ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- An Ethiopian court has sentenced 16 people to prison after finding them guilty of trying to create a separate state in the tense Oromia region.
All 16 are members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front. They received sentences of four to 13 years.
The Ethiopian Federal High Court said in its ruling Tuesday the members tried to carry out terrorist acts across the country and supported other group members in remote parts of Oromia.
The region has been a hotspot for anti-government protests that began in November 2015. The protests later spread across the country and demanded wider political freedoms and the release of political prisoners.
The protests led to the killings of hundreds of people and the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency that remains in effect.
NAIROBI will seek an explanation from Addis Ababa after Ethiopian soldiers killed three Kenyan police officers in foreign territory, Kenyan media reported Sunday.
Kenyan security forces including the army have since been deployed to the border following the Friday incursion, the Sunday Nation, the country’s largest circulating, reported.
The Ethiopian soldiers are said to have entered Kenyan territory and shot the officers in an ambush before destroying a police vehicle and seizing a reported four fireams.
The bodies of the slain officers were Saturday flown to the capital Nairobi, Kenyan authorities said.
"All cross-border issues are supposed to be addressed at diplomatic level, hence we will be seeking an explanation from Ethiopia on why this happened,” Moffat Kangi, the County Commissioner of Marsabit, the northern region in which the incident occurred, told the publication.
"We want to know why they engaged our police yet we have never intruded into their territory,” Mr Kangi said.
The Ethiopian soldiers are said to have been pursuing members of the proscribed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who had killed an Ethiopian chief on Thursday.
But Mr Kangi said they had not received any prior alert from Ethiopia.
Ethiopian soldiers have reportedly crossed into Kenya five times in the last nine months.
Self-rule
Established in 1973, OLF has been pushing for the self-determination of the Oromia region. The Oromo are the country’s largest community with 30 million members, or a third of the Horn of Africa country’s population.
The central government will have none of it, the region being a breadbasket and accounting for nearly two-thirds of its top export coffee.
Rights groups accuse the government of "ruthlessly targeting” the ethnic group with Amnesty International in October 2014 releasing a report that claimed the torture of thousands of Oromos.
Amnesty said that the majority of Oromo people targeted are accused of supporting the OLF, but that the "allegation is frequently unproven” and termed it "merely a pretext to silence critical voices and justify repression.”
Kenya and Ethiopia are allies, and have a defence pact dating back to the days of Emperor Haile Selassie and Kenya’s independence leader Jomo Kenyatta.
The two countries were so closely allied strategically, Kenyatta gave Selassie a generous piece of land close to State House Nairobi for Ethiopia to build its mission.
But the latest incident, coming on the back of other incursions, is likely to test those relations.
Source: Mail and Guardian
OLF Forms Alliance with 4 Political Organizations for Right to Self-Determination & Just Political Order in Ethiopia, Radio Afuura Biyyaa Reports
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has formed a political alliance with four political organizations – namely, the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), the Gambela People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF); the name of the new coalition is the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD). PAFD was founded in Oslo, Norway, after its member organizations met for a 2-day conference culminating on October 23, 2015. According to the press-release, “PAFD will create an opportunity for all peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a transitional political order that is based on the consent of all peoples, where the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest is dismantled and a new just political order is established, where the respect of the right to self-determination is genuinely granted to all” (READ MORE BELOW). The following is a report by Radio Afuura Biyyaa on PAFD.
Click on the video below to start the audio report:
RELATED REPORTS ABOUT PAFD …
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(October 24, 2015) – Five National Liberation Struggles in Ethiopia Form Alliance, PAFD (Oromo, Benishangul, Gambela, Ogaden & Sidama) | Press-Release, Declaration and Photos from the Founding Congress
Press-Release, Declaration and photos from the Founding Congress of Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), a coalition of five national liberation struggles in Ethiopia: the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), the Gambela People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF) – in Oslo on October 23, 2015
Press Release: The Founding of Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)
Delegates of Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), Gambella People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF) met in Oslo, Norway from 22 October to 23 October 2015 to lay the foundation of political alliance between the peoples in Ethiopia and have formed the Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD).
The PAFD will create an opportunity for all peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a transitional political order that is based on the consent of all peoples, where the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest is dismantled and a new just political order is established, where the respect of the right to self-determination is genuinely granted to all.
PAFD will conduct diplomatic, advocacy, information and other campaigns to change the current undemocratic political culture and oppressive system in Ethiopia.
PAFD will have a Governing Council (GC) composed of representatives of the political leadership of the founding organisations and members representing the civil societies of the respective communities.
The Governing Council will elect an Executive Committee (EC), a chairperson and two vice-chairpersons that rotate yearly among the organization members. The Executive Committee will be the standing committee and will have the bureaus of diplomacy, organization, finance, information and others.
PAFD call upon all peoples in Ethiopia to join the alliance and support it in order to end the suffering and dehumanization of all peoples in Ethiopia by the current government. PAFD call upon the regional and international communities, to play a positive role in diffusing this looming danger by supporting the peoples in Ethiopia rather than the illegitimate government before it is too late.
Finally, PAFD call upon the current government in Ethiopia to refrain from all acts of violence, respect human rights, obey the rule of law, and commit to peaceful and democratic resolution of political conflicts.
