levies and personal servitude
of the peoples provided
good life for the conquerors. Sadly, European
powers who were Menelik’s partners condoned the atrocities perpetrated
against the Oromo and
other victims of genocide. The major powers of the time were interested
in opening up the region for trade and the Abyssinian emperor was
considered as a partner in the “mission of civilizing pagans and barbarians.”
Emperor Haile Selassie
(1930 - 36, 1941 - 1974) consolidated Menelik’s empire by utilizing
the art of modern state machinery. With encouragement and technical
assistance of foreign patrons, he introduced laws that institutionalized
violence against the subject peoples. He ensured that state power
was defined and differentiated. Military and civil administrations
were rationalized. And he put them all for implementation under a
central control to maintain absolute power mainly over the subjugated
peoples of the empire. He abolished personal servitude and slavery;
but he compensated the colonists for lost feudal rights and privileges—he
gave them, by law, property rights over land originally confiscated
by Menelik from the colonized peoples. He introduced modern
educational system to produce man-power for the state apparatus as
well as to serve as an instrument of cultural genocide against the
subjugated peoples. He intensively and systematically promoted Abyssinian
history, language, culture, and values to the detriment of the colonized
peoples. Unfortunately for
the subjugated peoples, Haile Selassie regime’s cultural genocide
disguised by the euphemism “social engineering,” was accorded all-round,
enthusiastic support by the regime’s foreign allies. In the world
then divided into western and eastern blocs, the western powers used
the emperor’s regime to contain the expansion of communism in Africa.
In return, the powers cooperated to give priority for his security
concern, which was essentially the threat of resistance by oppressed
peoples against his authority. They assisted him to organize a strong
intelligence system as well as build and maintain the strongest military
forces in sub-Sahara black Africa. While members of
the royal family, the nobility, and high ranking public officials
and their cronies enjoyed life of luxury under Haile Selassie, the
country suffered the evils of economic stagnation and natural disaster.
Liberation struggles by the oppressed peoples, disillusions among
the Abyssinian elites, disaffection by intellectuals in general about
the performance of the empire, particularly poor development performance
compared to those of newly independent African states, brought the
downfall of the emperor’s regime. III.2
Socialist Regimentation (1974-1991) The Dergue, a military
junta led by a group of Abyssinian inner core, came to power (1974-1991)
after Emperor Haile Selassie’s fall. Discouraged by lack of support
from western powers, with intellectual pressure from members of the
intelligentsia, the new regime adopted a radical ideology. Thus, to
allay counter offensive from supporters of the deposed regime, in
desperate effort to stave off liberation movements that were gathering
momentum, and to save the empire from disintegration by general upheaval,
the military junta joined the eastern bloc by embracing socialism.
At the behest of
intellectuals as well as to avert uprising by peasant farmers, it
inaugurated a fundamental land-reform program and promised to address
the "national question" through a Leninist model. A program of "national
democratic revolution" was introduced and the principle of national
self‑determination was declared. The program promised, in principle,
the rights of each nation and nationality to develop its own language
and culture. However, the Amhara military clique that formed the core
of the Dergue gradually transformed itself into a tightly‑controlled,
repressive totalitarian party with the support of the Amhara elite.
The party took monopoly of
state-power and dictated socio-economic policies. It took ownership
of enterprises in all economic sectors. It exercised absolute control
of all social and political organizations. In short, the regime established
its control over the empire’s political, economic, and social life.
As soon as it consolidated
its power, the Dergue regime abrogated the “nationality question”
declarations and began to label any advocacy of national rights as
"narrow nationalism." It took unprecedented action against thousands
of reform‑minded intellectuals and eliminated them as "bourgeois
elements." As an answer to the "national question", instead of adopting
self-determination, it introduced a heinous scheme called "resettlement."
Under this scheme over a million settlers were forcibly transferred
from the north to the south. This action was underpinned by a political
motive and security considerations to change the demographic composition
of the non-Abyssinian oppressed peoples of the south. The program
had no objective of improving the economic well-being of the multitudes
of the destitute people of northern Ethiopia. In another scheme,
with similar objective, it uprooted some ten million people of the
rural south and moved them into "strategic hamlets" under a policy
of "villagization." This scheme had a double‑pronged objective
of resource control and surveillance of liberation forces. The Dergue regime,
like its predecessors, maintained huge military and security forces.
