Udenrigsudvalget 2014-15 (1. samling)
URU Alm.del Bilag 44
Offentligt
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ADDA BILISUMMAA OROMOO
OROMO LIBERATION FRONT
Gaafa:
Date:
21.11.2014
وـموروا ريرـحت ۃهبج
Lakk.:
No.:
bdp-abo/041/2014
خيرات
مقر
Your Excellency Per Stig Møller
Member of the Danish Parliament,the Conservative Party
Chairman of The Foreign Affairs Committee
[email protected], [email protected]
Her Excellency Mette Gjerskov
Member of the Danish Parliament,the Social Democratic Party
Vice chair of the Foreign Affairs committee and Chair person for Foreign Policy
Frederiksborgvej 572, 4000 Roskilde
Email:
[email protected]
Dear Honorables,
I am writing this appeal letter on behalf of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Oromo people to bring
to your attention about systematic and massive repression being undertaken by the present Ethiopia
government against the Oromo people. Constituting about 40 million, the Oromo people is the single
largest nation both in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Albeit the nation is demographically and
geographically the majority, it has been politically and economically minority for the last 130 years in
the Ethiopian empire.
Your Excellencies,
On 28th of October 2014, the report by Amnesty International once again brought to light the despicable
and systematic repression that has been committed against the Oromo people by the Ethiopian regime.
The report indicates a widespread and systematic repression of the Oromo people. The title of the report
convenes for special concern as it goes saying: “Sweeping
repression in the Oromia region of
Ethiopia”
only
“BECAUSE I AM AN OROMO”
(By Amnesty International).
Your Excellencies,
Despite the difficulty to reveal the true scale of illegal detentions, tortures, disappearances and executions
of people in the secret prisons in Oromia, the current Amnesty International report has shown some of
basic trends of how systematic and planned repression is in Ethiopia. Indeed it has indicated the worrying
signs where this trend is going to lead the country to. In accordance with this report, OLF also believes
that the Oromo people are targeted simply because of being an Oromo, in a much similar way in any part
of the world where repression and segregation is based on the discriminatory factors. It is not only
Amnesty International but also Genocide Watch in its report released on 12th of March 2013 considered
Ethiopia to have already reached
Stage 7,
genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the
Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo
and
Omo
tribes. Indeed Oromos from all walks of life: athletes, artists,
students, merchants, farmers, teachers, elders, all genders, people celebrating cultural heritage, political
activists, peaceful protesters and etc. are all subjected to similar repression. The recent Amnesty’s report
further highlights that unlike other political organizations and reasons for human rights violations in
Ethiopia “…the government’s intolerance of dissent is particularly potent [in Oromia]. The government
has demonstrated repeatedly that it anticipates a high level of dissent among the Oromo. This, in
conjunction with the numerical size of the Oromo and the sense of Oromo identity and nationalism, is
assumed to pose a potential political threat.” This is exactly how the Oromo people have been treated
P.O.Box 73247 Washington DC 20056 E-Mail [email protected], Tel:+491632492458, www.oromoliberationfront.org
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over the last 23 years.
This latest reported abhorrent act of human rights violation on innocent Oromo civilians is not
an isolated incident. It is what has been happening before as we constantly appealed to you. The
past trend and this latest act of brutality of the Ethiopian regime have clearly shown their
disguised ambition of paralysing the genuine struggle of the Oromo and other peoples in
Ethiopia. The Oromo people’s struggle for freedom, democracy and self-determination is an
ongoing process until the goal is attained. But the regime that is determined to stifle the
democratic rights of the Oromo people pursues its political opponents from inside to abroad.
These atrocities are targeted to the Oromo more than any other group in the country because the
regime fears the potential political power of the Oromo people.
Your Excellencies,
The root cause of Ethiopia’s Human rights violations lie in its history. The process of building
empire state of Ethiopia involved both conquest and subjugation of conquered peoples. The
annexation of this independent polities left fundamental political problems, which became and
remained chronic to the human rights violations in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the largest
recipients of EU’s humanitarian and development aid in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia is also
the largest beneficiary from some of the European governments such as Denmark. As pointed
out in a report sponsored by Human Rights Watch (2010) billions of euros for development aid
are being diverted by the Ethiopian government to conduct political oppression. We also feel
and would like to point out that military, financial and diplomatic assistances from the western
countries have been crucial in maintaining the Ethiopian rulers’ domination over the Oromo
people. Regrettably, this trend has continued even under the present alarming situation.