Declaration of the Establishment of the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)
– Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM),
– Gambela People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM),
– Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF),
– Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and
– Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF)
Considering the grave injustices and oppression perpetrated by the current regime in Ethiopia;
Concerned by the massive propaganda campaign undertaken by the Ethiopian government intended to deceive the peoples in Ethiopia and the international community in order to legitimise and continue its dictatorial and repressive rule;
Cognizant of the need for a united effort among the oppressed peoples in Ethiopia to put an end to the unremitting cruel repression perpetrated by successive and current regimes of the empire;
Taking into account the current lack of political vision by some opposition groups in Ethiopia to embrace the political and social changes that Ethiopia has undergone over the last fifty years, as the result of the heavy prices paid by the nations in Ethiopia for the right of self-determination and rejecting their archaic adherence to political precepts no longer tenable in the 21st century, such as negating the rights of nations in Ethiopia to self-determination;
Categorically stating that our peoples, who fought and still continue fighting with their blood against successive oppressive regimes in Ethiopia, will never give up on the fruits of their struggle and allow reversal of their historic gains for the right of self-determination;
Have formed the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), which will foster the favorable conditions that will bring an opportunity for all the peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a political order that will practically allow all to exercise genuine democratic rights including the right to self-determination;
Therefore, the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) will:
1. Strive through the peoples’ power to dismantle the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest and will establish and a new, just political order.
2. Establish a Political Order that derive its legal authority through effective, democratically elected organs and legal processes that are based on a pluralist consensus and genuine universal suffrage where relationships are established through impartial and authentic exercise of self-determination where both individual and people’s rights are fully respected.
3. Endeavour to achieve a peaceful and orderly transfer of power to the peoples in Ethiopia by engaging representatives of all the different nations, nationalities and other stakeholders committed to genuine democracy in Ethiopia.
4. Guarantee that all changes, arrangements and configurations that are intended to end the recurrent conflicts in Ethiopia must be based on the will and consent of each and every nation and nationality in the Ethiopian empire state.
Finally, the PAFD calls on all concerned parties, including the current government of Ethiopia, the representatives of all nations and nationalities in Ethiopia, with the facilitation of the international community, to seize this opportunity and hold a comprehensive conference to create a broader roadmap to thereby resolve the enormous problems confronting the Ethiopian Empire state.
PAFD also calls the international community to respect the wishes, desires and rights of all the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia in their engagments and understand that all status quo is untenable, and a recipe for a simmering disaster that will end in castarophe unless remedied in opportune time.
(October 25, 2015) – In Pictures: The Public Meeting Called Following the Establishment of PAFD (Alliance of 5 National Liberation Struggles in Ethiopia)
The Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), a coalition of five national liberation struggles in Ethiopia: the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), the Gambela People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF), was founded in Oslo, Norway, on October 22/23, 2015. Following its establishment, PAFD called a public meeting on October 24, 2015, in Oslo, to discuss about the alliance; here are some photos from that meeting.
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International media outlets continue to report about the founding of the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, PAFD – the newly formed coalition of national liberation struggles for the right to national self-determination in Ethiopia (the member organizations of PAFD, i.e. BPLM, GPLM, OLF, ONLF and SNLF, represent more than 60% of the nations, nationalities and peoples in Ethiopia – a population that is inhabiting an area that is ~70% of Ethiopia). Below is how ‘U.S. News & World Report’ reported about the formation of PAFD; other news outlets, such as ABC News, The New York Timesand The Washington Post have also carried the story.
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Ethiopia: 5 opposition groups in exile say they have formed alliance seeking change back home
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Five Ethiopian dissident groups in exile said they have formed an alliance to bring a change of government back home, describing Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s government as oppressive.
The new group is called the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, according to a joint statement issued Friday in Oslo, Norway, where the groups met recently.
The alliance was formed by the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement, the Gambella People’s Liberation Movement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front and the Sidama National Liberation Front, the statement said.
“The (alliance) will create an opportunity for all peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a transitional political order that is based on the consent of all peoples, where the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest is dismantled and a new just political order is established, where the respect of the right to self-determination is genuinely granted to all,” the statement said. The group said it “will conduct diplomatic, advocacy, information and other campaigns to change the current undemocratic political culture and oppressive system in Ethiopia.”
A Kenyan guard was killed and Moyale District Hospital stormed when Ethiopian forces and members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) exchanged fire at the border point near the Meteorological Department at 1a.m. yesterday. Moyale OCPD Thomas Atuti identified the deceased as Boru Huka, a 55-year-old guard at Full Gospel Primary School. The national government immediately said the OLF militia group was not in Kenya. Marsabit County Commissioner Peter Thuku later said, “The Ethiopian fighters were in Illeret and at Sololo and Moyale on several occasions. I have relayed the message to the headquarters. This problem will be dealt with from Nairobi, but there is a real concern about forces crossing into our country.” According to Abduba Wapo, Huka’s colleague, shortly after the gun fight that lasted hours, armed men in uniform rushed into the school. “I hid behind the gate. They broke the fence and grabbed Huka then shot him several times in front of the school gate,” Abduba told The Standard on Sunday at the scene before recording a statement at Moyale Police Station. He said some attackers spoke Oromo. See also: Cyprus police probe Israel link in ammonium nitrate haul -media At about 3a.m., the same uniformed men stormed Moyale District Hospital and harassed patients and staff. The heavily armed men are said to have gone through the wards brandishing firearms. They could have been looking for injured Ethiopian rivals. “I saw about seven men armed with rifles enter the maternity ward and harass patients,” Nuria Kasa, a nursing officer, said. “When I asked the watchman what was happening, he said the group had broken the gate and marched into the hospital.” The group left bullet holes in the nurses’ quarters. Moyale DCIO Ayub Bakari said he had collected several cartridges from the scene and within the hospital compound.
Area Deputy County Commissioner John Cheruiyot said investigation is ongoing and they will release full details of the incident later in the day. The incident came four days after Ethiopian security personnel allegedly disarmed a Kenyan police reservist in Uran Lataka, about 100km from Moyale Town. Bakari said a rifle and 60 bullets were lost in the Tuesday incident. Ethiopians had also invaded Illeret ten days ago and two days later marched into Uran in Sololo District of Moyale Sub-county.