It used these forces to suppress resistance by the Oromo and other
oppressed peoples who were opposed to its continuation of national
oppression under autocratic Amhara regimes. Political repression,
wars of liberation, natural disaster, distorted economic policy, and
mismanagement of resources were malignant causes of human sufferings
during the Leninist Dergue rule. The combination of these factors
and the disintegration of the eastern bloc that maintained it in power
ushered in its collapse. III.3
TPLF as Successor to the Empire State (1991- present) The Tigrean People’s
Liberation Front (TPLF), also known as Wayanne, was
promoted in 1991 by its foreign supporters to fill the
power vacuum created by the fall of the Dergue regime. This
led to the replacement of the Amhara regime
by a Tigrean power as was evident to those familiar with the
Ethiopian political landscape. With the full approval of the US government,
the TPLF marched into the Ethiopian capital in May 1991 and exclusively
formed an interim administration. The TPLF needed
a transitional period to consolidate its power. In faithful compliance
with the political culture of its predecessors, the TPLF targeted
the national integrity of the Oromo people by creating an Oromo surrogate
party known as the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO).
After usurping majority voice
through appropriation of voting powers by its surrogates, it signed
a transitional charter of July 1991 that recognized in its Article
2 that “nations, nationalities, and peoples” in Ethiopia have the
right to self-determination including independence. The preamble of
the charter used an oxymoron to describe the beginning of a Tigrean
era of subjugation and oppression as “the end of
an era of subjugation and oppression” in Ethiopia.
The charter served as a camouflage for the TPLF hidden agenda
of domination. The TPLF initially posed as having accepted the US
condition: “No democracy, no assistance.” However, that pose was a
false posturing. In fact, it was simply a springboard to state power.
The TPLF had no genuine desire to democratize the country. What it
needed was a transitional period to consolidate its power. Under the pretext
of opening the country for world market as well as assist democratization
and structural adjustment, traditional patrons of the Ethiopian empire
used the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pump
substantial amount of money into the coffer of the TPLF.
Under the code name of rehabilitation and development, during
the last nine years, the TPLF regime received billions of dollars
in multilateral and bilateral assistance. The regime used this indispensable
bilateral and multilateral assistance to dismantle Amhara-centric
state-apparatus and replace it by a more tight Tigrean ethnic controlled
institutions. To-day, there is no public institution, be it the military,
the judiciary, the civil service, the regulatory agencies, and financial
institutions outside the control of the TPLF and its surrogate parties.
The regime cannot
claim democratic legitimacy under a situation where it has suppressed
political competition and no meaningful participation in the political
process exists. Professor Christopher Clapham of University of Lancaster
wrote in a book titled Ethiopian 2000 Elections, published
by Norwegian Institute of Human Rights: To those accustomed
to the uninflected authoritarianism that has been Ethiopia’s fate
in the past, it may well seem remarkable that [the Ethiopian 2000
elections] could have taken place at all ... . To those accustomed
to states even in Africa, with better established traditions of electoral
democracy, they will fall so far short of the standard required as
to amount to little more than a travesty. The TPLF social
base is the people of Tigray who are less than 5% of the total population
of Ethiopia. That base is fractured by the serious rift that has surfaced
within the rank of the leadership of the party. Surrogate parties
created by the TPLF do not have legitimacy among the constituency
they were supposed to rally for their master. With lack of democratic
legitimacy, the TPLF regime is compelled to use force to perpetuate
its political power. The following section describes this aspect of
the current problems in the region.
The institution
of violence built by the TPLF regime, through the assistance of unwitting
major world powers and international
financial institutions controlled by them, are mobilized to effectively
destabilize the Horn of Africa. Employing the political
culture of divide and rule pursued by its progenitors, the TPLF regime
is using its institutional capacity to incite people against peoples.
