| No wave of violence of the Ethiopian Government can mute the voice of Oromo students |
| Date: |
April 03, 2004 |
| Source: |
Gumii Bilisummaa Oromiyaa | |
The recent wave of terror that the totalitarian regime of Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia has unleashed against Oromo students is yet another desperate move on the part of the regime to silence dissenting voice of the enlightened sector of the Oromo society. Orchestrating different fitting pretexts at different time and at different place through out Oromiyaa, the regime has been launching a vicious campaign of terror against university, college, elementary and high school students of specifically Oromo origin for some time.
The latest onslaught of the regime on Oromo students started on January 18, 2004, when its surrogate political organization, the Oromo People Democratic Organization (OPDO), staged a politically peppered sham cultural show at the Addis Ababa University campus and garnered hardly any political support from the Oromo student body that either boycotted or abandoned the show. This incident has been given a different twist by the university administration and its political master, the TPLF-led Ethiopian Government. They alleged that the Oromo students incited violence and vandalized the university property and without any due process of law reportedly imprisoned 8 students, and dismissed 23 and suspended over 450 students from the university. The students have totally refuted this allegation in all appeal letters and communiqués they have released thus far. They clearly stated that if there is any crime they have committed it is only the fact that they have not thrown political supports expected to OPDO. The violence that erupted during the show, as they claim, was brewed up and committed by designated TPLF tugs but labelled against Oromo students.
This fiasco has triggered chain of reactions from Oromo students in various educational establishments across Oromiyaa. Exercising the democratic rights enshrined in the government constitutional piece and the freedom of academic expression that the university claims to guarantee within its environment, Oromo students of the Addis Ababa University peacefully demanded from the university administration an explanation for the imprisonment of their fellow students and for their unconditional release. Instead of meeting the demands of the students, the administration called on a special police force of Meles Zenawi and got them removed forcefully from the university campus. In the hand of this police force, as various local and international media and human right organizations reported, the students were tortured to the extent of sustaining severe mental and physical injury. It is after such inhumane treatment that the university administration stripped of their identity cards and massively expelled them from the university. Working hand in gloves with the government agents, the university president, Dr. Inderias Eshete, took a politically motivated decision and dismissed 23 students indefinitely and suspended over 450 of them for one year from the university.
Outraged by this barbaric and draconian measure that the administration of Addis Ababa University took with the full support of the TPLF-led regime, students from various universities, colleges, and high schools across Oromiyaa and elsewhere have been peacefully protesting against the measure taken. This situation has in turn escalated the onslaught of the regime on Oromo students.
On March 7, 2004, a heavily armed government force fired live ammunition against peacefully protesting Jimma University students. This force has rounded up and beaten hundreds of students.
In Ambo College, Oromo students who similarly denounced the Addis Ababa University unjust and discriminatory measure against their fellow Oromos have been intimidated and harassed by armed Tigrai students embedded as security tugs of the TPLF in the college. The tension that has been building for some time between 'Tigrai students' and Oromo students has led to violent confrontation during the week of March 22, 2004, making the learning environment for Oromo students quite tense.
Similarly, high school Oromo students across Oromiyaa (Tikur-Inchini, Gudar, Ginchi, Jeldu, Gedo, Harato, Naqamte, Gimbi, Jimma, Bishoftu, Waliso, Adama, Kofalee, Dodola, Ciro, Dadar, Baddeessa, Hirna, Haromaya, Garba Gurracha..) who demanded the release of imprisoned students and the unconditional return of dismissed and suspended Oromo students to Addis Ababa University experienced harsh treatment in the hand of the government forces. Also, parents and relatives of these students are facing constant intimidation and harassment.
It is very distressing to learn that not only Oromo students but also their educational institutions that the firepower of TPLF-led regime of Meles Zenawi is aimed at. Just very recently agents of the regime planted explosives in the school compound Dejazmach Garasu Dhukii High School in Waliso and set the school property ablaze and blamed it on Oromo students and labeled them terrorists. Again this is another pretext setting drama meant to get Oromo students incriminated for an act that they have no involvement at all. Such a trickery and preposterous allegation proves how much Mr. Zenawi's regime is inept and politically bankrupt and desperate to extend the life of the regime by engaging in a blame-game. At the end, no political machination and no wave of violence of Meles Zenawi totalitarian regime can silence the voice of Oromo students from exposing his outlaw government that does not live up to its own constitution.
It is clear that the TPLF current campaign against Oromo students is no a surprise to the Oromo people. Its campaign is an on-going one. It is carried out by design based on covert and overt educational policy that it has in place for the Oromo people. It is to be recalled that in its ' Hizbawi Adera' TPLF clandestine policy document, it clearly stated that in order to 'rule Ethiopia peacefully', it is imperative to implement a policy of emasculating the educated sector of the Oromo society and denying higher education opportunity to the Oromo people.
The chaos that has been lately witnessed in various educational institutions across Oromiyaa has not surfaced by accident. It is the result of the discriminatory policy of 'Hizbawi Adera' at work. Otherwise when Tigrai students in Tigrai Region learn peacefully in their respective educational institutions and enjoy every educational opportunity, the Oromo students in Oromiyaa would not have been traumatized, tortured, and denied education.
The OLC condemns:
- The discriminatory education policy of the regime.
- The politically motivated actions of the administration of Addis Ababa University that dismissed and suspended Oromo students.
- The TPLF-led regime for harassing, torturing, imprisoning Oromo students and their parents
The OLC demands that:
- The dismissed and suspended Oromo students be reinstated immediately and unconditionally.
- The perpetrators of the crimes (murder, illegal detention and torture) committed against the students be brought to justice.
The OLC calls upon:
- The Oromo people to stand by Oromo students in all you can during the present trial and tribulation that they face in the hand of the regime of Meles Zenawi.
- All Oromo political, social, religious, and community organizations to continue providing material and moral support for courageous Oromo students who struggle for their rights, challenge and expose the lawless Wayane regime, and raise timely and burning political, social, and economic issues affecting the Oromo society.
- All Oromo students to continue intensifying your struggle against the TPLF aggression and its discriminatory policy towards the Oromo people. We salute you for the exemplary struggle that you are waging beyond the call of your age!
- The international community to exert pressure on the TPLF-led regime of Ethiopia so that it learns, respects, and lives up to the rule of law. It is an established fact that this regime is one among the worst human rights abusers. The international community has the moral and legal authority to hold the regime responsible for all crimes it has committed.
Unity is Strength!!
Oromia Shall Be Free!!
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The Oromo Liberation Council (OLC) ::
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