Ending the Culture of Impunity and Breaking the Cycle of Violence

       Kallacha W. Kunee                                                                                               | August 15, 2013

A Princeton University Scholar, Kulani Asafa Jalata, wrote her senior essay on torture – “How the Tortured Body Speaks”. Her research work covers four Oromo generations: 1) The resistance struggles in Bale led by Waaqoo Guutuu and the Maccaa and Tuulamaa Self Help Association 2) The modern form of organized struggle led by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) 3) The continuation of the struggle by another generation after leaders of the OLF were detained en masse by the Dergue regime 4) The Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa (FDG), civil disobedience, generation.

Here is “an excerpt from a speech made by Waaqoo Guutuu, the leader of the 1960s Bale uprising against the Nafxanyas” that I have taken from her senior essay:

“It is in their culture to kill”

Our people remember. Don’t ever forget that you are a people with history and honor and that you are richly endowed with human and material resources. It is essential that you, first and foremost, remember that [ever] since the enemy occupied your country in 1885, you have been robbed of your land and property, your history has been destroyed and your dignity violated… Since the Amharas occupied our country with the help of European imperialists, our people have been massacred en masse… our land has been divided amongst the Amhara invaders… Innumerable crimes that have not been committed by the European colonialists on the African peoples have been perpetrated on you. It is today that you can liberate yourself from the shackles of oppression… Rise up and arm yourself to destroy the oppressive rule of Haile Selassie (Jalata 2005: 182-183).

The M-words, Machine Guns and Bombs

The Abyssinian elites have taken killing and torturing the Oromos while in detention, forcing them into exile and exploiting the rest as their culture and absolute right. They have taken these crimes as a right than as a crime against humanity. I have tried to put on record their vocabularies of violence as follows:

Vocabularies of Violence

1) Madamsas (mass destruction of people)

2) Maawudam (destruction of property)

3) Macafcaf (massacre of people)

4) Maasaqaayet (severe & barbaric Torture)

5) Maashmadmad (Incapacitate, disable, impoverish to destitution point)

6) Maaswaggad (secret killing/enforced disappearance, the ‘swallowed’ such as Baqqala Abbaba. I have reported his abduction to my wife and to the leaders of the OLF but his where about is not yet known to date.

7) Maashamaaqaq (dehumanize, instilling inferiority complex by using the avalanche of insults using the G- word which I don’t want to repeat here. It has been widely discussed by non-Oromo and Oromo scholars such as Professor Asafa Jalata).

8) Maashabbar (terrorizing the Oromos and other Abyssinian subjects by instilling fear, using various forms of modern day scare tactics and fear mongering techniques). The good examples are the Baddannoo drama, Jihadawi Harakat and so on.

The above forms of violence could be categorized into three major forms of violence: 1) Physical Violence 2) Psychological Violence 3) Verbal Violence. All these forms of violence must come to an end.

Profiling Conscious Oromos

• Identifying, isolating and eradicating the educated elites:

–      Killing (Gen. Taddasa Birruu was killed, Mandela was not)

–      Incarceration/detention/imprisonment

–      Barbaric torture in detention

–      Harassment/intimidation

–      Raping Oromo women

–      Looting properties (my own and other Oromos’ real experiences)

–      Forcing  Oromos into exile (my own and other Oromo’s real experiences)

–      Discrimination: “Send them back to their father’s profession- discriminating the Oromos during assignments to various institutions and government owned corporations and ministries during the Dergue regime. An Oromo working in the Central Planning and Development told me this secret. They thought he was an Amhara since he has an Amharic name. He was an Oromo from Salaalee but was born in Addis and does not speak Amharic. He heard while they were saying:

”Yihin saa saa saa saa,

Gaaddisaa innaa Lammeessaa,

Llaakawu wada gaxar, laakawu wada Asaasaa,

L aakawu wada Gudar, yaabbaatuun muyaa saayrasaa”

–      Assignment on technical/expert posts to keep them busy so they don’t get time to think. For instance, I was very often asked to take a job to my home to meet strict deadlines. Oromos never held key positions in Ethiopian Airlines. An Oromo who graduated with great distinction from one of the Universities in the United States , Jattaanii Muddaa, was assigned in Corporate Planning and Development only to write cumbersome Management Policy and Procedure Manuals and Corporate and Operating manuals. He held only a Director position and was never promoted to Executive Management levels. That is absolutely reserved for the Amharas and Tigreans, the self-appointed ruling elites.