The fact that Oromia shares borders with almost all peoples in Ethiopia
makes the Oromo people vulnerable victims of the strategy. Constant
attempts are being made by the regime, with some success, to create
conflict between the Oromo and Amhara, Somali, Gedeo, Benishangul,
Gambela, Afar, Gurage, Kambata and others. This act has denied the
Oromo and other peoples the right to live together in peace and security. In order to encircle
and destroy Oromo liberation fighters, the TPLF regime has been trying
to enlist the support of neighboring countries in addition to the
conflicts that it has incited within Ethiopia. Those countries that
do not cooperate are intimidated by false accusations of giving shelter
to “rebel” forces. And frequently it carries out incursions into their
territories under a pretext of “hot pursuit” of imaginary rebels.
Inter‑Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), which was
established to promote development and security has also been used
as a launching pad for the Ethiopian government’s security agenda.
When IGAD mandated the Ethiopian prime minister to use his good offices
to resolve the problems in Somalia, he went about to set-up a client
regime. In fact, he flagrantly undertook invasion of part of that
country under a guise of serving as a facilitator of peaceful resolution
of the internal conflicts. This subversive act did not go un-noticed
by the Arab League, which mandated Cairo to facilitate reconciliation
of Somali forces to which the Meles regime was bitterly opposed. The Ethio-Eritrean
war demonstrates another international dimension of the problem of
autocratic rule in Ethiopia. The TPLF regime has embarked upon external
adventures to divert attention from its internal problems and to win
legitimacy as a protector of Ethiopian sovereignty. Its absolute power
over the affairs of the state is conducive to undertake adventures
of war without any accountability. It is not only a matter of an evil
intention by one faction or another within the TPLF, but it is a matter
of absence of institutional mechanism to ensure accountability in
the exercise of state power in the country. IV.2
Violations of Human Rights The right of self-determination
is a synthesis of individual rights that has been accepted by the
international community. And it is protected by the International
Bill of Human Rights which, in Article 1 (1) of both Covenants, which
says: All peoples have
the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social, and cultural development. Hence, like any
other people in the world, the Oromo and other oppressed peoples in
Ethiopia are endowed with the right to self-determination. They are
seeking and entitled to freely exercise the options inherent in the
right which ultimately belongs to them, and to them alone. The TPLF
regime has recognized this right in its own constitution. It has,
however, failed to honor its own constitutional pledge as well as
its international obligation. It has further
resorted to forcible denial of peaceful exercise of the individual
and collective rights. Enjoyment of individual
rights, which presupposes the realization of the collective right
of self-determination of the people to which the individual belongs
has been scuttled by the TPLF. Because of that reality, members of
the oppressed people like the Oromo have not been really free to exercise
their basic rights and freedom under the policy of the Ethiopian regime.
In fact, the regime has unleashed acts of terror against the Oromo
middle class in recent years. In one of its Leninist jargons, Hizbawi
Adara, the inner strategy document of the TPLF, calls this
systematic violence visited on the Oromo elite a move against “petty
bourgeois narrow nationalists."` Violations of human rights of persons
of Oromo origin is part of the regime's policy to destroy the Oromo
people's social fabrics in forcible denial of their right of self-determination.
Reports by credible
human rights groups, including International Commission of Jurists,
Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch/Africa, confirm that
there is no rule of law in Ethiopia today. According to the ICPJ report
of 1997, about 76 judges were purged by the TPLF regime. All members
of the supreme court of Oromia were expelled in 2000. The regime is
among the top five countries in the world for violation of judicial
independence. Needless to add that an independent judiciary is an
essential institution for the protection of human rights. The TPLF
has amply demonstrated that it does not believe in judicial independence.
