APRIL 14, 2002
It is with great distress, concern and outrage that the OLC calls attention to the desperate situation that is developing in Oromiyaa. Ethiopian state terrorism has been unleashed yet again in an attempt to impose by military force some extremely repressive and unpopular policies in Oromiyaa. All peaceful forms of opposition voiced or demonstrated anywhere among the Oromo are currently being officially denied and met with violent armed response by government forces. This situation is perpetrating havoc in the daily lives of the Oromo people. Close and objective observers of the political scene in Ethiopia note that in spite of its international reputation as a democratic state supported by the United States, the political culture of this, like previous, Ethiopian regimes, has become anchored in violence. Like its forerunners, the present government of Ethiopia has made violence the primary means of enforcing state policies and achieving hidden political objectives. It is against this backdrop that we see the current wave of terror aimed at Oromo students who are raising legitimate political, economic, and social concerns.
Within the last two weeks, a renewed war has been launched against Oromo students. In various parts of Oromiyaa, students have been holding peaceful demonstrations against new educational policy, taxation, the prohibitive pricing of agricultural inputs, and the low agricultural commodity pricing. In general the students have been speaking out against agricultural policies that they argue the government has devised purposely in order to impoverish the Oromo people. For just raising the issue of self-determination and for peacefully protesting such government policies, the students have paid heavy price. According to a statement issued by Amnesty international on April 3, 2002, students from several towns of Oromiyaa have been killed and several hundreds have been rounded up and thrown into jails. Many other sources have also indicated that the Ethiopian regime is treating these unarmed juveniles with impunity. Witnesses have seen government forces using live ammunition against unarmed students and have shot and killed several students in Shambu, Ambo, Nekemte etc. Torture of the students in the hands of Ethiopian security is widely reported and many of the students have sustained serious body injury. With no charge laid against them, several hundred high school and elementary school students are now languishing in prisons and concentration camps secluded from the general public.
What started out as series of peaceful protests voiced by students on behalf of a dissatisfied Oromo population is being turned into a campaign of terror by the armed Ethiopian government. To intensify this campaign of terror, columns of tanks and armoured vehicles are now being sent by the government to various towns of Oromiyaa for the expressed purpose of destroying the Oromo national liberation struggle. We are concerned that the regime, given its past practices, is going to use any convenient pretext to engage in a mission of genocide against unarmed civilians. This concern is not unfounded. Just a year ago, we witnessed when the government agents shot dead over 30 people and arrested close to 3,000 after a peaceful student demonstration at Addis Ababa University and triggered wave of protest through out the city. The whereabouts of some of the people arrested then are still unknown. We suspect that students recently rounded up will face the same fate B disappearance without accountability.
The Oromiyaa Liberation Council appeals to all international agencies and governments to urge and put pressure on the regime to release the arrested students immediately, and we call upon the international community to hold the Ethiopian regime accountable for this crime against humanity, one of many that it has committed against the Oromo people. We are encouraged that several renowned international bodies and many western governments, including the USA, have registered Ethiopian government actions as gross violation of human rights. However, to avert another silent genocide of Oromo people that this brutal regime is poised to commit, the message from the world community to the regime must be loud and clear and must also be backed with concrete actions.
Unity is Strength!
Oromia Shall Be Free!
GBO