Michael's Blog

This is a translation of a letter by  Bekele Gerba and other Oromo political prisoners  secretly smuggled out of Kilinto Prison on 30th of August 2016. The original letter is in Afaan Oromo.  In the soon-ending year, we have lost huge numbers of our young children, tens of thousands have been imprisoned while the whereabouts of several others still remains unknown. We had recently announced a three-day national mourning to pay homage to the lives lost, to which the public gave an exceedingly positive response. This has left our adversaries in a state of shock and, needless to say, it has us beaming with pride. We appreciate the huge sacrifices you have paid and your courage to stand alongside the people. Please accept our gratitude and respect for your selfless acts.   If we listen to one another, stick up for each other and stand in unison, it should not take long before the collective humiliation we are subjected to comes to an end. And it must end! W...

This is a translation of a letter by Bekele Gerba and other Oromo political prisoners secretly smuggled out of Kilinto Prison. The original letter is in Afaan Oromo. Over the past 20 years, the people of Oromia have been unable to exercise genuine self-rule, systematically robbed off their possessions, locked up en masse and doomed to a life of despair. In the past three years in particular there has been a thoroughly orchestrated plan to displace the Oromo from their ancestral land, destroy their language, wipe-out their culture and strip them of their identity with the pretext of the Addis Ababa Master Plan. Copy of the letter courtesy of Jawar Mohammed In the past 10 months, our people have been fighting tooth and nail with forces bent on destroying them. This courageous act of resistance is showing no signs of slowing down and is in fact on the rise. Nevertheless, immense sacrifices have been made in the process: thousands have been imprisoned; students have been...

For the past six months, thousands of people have taken to the streets in Ethiopia’s largest region, Oromia, to protest alleged abuses by their government. The protests, unprecedented in recent years, have seen Ethiopia’s security forces use lethal force against largely peaceful protesters, killing hundreds and arresting tens of thousands more. EXPAND Protesters in Oromia region, Ethiopia, December 2015. The government is inexorably closing off ways for Ethiopians to peacefully express their grievances, not just with bullets but also through the courts. In recent weeks, the Ethiopian authorities have lodged new, politically motivated charges against prominent opposition politicians and others, accusing them of crimes under Ethiopia’s draconian counterterrorism law. Just last week, Yonatan Tesfaye Regassa, the head of public relations for the opposition Semayawi Party (the Blue Party), was charged with “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt” of a terrori...

Ethiopian security forces are violently suppressing the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia region that began in November 2015. Almost daily accounts of killings and arbitrary arrests have been reported to Human Rights Watch since 2016 began. Security forces, including military personnel, have fatally shot scores of demonstrators. Thousands of people have been arrested and remain in detention without charge. While the frequency of protests appears to have decreased in the last few weeks, the crackdown continues. EXPAND Protesters in Oromia region, Ethiopia, December 2015. “Flooding Oromia with federal security forces shows the authorities’ broad disregard for peaceful protest by students, farmers and other dissenters,” said  Leslie Lefkow , deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to rein in the security forces, free anyone being held wrongfully, and hold accountable soldiers and police who used excessive force.” The Ethiopian governmen...

Over the past eight weeks, Ethiopia’s largest region, Oromia, has been hit by a wave of  mass protests  over the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital, Addis Ababa. The generally peaceful protests were sparked by fears the expansion will displace ethnic Oromo farmers from their land, the latest in a long list of Oromo grievances against the government. EXPAND Bekele Gerba in Washington DC, August 2015.  © 2015 Bonnie Holcomb Security forces have killed at least 140 protesters and injured many more, according to activists, in what may be the biggest crisis to hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence. The crisis has taken another worrying turn: on December 23, the authorities arrested Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromia’s largest legally registered political party. There had been fears he would be re-arrested as the government targets prominent Oromo intellectuals who they feel have influence over t...

At least 75 people have been killed during weeks of protests in Ethiopia which have seen soldiers and police firing on demonstrators, Human Rights Watch said today. “Police and military forces have fired on demonstrations, killing at least 75 protesters and wounding many others, according to activists,” HRW said in a statement. There was no immediate response from Addis Ababa, but it has previously put the toll at five dead. Government spokesman Getachew Reda said the “peaceful demonstrations” that began last month had escalated into violence, accusing protesters of “terrorising the civilians.” The protests began in November when students opposed government proposals to take over territory in several towns in the Oromia region, sparking fears that Addis Ababa was looking to grab land traditionally occupied by the Oromo people, the country’s largest ethnic group. Demonstrations have taken place in the towns of Hara...