Extra-judicial
killings, "disappearances", illegal arrests, torture, gang-rape, confiscation
of property, detention for a long period are systematic and pervasive
especially against persons of Oromo origin. The US Country Reports
on Human Rights Practicesreleased in February 2001 by the Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor for year 2000 confirms these
inhuman acts. The introduction of the report on the situation in Ethiopia
bluntly states: The Government's
human rights record remained poor; although there were some improvements
in a few areas, serious problems remained. Security forces committed
a number of extrajudicial killings and at times beat and mistreated
detainees .... According to the
Oromo Support Group (OSG), an independent human rights group, established
in the UK by human rights activists interested in following violations
of Oromo human rights, over 2,500 extra-judicial killings and 800
disappearances of civilians suspected of supporting the OLF were reported
from 1992-99. According to Amnesty International’s report on human
rights in Ethiopia of June 2000, there are 10,000 persons detained,
mostly on suspicion of support for Oromo and Somali armed resistance.
This is a very conservative estimate and the true figure may be many
times higher because human rights violations are more pervasive in
rural area where liberation forces are more active. The regime itself
has admitted that prisons in Oromia are unable to cope up with the
flood of thousands of Oromo men and women detainees. The TPLF regime
is one of the top ten violators in the world and the number one in
Africa in suppressing the freedom of expression. IV.3
Hunger, Environmental Degradation, and Diseases While billions
of dollars are poured into the country, the fundamental right to be
free from hunger is not respected in Ethiopia. This is happening simply
because of TPLF’s commitment to only its own people, the Tigreans.
Over eight million people who are non-Tigreans are currently
suffering from starvation in Ethiopia. For example, in the Borana
region of southern Oromia, where the means of livelihood is mainly
pastoral, there have
been three years of continuous drought-induced famine before 2000.
Consequently as no support was forthcoming, 115,000 families lost
their cattle and were forced to leave their area in search of food.
Many children and adults died from hunger and related causes. When
this tragedy was taking place the regime was heavily spending money
and other resources on military ventures into its neighbors (Eritrea
and Somalia) and liberation forces fighting it at home. TPLF’s cruelty
is not limited to its heartless act against hunger victims of non-Tigrean
origin. It herded tens of thousands of able-bodied persons, mostly
youth in their teens, against their will. Most brutal of it all is
that TPLF officers drove theses indentured youth over minefields as
mine-sweepers. This is a criminal
disregard for the lives of the hapless victims. In some instances,
semi-starving non-Tigrean people were forced to give contributions
for the war from their meager resources desperately needed to buy
food for their own survival. Experts repeatedly
point out that vulnerability to famine is rooted in both human and
natural causes. In Ethiopia, while drought has been one factor for
hampering food sufficiency, the mismanaged socio-political dimension
is the major cause for it in recent years. The country’s productivity
of land decreases by 2% annually due to the absence of proper soil
conservation policy; forests have been rapidly decreasing to 3% of
the land area from 40% a few decades ago. Systematically
set fires, without regard for the environment, devoured virgin forests,
coffee plantations, homes, and rare animals and plants in Oromia,
Ogaden, and Sidama in April 2000. These fires were set off in territories
where the regime fears presence of liberation forces. Added to the
loss of unique flora and fauna, the destruction of the forests accelerates
soil erosion and eventual desertification
of an already fragile ecology of the region. The TPLF regime
has been pursuing environmentally harmful policies since it seized
power in 1991. With total disregard for the long-term environmental
consequences, the government has been awarding contracts to investors.
These investors are undertaking unregulated mining and mechanized
farming in ecologically sensitive and vulnerable areas. The regime
has also adopted from its predecessor, the Dergue, the policy of massive
resettlement of armed northerners on Oromo land. In addition to imposing
their views on the local people as well as seizing and using local
resources by force, the settlers have shown wanton disregard for the
ecosystem. The “new settlers” have violated the Oromo people’s culture
and tradition of high respect for nature. The sacred obligation the
Oromo people have always had to protect the environment through balanced
use of resources has been undermined. The right to the
enjoyment of an attainable standard of physical and mental health
is not respected in today’s Ethiopia. The most crucial disaster facing
the Oromo people today is the deadly disease, AIDS. Lack of concern
by the regime is understandably frightful for the Oromo people. They
vividly remember that Emperor Menelik used small pox as a weapon in
his war of conquest against the Arsi Oromo in the 1880's. And today
it appears that the TPLF regime is oblivious about it although it
is confirmed that 8% of the total population of the country is infected
by HIV virus and that every third person of residents of the capital
city carries the virus. The bulk of the victims are evidently Oromos.