Denying promotions

Empowering the Oromo

We have made a journey against the tide and an up the hill battle to partially reverse some the atrocities against the Oromo people. To get rid of the TPLF minority regime, we must:

• Building our capacities
• Mobilizing our human and material resources
• Putting pressure on political factions to unite
• Putting pressure on the fragmented media outlets to work together and create a strong media outlet
• Oromummaa in action not only in words – unity of purpose
• It is time for change – from scattered to organized resistance
• Empowering youth and women
• Building vibrant civil society organizations, strengthening the existing ones (highly emphasized at the U.S. State Department on August 16, 2013)
• Breaking the conspiracy of silence –  strengthening diplomacy and advocacy
• Mobilizing the silent majority including Dr. Beekaa Callisaa
• We have millions of people who have good intentions. They need leadership and guidance from OSA and other intellectuals

Why do we oppose the TPLF regime? It is crystal clear that it has controlled:  93.4% of the military leadership (see the table below), the economy, the judiciary, the media, the electoral board and restricted all civil society institutions including the Maccaa and Tuulamaa Self Help Association.

Economic Development for Whom?

It is often said that, ”Liars can figure but figures do not lie”. Here are facts and figures about ethnic compositions in Ethiopia. Real census data for the Oromo, the Somalis, the Afars, the Sidamas, and other peoples in the southern part of Ethiopia could be hard to get since they are dominated and marginalized by the Northern Abyssinian elites. Oromo scholars estimate the figure of Oromo population at about 40%-50. According to the CIA World Factbook 2012 issue, here are some figures about Ethiopia:

Region	Ethnic Group	Percent	Representation in Army Leadership
Oromia	Oromo	34.50%	0
Amhara	Amara	26.9	3.3
Ogaden	Somali	6.2	0
Tigray	Tigre	6.1	93.40%
Sidama	Sidama	4	0
Gurage	Gurage	2.5	0
Welayta	Welayta	2.2	0
Hadiya	Hadiya	1.7	0
Afar	Afar	1.7	0
Gamo	Gamo	1.5	0
Gedeo	Gedeo	1.3	0
Others	——-	11.3	3.3

Note: Region and Representation in Army Leadership are my own additions. It has been widely reported and the names of TPLF Generals and the departments they work in are known. No need of repaeting now and then.

Even though the regime that dominates Ethiopia and its supporters try to blame it on religion as a major source of conflict, the real problem in Ethiopia is ethnic domination. The war lords incite religious and ethnic conflicts to stay on power and exploit the rest. From the above facts and figures, it is very easy to understand that it is an elite group from an ethnic minority that accounts for only 6.1% of the Ethiopian population that dominates 93.4% of the Ethiopian army leadership. Obviously, it is a state within a state. These army officers use force to stay on power. They have controlled all state machinery and are committing atrocities on a large scale to remain on power.

It is natural to resist their domination. I opposed their domination in 1991. I still oppose their domination in 2013. I say no to Revolutionary Democracy – a political fraud and conspiracy disguised to hide minority dictatorship. Activists, the media and Oromos in the Diaspora must spread the word to the world to expose this grand political fraud and conspiracy. Western politicians and the supporters of this minority regime are trying to tell us that there is economic development in Ethiopia. We have to challenge them and ask: Economic Development for whom? Are they trying to say that excluding the majority is a viable and sustainable alternative? Definitely not!

The Oromo people who account for 34.5%, according to the CIA World Factbook, of the Ethiopian people have no representation in the Ethiopian army leadership, highly marginalized, disempowered and exploited by this minority regime. This must be reversed soon.

I would like to thank the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) in general and Dr, Mosisa Aga in particular for their excellent and effective leadership in 2013. The incoming OSA leadership must build on these excellent developments to mobilize our human and material resources in the coming year to get rid of all these forms of violence against the Oromo and other subjects of the Abyssinian Empire.

Kallacha W. Kunee    source   (  http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/oromia/ending-the-culture-of-impunity-and-breaking-the-cycle-of-violence/  )