Your Excellencies,
Forced by political repression and as a result of land grab the number of Oromo and other
refugees fleeing from Ethiopia is increasing at a very alarming rate today. What is more
alarming is the desperate situation in which these helpless men, women and children find
themselves while seeking safety outside their homeland. We are sad to say that many of them
die of thirst and hunger while trying to transverse the inhospitable terrains of northeast Africa;
many drown while crossing the Gulf of Aden and the Mediterranean Sea in overcrowded
rickety vessels in search of safety haven; many more often fall into the vicious grips of human-
traffickers, ‘organ harvesters,’and rapists.
Your Excellencies,
The relationship between Denmark and Ethiopia includes both in the political and economic
spheres. Moreover, various cooperation agreements have been signed in the fields of
development cooperation that concentrated on areas of education, food security, Good
Governance, Human rights, Environment and health. All pledges and favour of Danish
government and likes to Ethiopia is to our believe for a good will, to alleviate poverty, meet
Millennium Development Goal and to establish democracy and democratic institution in
Ethiopia. However, regarding human rights the Ethiopian regime has shown repeatedly that it
neither is willing to respect to the international Covenants it ratified nor its own constitution. It
rather led the country into a worst situation than ever before. The country is under complex
chains of crises in which each factor exacerbates the other.
We believe your effective voice for justice, peace, and human rights on behalf of voiceless
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Oromo people will significantly change and hamper human tragedy that is going to happen. The
engagement of the government against Oromo people and resource equally damage Ethiopia.
We see this damage to its apex right now.
It is our believe that your government policy change on Ethiopia significantly change the
political situation of Ethiopia for good. As a legislative body, the party members of the Danish
parliament you have a say on the Danish government Foreign policy and development aid. We
have no doubt that the intervention of both the standing committee on foreign affairs and
Foreign policy of Danish parliament will save many lives of the Oromo people. The current
prevalent inter- and intra-regional armed conflict, popular uprising, desperate repressive acts of
the regime against civilians, rampant corruption, mismanagement, Hunger, population growth,
Environmental degradation, displacement of peoples as a result of land grabbing , high rate of
the expansion of pandemic diseases, government-instigated ethnic conflicts as an instrument of
divide-and-rule, etc. are some to be mentioned. Such chains of intricate social problems and
fundamental political issues then fuel civil conflict.
Consequently, we cordially appeal to you to intervene the situation based on universal
humanitarian grounds and basic values agreed between your government and Ethiopia that we
believe is based on the respect for human rights and good governance. As the Danish
government is one of the top donating groups to Ethiopia,we appeal to the Standing Committee
on Foreign Affairs and Foreign policy committe of the parliament to inquire the Danish
government to use its diplomatic and economic prerogatives to end the growing repression and
escalating human rights violations in Oromia in particular and Ethiopia in general. We appeal to
you to request the Danish government to put a pressure on the Ethiopian government to stop the
continuing tragedy of human life by helping to tackle the root causes of the problem and
develop a just and durable peace by doing the following:-
1. Bring pressure to bear on all contending forces in Ethiopia to accept Oromo People's right
of self – determination and to be represented by their own representatives.
2. To monitor and implement unilateral and bilateral agreements signed with Ethiopia
regarding the respect for human right, democracy and good governance.
3. To put pressure on Ethiopia through your diplomatic offices and chains that the case of
human rights situation in Ethiopia be investigated by non-partisan international body.
4. To appeal to your Government and Non-Government Aid Agencies and Credit Institutes to
stop financing the regime that is committing genocide against the Oromo and other peoples
in Ethiopia.
5. To urgently re-assess your policy on Ethiopia by noting that the regime is not committed for
democracy, rule of law, peace and stability. The continuation of EPRDF on power would
only bring more chaos, repression and instability and hence we demand your support
towards a mechanism that paves the way to comprehensive way of resolving the conflict
that considers all stakeholders;
6. To facilitate public hearings at Danish Parliament on Ethiopia’s human rights situation so as
to enhance the concern of the legislatures, Government bodies and Non-government aid
agencies.
Hoping for your utmost consideration,
Respectfully
Dr. Shigut Geleta
Oromo Liberation Front Head of Diplomatic Division
CC: His Excellency Søren Espersen
Vice Chair of Foreign polcy Committee
[email protected]
Attachment:-
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR25/006/2014/en/539616af-0dc6-
43dd-8a4f-34e77ffb461c/afr250062014en.pdf
(original) Word formatted AI report