Other prevalent diseases such as TB and malaria are also rampant.
They are attacking the population over wider areas and no serious
effort has been made by the regime to combat these debilitating and
killer diseases. It is abundantly
clear that the current political situation in the Horn of Africa is
at a dangerous crossroads. Manifest confrontations between forces
struggling for basic rights and fundamental freedoms and a regime
that is imposing its domination by a tyrannical rule has been described
in the foregoing pages. It is evident that the current political situation
in Ethiopia has its root in the political culture and history of the
country where autocratic forces come to power and maintain themselves
in power through violence. The way the TPLF runs its empire does not
allow a democratic political process even among the ruling clique.
The crisis that just surfaced among the TPLF leadership clearly shows
their lack of capacity to democratically manage even their internal
affairs. The tyranny of the group is going to further narrow down
the circle of tyrants and their social base. V.
Economic Consequences of Policy of Domination The root-cause
of Ethiopia's instability today is the commitment of the ruling regime
to perpetuate its domination by violence. Abject poverty of the country
is the consequence of political
instability and economic mismanagement. These dual scourges have been
aggravated by interventions of unwitting foreign powers that either
maintain autocrats in power or purposefully manipulate vulnerable
weaknesses of the society to promote their own interests. Foreign
powers including the US need to reassess their relationship with the
current dictatorial and corrupt Ethiopian regime. The government
bureaucracy is cynically corrupt. And under the present regime Ethiopia
could not properly develop its human and material resources. The hallmark
of the country is war, civil strife, hunger, poverty, wrong economic
policy, etc. The political and economic status quo seriously disrupts
not only production, but also the distribution of the meager commodities
available. Food shortage
and famine have become the common feature of the country. The huge human
and natural resources that can easily alleviate poverty is rendered
useless by the oppressive political order in Ethiopia. Inability to
use available resources reveals the extent of the seriousness of the
problem. On the one hand, Oromia's large population and abundant natural
resources are considered a political threat by successive minority
regimes to be contained through manipulation of socio-economic policies.
On the other hand, the Oromo people are engaged today in resistance
against their oppressor. Under these circumstances, unfortunately
there is no peace and security in Ethiopia to achieve sustainable
development. V.2
International Financial Institutions Promoting TPLF Oligarchy Regrettably, intervention
by the international community has failed so far to positively impact
political and economic development in Ethiopia. It has only strengthened
the undemocratic TPLF regime. This may be illustrated by intervention,
particularly, since the TPLF
regime came to power in 1991. As soon as the TPLF came to power,
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were mobilized
to pump billions of dollars into the regime's coffer for "economic
stabilization" and "structural adjustment".
During the first four years of its rule, the regime received
about US$3 billion in bilateral and multilateral grants. Further,
significant debt-cancellations and rescheduling have been granted
by the Paris Club member countries, coordinated by the IMF and the
World Bank. The US is one of the major bilateral donors to Ethiopia
since the TPLF came to power. The bulk of the multilateral and bilateral
assistance is directly channeled to Tigray without concern for regional
equitable development. Despite all this assistance the country is
still sinking into an economic nightmare. As mentioned in
Section III.3 above,
the TPLF has used the generous Structural Adjustment Program as an
instrument to make public institutions appendages of the ruling party. Since the cessation
of war with Eritrea, the TPLF regime has been granted by the World
Bank more than US$400 million for the rehabilitation of Tigray region.
In addition, a balance of payments support credit of about US$150
million has been negotiated between the Bank and the regime in March
2001. The IMF also has approved a credit facility of around US$112
million very recently. Further, Ethiopia is lined up for a large debt-reduction
grant under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. What international
donors really miss is proper evaluation of the impact of their money
on the internal situation of Ethiopia. Statistics tell that external
assistance has not reduced poverty level in Ethiopia. For example,
the GDP per capita has fallen from US$120 in 1973 to US$100 in 2000.
Money seldom creates reform
but reform normally generates money. There can be no development
unless peace and stability prevails. VI.
