North Norway Oromo Youth Demonstrates in Trondheim Against the Ongoing Human Rights Violations by TPLF/EPRDF Regime

Oromo youth in North Norway on March 1, 2014 protested against the ongoing human rights violations, inhuman killings, and the repression carried out by the criminal Ethiopian government, and the Oromo youth urged the TPLF/ERPDF to stop dictatorship with impunity.

It is unjust that the continued sufferings of the Oromo people through systematic human rights abuses by the Ethiopian government are largely ignored by governments around the world. Yet, the heinous crimes of the TPLF/EPRDF government rank high in the catalogue of human right abuses committed by African governments.  Over the past two decades, the TPLF-led Ethiopian government has imprisoned tens of thousands of Oromo nationals; the situation of several thousands of innocent Oromo political prisoners has deteriorated in prisons and secret camps. Many Oromos have been (and are being) cruelly tortured, killed, uprooted, raped and exiled. Others have been abducted in broad daylight, and made to disappear or murdered secretly.

There is no peace and stability, no freedom of speech, no freedom of press, no freedom of assembly and no rule of law in Ethiopia. What truly exists is totalitarianism of one party and gross violations of democratic and human rights. The TPLF-led Ethiopian dictatorial regime’s continuation of targeting the Oromo people through brutal suppression to prolong its grab on power should not be tolerated any more.

The TPLF/EPRDF repressive “anti-terrorism” law, which came into force in 2009, has worsened the condition of Oromo individuals of all walks of life. As repeatedly reported by international human rights organizations, this law is being used by the Ethiopian government as a powerful instrument to crack down on political dissidents, including banning peaceful political demonstrations and public criticisms of government policies. Today, more than any time in the past, the Oromo people are subjected to systematic killings, disappearances, tortures, mass arrests, harassment and imprisonments in villages, workplaces, towns and cities of Oromia. The forced eviction of Oromo peasants from their ancestral farmlands through leasing several millions of hectares of Oromo lands to foreigners under obscure terms, denial of job opportunities and dismissal of employees from their jobs on flimsy excuses – are daily experiences of the Oromo people in Ethiopia.

Oromo’s and Oromia are discriminated against in employment, promotion, education, and other social services. The TPLF regime owns the media, the internet and most communication means. They use the justice system as a tool to torture and demoralize dissidents instead of using it as fair and political-free system. We remember what has happened with the two Swedish journalists; they are living evidences how the Ethiopian justice system is corrupt. The policies and practices of the TPLF/EPRDF regime have forced millions of Oromos to become political refugees in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and North America. We remember the recent victim – Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda, the well-known freedom fighter who was deported from Kenya with Engineer Mesfin Abebe in 2007, was killed on August 24, 2013, in the notorious TPLF/EPRDF prison of Qaallittii.

We know that Mr. Bekele Gerba, the Oromo prisoner of conscience and former lecturer at the Addis Ababa University – who was thrown into prison on August 27, 2011, by the TPLF regime – is still suffering with poor health, and his life is in danger due to lack and denial of medical care in Qaallittii prison.

International human rights organizations have extensively documented the tortures, disappearances, extrajudicial killings of Oromo activists and lists of extensive chilling crimes against the politically oppressed Oromo people. With an estimated 25,000 Oromo political prisoners in official and secret prisons – simply because of their nationality and their resistance to injustice, it has been reported that Ethiopia’s overcrowded prisons speak the Oromo language. However, despite its well-documented dismal record on human rights, Ethiopia, a key western ally in the Horn of Africa, is being fueled by the $3-billion it receives annually from the EU and the United States, as reported by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI). While all of these violations are being committed against the Oromo humanity, it is completely unfair to keep silent and watch the injustices.

Therefore, the objective of the protest was to condemn the current unlawful and inhuman acts of the TPLF/EPRDF government against Oromos, and to call on the U.S. and the EU, and the Norway government in particular, to stop their relationship with the Ethiopian dictatorial regime, to review their strategy towards the oppressive brutal regime, instead to support the genuine struggle of the Oromo and other people’s for freedom and equality which could serve for lasting peace in the Horn African region, to act on behalf of justice for the sufferings of Oromos, and to put the necessary pressure on the Ethiopian government to release all political prisoners, of which the overwhelming majority is the Oromo.

During the event, Mr. Bernt Hauge, who has been known for his activities on human rights for long period of time in Trondheim, and Mr. Kiya Gonfa, a member of the organizing group, have delivered speeches on the ongoing human rights violations in Ethiopia.

Among the slogans raised and chanted during the demonstration are:

- The TPLF/EPRDF government is the most repressive government in Africa!
- TPLF, stop killing, murdering, torturing and kidnapping Oromos!
- TPLF, stop evicting Oromos from their land! Stop selling Oromo lands to foreign and local investors!
- Killing will not be a solution! TPLF, you can kill thousands, but you cannot kill 40-million Oromos! We, Oromos, will never stop our struggle until freedom!
- TPLF, respect human rights!
- Free Bekele Gerba and all Oromo political prisoners!
- TPLF is a killer, a liar, a murderer!
- TPLF is ruling Ethiopia for 22 years – USA, EU, Norway – is this democracy?! Is this respecting human rights?
- TPLF is brutalizing people in Ethiopia for 22 years!
- There are about 25,000 Oromos suffering in Ethiopia – EU, USA, Norway – you know this, but we are wondering why you support these dictators.
- Several thousand Oromos are suffering and dying in neighboring countries and in the Middle East.

At the end of the demonstration, all participants promised to continue to be voices for their voiceless people and to struggle till the freedom of Oromo and Oromia.

Victory to the Oppressed Oromo People!

* Getinet Dinkayehu can be reached at  getinetdinkayehu@gmail.com

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