Gumii Paarlaamaa Oromoo

New Page 2 home

The United Liberation Forces of Oromiyya. Ibsa ULFO

December 30, 20011

Response to the Current Onslaught on the Oromo Liberation Struggle

In the recent past we have witnessed a growing campaign of assault on the political program of the Oromo nation. Under the guise of ‘uniting all political opposition groups against the

regime of Meles Zenawi’, several Ethiopian political groups and their Diaspora media organisations have fashioned a pseudo shared political platform as a concerted effort to distort the history and the object of Oromo political struggle. These cohorts have selected Oromo saboteurs who have made it their career to distort the history of Oromo political struggle and the steadfast aspiration of the Oromo people.

Today, as a result of successful political sabotage that has been carried out from within by its

successive leaders, the OLF, as an Organisation, is in complete disarray. The Organisation is in disarray to the extent that it cannot even defend itself from the political onslaught that has been wedged against the Oromo nation’s history of independence struggle.

Although the saboteurs and their cohort media and political organisations have targeted the OLF, their onslaught, in function, is against the struggle of the Oromo nation. What these cohorts are aiming at is in effect to paralyse the struggle of the Oromo nation. As umbrella political organisation that is dedicated to carrying out the struggle for independent Oromiyya,

ULFO has an obligation to defend the history of the struggle of the Oromo nation. It is for this purpose that we have found it necessary to respond to this sustained onslaught.

In October 2008, Mr. Lencoo Lata, the former deputy secretary of the western front of the

Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), stated on Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party’s (EPRP) PalTalk forum that he has changed his mind about the OLF political program. On the same forum, Mr. Lata informed his audience that he led the OLF delegates to the so-called London Peace conference in 1991 against the stated position of the OLF Central Committee. While he was personally responsible for committing the OLF to join the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), Mr. Lata failed to take responsible steps to condition OLF agreement with the TPLF on tangible political results being produced for the Oromo nation. By committing the OLF to the TGE knowing very well TPLF’s history of untrustworthiness, Mr. Lata misled the Oromo nation and the wider peoples of Ethiopia into believing that under the TPLF, the TGE offered realistic hope for a democratic Ethiopia.

The OLF was given only an observer status at the London Peace conference and the subsequent Asmara conference confirmed that Ethiopian Defence Force was to be comprised only of TPLF army. The writing was thus on the wall for the Oromo nation and the wider peoples of Ethiopia under the TPLF that Meles and his TPLF showed little commitment to building democracy and rule of law.

Mr. Lata’s change of mind about the OLF’s political program was the reason for him entering

into agreement with the TPLF and was not a result of what happened afterwards under the TGE.

Mr. Lata’s action constitutes a deliberate sabotage against the Oromo nation and the wider peoples of Ethiopia. Any political Organisation that aspires for genuine partnership with the Oromo people should see Oromo saboteurs such as Mr. Lata for what they are and should not pretend to present them as authority figures or opinion leaders for Oromo political cause.

In October 2011, Mr. Dima Noggo Sarbo, in an interview on Ethiopian Satellite (ESAT) Television, informed his audience that the OLF used the political program of pursuing

independent Oromiyya statehood as a ‘bargaining chip’ only. Mr. Sarbo unashamedly claimed that the real OLF political agenda contained no intention to form an independent Oromiyya. The disposition of Mr. Dima Noggo Sarbo is explained by the fact that in 1977 he abandoned his chairmanship of the OLF without informing his Oromo colleagues to pursue postgraduate studies in Dakar, Senegal. A person who willingly abandons the trust of the highest position of responsibility bestowed upon him by his comrades on behalf of his own nation would find no trouble to give an inaccurate picture of the struggle of his nation for an independent statehood. Any political or media organisation that aspires for genuine partnership with the Oromo people should see Oromo saboteurs such as Mr. Sarbo for what they are and should not pretend to present them as authority figures or opinion leaders for Oromo political cause.

In November 2011, on a forum organised in Seattle by Ghinbot 7, Mr. Amin Jundi, the

purported Secretary of the OLF, informed his audience that the OLF had never had a political

agenda of forming an independent Oromiyya. Mr. Jundi and his cohorts carried out a coupe on the OLF leadership in 2008 to negotiate with Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia in an effort to destroythe Oromo political struggle. The coupe culminated in the negotiation in the Netherlands between the TPLF-led government of Ethiopia and a number of former OLF leaders (in particular, Mr. Leenco Lata, Mr. Dima Noggo Sarbo and Mr. Ababiya Aba Jobir). The agreement was to surrender the OLF to the TPLF. The planned scheme backfired when the secret behind the agreement became known to supporters of the Oromo political struggle. Mr. Jundi and his cohorts who failed to wait for a properly constituted meeting to address their grievances and who acted against a democratic process to oust the organisation's leaders would do anything to lie to their audience to achieve personal political agenda. People such as Mr. Amin would find no trouble to insult Oromo heroes and heroines who made ultimate sacrifices for their nation in their pursuit of Oromo political independence. In our judgment, any political or media organisation that aspires for genuine partnership with the Oromo people should see Oromo saboteurs such as Mr. Amin for what they are and should not pretend to present them as authority figures or opinion leaders for Oromo political cause.