Prospect For Peace The root-cause
of political conflict in Ethiopia is the state's forcible denial of
the right of oppressed peoples to self-determination. The OLF is committed
to the fundamental democratic principle that the Oromo and other peoples,
being tyrannized by the TPLF regime, are endowed with the right to
decide their own political status and destiny. To achieve stability
and development in the region, national oppression and domination
by the TPLF must be brought to an end. To realize this objective and
solve the political conflict peacefully, the political will of concerned
parties—and ultimately that of respective peoples in Ethiopia and
that of the international community—is essential. The policy
of evasion of the real issues must cease. The current struggle
of the Oromo people has its root in its opposition to political domination,
economic exploitation, and cultural suppression by successive Abyssinian
regimes. The fundamental objective of the Oromo liberation struggle,
led by the OLF, is to exercise the Oromo people's inalienable right
to national self-determination. Its goal is to terminate a century
of oppression and exploitation and to form, where possible, a political
union with other peoples based on equality, respect for mutual interests,
and the principle of voluntary association. If the Oromo people cannot
forge a voluntary union with others based on equality,
respect for individual and collective rights, and promotion of mutual
interest, then the people shall exercise their inalienable right to
form their own independent state to promote peace and
prosperity. The struggle of
the Oromo people is to regain their dignity, freedom, and human rights.
It is not directed against any people but against the system of oppression.
The protracted armed resistance under the leadership of the OLF is
an act of self-defense. It is a continuation of the resistance undertaken
by the Oromo people against successive Ethiopian governments, including
the current regime, that have forcibly denied their right of self-determination.
The subjugated peoples’ armed resistance targets the government’s
coercive machinery, not innocent civilians. The OLF recognizes,
respects, and fosters the rights of minorities in Oromia. It is committed
to their inalienable right to develop their own culture, administer
their own affairs, and enjoy all other internationally recognized
rights. The empire state
of Ethiopia was created by a strategy of divide and conquer and is
currently maintained by divide and rule.
This trend must be reversed. The OLF believes in the importance
of solidarity and cooperation among peoples in Ethiopia. It also believes
that the realization of all parties concerned of the common objectives
of liberation of the subjugated peoples, led by their genuine representatives,
is essential for eventually fostering fraternity among peoples. Peaceful
coexistence is sine qua non for all inhabitants of the Horn
of Africa. VI.2
The Role of the International Community The conflict in Ethiopia definitely has international dimensions; so must its solution. Promotion of rights recognized by the "international bills of rights" is the duty and obligation of the international community. The right of peoples to self-determination is one of those basic human rights. Securing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is not any longer an exclusive internal affair of a state. This is particularly so since a close link exists between ensuring basic human rights and the maintenance of international peace and security. Under the prevailing global reality the international community can impact—and in fact does impact—the affairs of Ethiopia through:
One or combinations
of these mechanisms need to be used by the international community
take peacemaking initiative in Ethiopia. Understandably, actions of
foreign powers are influenced by calculations of what they consider
their economic and security interests. The OLF does not object to
expedient application of these mechanisms of intervention by powers
to promote their foreign policy objectives. The OLF objects to what
violates their duty under the international law, particularly condoning
violations of human rights and supporting forcible denial of the right
of self-determination of the Oromo and other oppressed peoples. It
also objects to complicity with actions of the TPLF causing man-made
human disasters such as burning of forests and villages or undertaking
forced resettlements. The organization is also vehemently opposed
to collusion of any power with the repressive regimes that manipulate
the political will of the people for the purpose of negating the people's
right of self-determination. Regrettably, there
is a marked trend among international players in Ethiopian politics
to use the mechanisms of intervention to negatively impact the cause
of just and lasting peace in the region. Appeals to
the international community by the OLF, and other liberation forces
to make international assistance to the regime conditional on respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms of the peoples, has been
ignored so far. In fact, logistic and technical supports are provided
to forcibly suppress resistance against the repressive rule of the
Ethiopian regime. As mentioned earlier, billions of bilateral and
multilateral economic assistance is coordinated by international financial
institutions to open up the country for international investment.
