| The TPLF crackdown on Macha and Tulama Association (MTA)
is
a recurrence of liquidationist policy of the Ethiopian state |
| Date: |
June 1, 2004 |
| Source: |
Oromo Liberation Council (OLC)
| |
The Macha and Tulama Association (MTA) is a civic organization established to promote socio-economic development in Oromia and to further the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Oromo people. Its enormous contribution in this front has earned it a magnanimous reputation across the width and breadth of Oromia. As a result, since it was established over 40 years ago, its name has become synonymous with Oromo. However, in the eyes of the Ethiopian state leaders, past and present, such an organized Oromo institution had always been seen and still remains to be seen as a threat to their political power.
Not too long after its formative years, while legally operating under the constitution of Emperor Hailer Sellasie, the growing fame of MTA among the Oromo people and other oppressed nationalities in the Ethiopian empire sent a chill in the spine of the Haile Sellasie government. As a pioneer pan-Oromo organization, it took upon itself the responsibility of addressing the core problems of the Oromo nation. It had worked on eliminating illiteracy, improving health care service, and building rural road infrastructure. Generally, it had been devotedly engaged on pulling the neglected Oromo society out of the quagmire of socio-economic malaise. It is this noble contribution to the development of the Oromo society that had shaken the regime of Emperor Haile Sellasie. Yes, history is on the side of MTA, it is this very effort of the association to bring social and economic justice for people denied of this very justice that put it at loggerhead with the regime. The regime dubbed this effort anti-Ethiopia and treason. Painting the MTA with such an allegation, the Halile Sellasie government banned it and went after its prominent leaders.
Before liquidating the MTA and going after apprehending its leaders, the government of Haile Sellasie devised a propaganda tool that supposedly tarnishes the image of the association. With the instigation and order of the government, its security agents planted and set off explosives in a cinema hall and killed and wounded several people. Later, it branded the MTA as a culprit of such a heinous crime. Using this orchestrated incident as a cover, the government closed the office of MTA, confiscated its property and amassed and threw its members into jail. Many of them were made to serve life imprisonment and one of its prominent leaders, Lt. Mamo Mezemir, was sentenced to death.
What has unfolded on May 18, 2004, the crackdown of the TPLF-led Government of Ethiopia on MTA, is a replay of the drama of the Haile Sellasie government that was staged to stamp out the association over 40 years ago. The players are different but the play is exactly the same – it is the same to the extent that even 40 years of lapse in time has not changed or polished this crude play.
The new players, the TPLF regime and its cohorts, went on hand grenade tossing spree against targeted institutions like Addis Ababa University, Dejaszmach Geresu Duki High School, and Ambo Agricultural College where students and the general public were attacked and public property was destroyed. Like its predecessor, it blamed on the MTA the bomb assault on the campus of Addis Ababa University that its own henchmen perpetrated and wounded several students and killed one on April 29, 2004. De javu all over again!
With such a great haste, the TPLF-led Government of Ethiopia embarked on operation of surgically planting evidence to incriminate the MTA. It then came up with a host of allegations against the association and its leadership. It alleged that the MTA is behind the bomb attack on the Addis Ababa University, has close link with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and that it is financially supporting the Oromo students of Addis Ababa University that were suspended/expelled early this year. Again all this innuendo is meant for banning the association and going after its leaders.
The rest is history repeating itself with such a great vengeance. The TPLF drummed up its propaganda machine to prove to the entire world that the allegation against the MTA is founded and therefore its action against this association is justified.
In fact, the allegation of the TPLF regime is bogus and its action is totally illegal based on even its own constitution. Without due process of law, it conducted unwarranted search of the premises and the office of the MTA and closed this legally operating office. On May 18, 2004 its security forces arrested the president and secretary of the MTA, Deribe Demissie and Gamachu respectively, again illegally entering the residences of the two officials. It rounded up and held incommunicado several other officials in its prisons notoriously known for torture.
As stated earlier, what is construed as a crime of this generation of the MTA leaders and their forerunners is one and the same: that is, striving for the welfare of the Oromo society. The Ethiopian state rulers see such an effort of any independently organized Oromo entity as the anti-thesis of their parasitic empire. To prolong the life of this wicked empire, they work day and night for the demise of the Oromo mind that works for the collective good of the Oromo people. In effect, this is exactly what we are witnessing today in Ethiopia under the regime of Meles Zenawi.
The regime of Meles Zenawi, despite calling itself democratic and seemingly deceiving the international community with its hollow commitment to democratic values, has never shaded off the traditional political culture and code of conduct of Ethiopian state that denies the right of oppressed peoples to organize freely and independently. It actually shrunk the token political space that the Oromo people once had in the Ethiopian political landscape. It dismally failed to tolerate civic organizations, much less organization with some political tendency. The action that the regime of Meles Zenawi took against the MTA is clearly attests to this fact.
The Oromiyaa Liberation Council condemns the TPLF-Led Government of Ethiopia for all actions it took against MTA and its leaders and broad members.
We remind the regime of Meles Zenawi that no colonial ploy, no matter how it appears to be sophisticatedly executed, would go unnoticed for long and would succumb oppressed people to submission. It should not delude itself that banning MTA and imprisoning and torturing its leaders would resolve the political impasse of its own creation. MTA must not be scapegoat, and therefore, the regime must immediately and unconditionally release Deribe Demisse, Gemechu Fayera and all other imprisoned members of MTA and allow the association to resume its operation. We warn the regime that failing to heed to the voice of oppressed people and taking desperate action against legally operating organization such as MTA would further escalate the political crisis in Ethiopia.
The OLC stands by imprisoned MTA leaders during this difficult time in all it can, and we call upon the Oromo people to get a loud and clear message from the action that the TPLF took against MTA and prepare for the bitter struggle ahead of us.
The OLC appeals to all international human rights organizations to urgently investigate and make public their objective findings on the causes that led to the detention of all present and former MTA officials, such as Dachasa Benti, Legesse Detti, Shane Korma and others held incommunicado without charge.
Oromia Shall be free!!
Mecha and Tulama Association shall survive another wave of attack!!!
Oromia Shall Be Free!!
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The Oromo Liberation Council (OLC) ::
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