Mr. Amin and his supporters have recently posted an invitation for a so-called ‘congress’ to be held between December 30, 2011 and 01 January 2012.

The opening statement of the invitation reads “... the time has come for us to fully combat the Oromo peoples struggle with new progressive ideas”. Those who have crafted the invitation in the above terms are playing tricks with language. They are deliberate in their use of the word ‘combat’. ‘Combat’ is a purposeful action designed and executed to establish authority over the adversary, or if practical, to destroy it completely. Supporters of Oromo struggle do not combat the Oromo struggle. They combat the enemy of their people. Those who have crafted the invitation want to combat the Oromo struggle, and not the enemy of our nation.

How do they suggest to combat the Oromo struggle? They suggest to combat the Oromo struggle “With progressive ideas", ideas that tell our nation, for example, that the TPLF-led Ethiopian regime is democratising Ethiopia. Our nation is denied its self-governance and freedom and independence. As there is nothing about freedom struggle that is not progressive, there is nothing progressive about actions that discourage the Oromo nation from struggling to build independent and free Oromiyya.

Those who have crafted this statement are deliberately undermining the Oromo struggle while seeking to appease those that are steadfastly seeking the subjugation of our nation. The use of the word 'Combat' and the selection of combating tool - 'progressive ideas' - is therefore deliberate and need to be counteracted by all Oromo men and women who are committed to defend the struggle of the Oromo nation for its rightful goal of establishing free and independent Oromiyya.

It is a historical fact that the Oromo nation was forcefully incorporated in what became an Ethiopian state following Minelik II’s victory at the battle of Adwa in 1896. It is also a historical fact that the Oromo nation has been subjected to exploitation of its political rights under the successive governments of Ethiopia since the incorporation of the Oromo land by the core of the Abyssinian Kingdom which proceeded to form the Ethiopian state. It is again a historical fact that the Oromo political struggle for Oromiyya statehood had been building toward consolidation for many decades before the formation of the OLF in 1973. The OLF simply articulated this political program at the time it was formed. Mr. Dima Noggo Sarbo is fully aware that this political program, contrary to his fabrication that it was meant to be used as bargaining chip, was developed out of a serious reflection on the century-long subjugation that the Oromo nation suffered under successive governments of Ethiopia. The Oromo nation’s political program of forming independent Oromiyya statehood is the only political avenue that could be pursued to bring justice and integrity to the Oromo nation.

Distorting the history of Oromo political struggle and the steadfast aspiration of the Oromo people for political independence by using saboteurs may get Ethiopian political groups and their cohort media organisations momentary applause. When it comes to bringing real hope of building democratic and independent Oromiyaa and Ethiopia what helps is not the lies of few saboteurs about the political history of the Oromo nation. What helps toward this trajectory is to commit oneself to genuinely understand and take into account the political questions of the Oromo nation and the peoples of Ethiopia across the board. What helps to build Oromiya and Ethiopia that can coexist peacefully is a genuine people-to-people commitment to work handin- hand to remove the current TPLF-led government of Ethiopia from power and to bring real democracy to all the peoples of Oromiya and Ethiopia.

The Oromo nation and the peoples of Ethiopia have moved significant distance since 1896 into a spatial imagination where peaceful coexistence today is not just a possibility but carries shared benefits of security, prosperity, growth and development into the future. Negotiating to build this future is long overdue for all concerned, including for the Oromo nation. Distorting the history and object of Oromo political struggle by embracing Oromo saboteurs is a terribly wrong place to start for those genuinely interested in peaceful coexistence with the Oromo nation.

The United Liberation Forces of Oromiyya (ULFO) is serious about seeking to build long-lasting political unity with all Oromo political organisations that are determined to work toward

securing a free and independent Oromiyaa. We urge such organisations to desist from

undermining the struggle of the Oromo people for free and independent Oromiya. ULFO is

also serious about seeking to build long-lasting political cooperation with all Ethiopian political organisations that are committed to securing common destiny of peace, stability and prosperity for all the peoples of the Horn of Africa. We urge such political organisations to start this process by acknowledging first the history and object of Oromo political struggle. We also urge these political organisations to desist from using Oromo saboteurs to send false propaganda about the history and object of the Oromo nation.

Soreysa Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa

Oromiyaa Shall be Free!

The United Liberation Forces of Oromiyya.