This act is tantamount to facilitating the plunder of natural resources
of the oppressed peoples for the exclusive benefit of the regime and
its international partners. The OLF has continuously
reminded the World Bank and the IMF, though in vain so far, that the
bilateral and multilateral aid they coordinate for the benefit of
the TPLF regime has not served, cannot serve,
and will not serve the cause of a lasting peace and sustainable development
in Ethiopia. To the contrary, it is contributing toward aggravation
of an unstable political climate that has been suppressing the release
of the productive energy of the people. In the view of the Oromo and
other subjugated peoples, this cooperation has helped to maximize
the concentration of political and economic power in the hand of a
corrupt and repressive minority regime. The OLF fully appreciates
that mutual benefits can be achieved when foreign investors provide
investment funds and entrepreneurship in a country suffering from
short supply of these essential engines of development. It is also
equally aware of the havoc dictators cause to maintain
their domination by blindfolding international donors and bilateral
agencies to internal turmoil. The economic problems of the Ethiopian
empire state cannot be solved by denying or ignoring
the genuine and inherent political demands of the Oromo and
other oppressed peoples of the empire. It appears that
the prevailing perception, among powers having interest in the affairs
of the region, is that conflicts within the rank of the Abyssinian
political forces does not in itself have a significant threat to the
regional peace and security as long as one of them remains in control
of the Ethiopian empire state. It seems that this policy is inspired
by the mentality of maintaining a “sphere of influence” through a
client state controlled by a friendly regime. This mentality has helped
perpetuate the lack of stability in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.
It would be high regret
if the current conflict within the TPLF is viewed with similar mentality.
VII.
What Needs to Be Done The situation in
the Horn of Africa today is pregnant with catastrophes. Therefore,
there is an urgent need to abort these catastrophes facing the peoples
in Ethiopia to maintain the regional security. There can be no lasting
peace and sustainable development without freedom to exercise political,
economic, social, and cultural rights. All categories of human rights
are indivisible elements of human security and development. Peace
and development should not remain hostage of those whose track records
reveal consistent use of monopoly state-power. Autocratic regimes
subvert stability and sustainable development to perpetuate themselves
in power. The OLF is convinced that the cause of stability and development
can be served by promoting unity of struggle among peoples. Liberation from
national oppression and eventual termination of tyrannical rule would
pave the way for peoples in Ethiopia—and even those beyond—to join
hands to form a political union among themselves. Such a union formed
on the basis of equality and voluntary association would usher in
a process of negotiation of a constitutional order acceptable to free
peoples seeking to establish political union among themselves. Such
a political union can be achieved only when tyranny ends and the rule
of law begins to take root. The OLF will play its part by joining
an interim arrangement with a caretaker function to facilitate the
process of forging a constitutional order based on the free will of
peoples to be expressed in referendum and other free and fair elections. As a primary step
along this course, the OLF has already met with several political
forces across the north-south divide and has arrived at a joint agreement
to terminate tyrannical rule. There is a broad agreement to work toward
lasting peace through the rule of law protecting respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms. The agreement also calls on all democratic
forces in Ethiopia, governments of the Horn of Africa, other members
of the international community to support the peoples in Ethiopia
to achieve this noble objective. It is only when all parties, both
national and international, realize the significance of averting the
disasters currently threatening the country in particular and the
Horn at large that a peace dividend can be declared. VII.2
An Appeal to the US and the International Community The OLF is deeply
concerned that the present trend in Ethiopia is leading to more political
strife, economic disaster and humanitarian tragedy. The crisis within
the TPLF aggravates the situation by inviting further narrowing of
the social basis of the minority regime. To achieve just peace and
prosperity for the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia, the OLF proposes
and appeals to the international
community:
The OLF is ready
to go an extra mile in search of peaceful resolution of the political
crisis in Ethiopia. The OLF will
contribute towards any meaningful peace effort,
as it did in the past, to reach at a comprehensive settlement to achieve
just peace for the Oromo and other peoples caught in the political
conflict of the Ethiopian empire state. |
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