Oromo Schools: TPLF Shooting Ranges

Emboldened by the support it received from Western governments in return for his role in ousting Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from power in Somalia, TPLF has now turned its attention to what it does best in the country: Murdering, injuring, incarcerating and torturing Oromo students.

The latest victims, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), are students in Ghimbi and Dambi Dollo, where four have been murdered, tens have been injured requiring hospitalization and tens have been incarcerated and tortured.

What happened to Gemechu Benesa Bula and Lelsa Wagari Bula in Ghimbi (Guyii) is reminiscent of the often told stories about what KKK did to their black captives. It is said that they would take them to the forest, dare them to attempt to escape, and let them loose. While the black captives sprinted from behind one tree to another to save their lives, KKK target practiced on them. In the end, KKK killed their captives.

Just like the KKK black captives, Oromo students know for sure that no good can come to them from TPLF police. Therefore, at the sight of this blood thirsty force, they take to their heels to escape beating, detention or murder. Unfortunately for Gemechu and his cousin Wagari, this one took place NOT in a wooded area but in an open field around a school. There were no trees to shield them from TPLF bullets raining on them. Consequently, unlike the KKK captives, the cousins did not stand a chance of staying alive even for a few minutes. The trigger happy TPLF police used them for target practice as if they were two targets at a shooting range. As always, their motto is “shoot first and ask questions later!”

The killings, beatings, arrests and torture in Dambi Dollo are not isolated incidents. These kinds of abuses have been and continue to be so pervasive across Oromia that I am personally afraid it will desensitize the world and the Oromo Diaspora. Whether my fear is justified or not, we have to tell the suffering of our people to whom ever is willing to listen. This is the least we can do from where we are.

You may read HRW’s “Letter to Ethiopian Ministers on Human Rights Violations Against [Oromo]Students” While there, please read “World Report 2007” pertaining to Ethiopia. Scroll down to the "Continuing Abuses in the Countryside" section to findout what is happening in Oromia.

The honest truth is that I am personally tired of appealing to western governments and international organizations to hold TPLF to conventions and Human Rights instruments it has agreed to uphold. Letter writing campaigns and demonstrations of the last 17 years have produced no results and there is no hope that they will in the future. What is required to help our people is to defeat TPLF. There are two ways to defeat TPLF: Peaceful means and armed struggle. Which one do you think has better chance of defeating TPLF? Do you ask yourself what you can do to help defeat TPLF?

Have your say!

PS: I invite Obbo Nuguse Biratu and his likes to read HRW’s letter. Once finished reading, please look in the mirror and reflect on what you have done to the great Oromo nation for a few dollars.

Nuguse Biratu: A TPLF Mouthpiece

A Traitor and a disgrace to the Great Oromo nation?


Nuguse Biratu, a one time chair person of Oromo Community Associations in New York City and Washington D. C. turned TPLF mouth piece, gave an interview to a TPLF Pal Talk room. A recording of his interview can be found HERE.

When I saw Nuguse Biratu’s picture on the link above, I struggled to remember if it is a familiar face to me. At first, it was not. I had heard his name mentioned in relation to the infamous “Bergen Conference” but I could not recall meeting him or having seen his face. I searched my memory for about half an hour to no avail. I had almost given up when, all of a sudden, it hit me. I have seen this face before.

It was early 2000 and we had gathered together in front of the UN building in New York City to protest the burning of Oromia forests and the ever increasing human rights abuses perpetrated against the Oromo people the TPLF regime. Most of us had traveled from all over North America to be a collective voice for our voiceless people. I can still see Obbo Nuguse in my mind, in that crowd, standing three feet away to my right chanting “Meles is a fascist”,”Meles is a dictator”, “There is no peace in Ethiopia”, “There is no democracy in Ethiopia”, etc … just like the rest of us. Then my mind wondered to his recent interview with the TPLF Pal Talk room and I could not help but be filled with a feeling of stupefied astonishment. I wondered what he would have said about that protest during the interview had he been asked about it. Then it occurred to me that he claimed to have actually organized that protest in his interview which made me sick to my stomach and caused me to wonder how many of his likes are lurking amongst us today and when the next one will come out of the closet.

Obbo Nuguse’s ability to change allegiances at will is astonishing to say the least. He claims to have founded ENDO (Ethiopian National Democratic Organization) with Shaleqaa Yosef (currently of Kinijit) and others. In his own words, ENDO rejected working with ethnic based organizations and those that used or advocated armed struggle as means of struggle. Then, he changes allegiance and becomes an OLF supporter – an ethnic based organization by any definition and engaged in armed struggle with the TPLF regime. He claims to have risen to a position of membership in an OLF “think tank” group. By his own admission, he organized demonstrations in the USA against the TPLF regime up until 2006. Then, with no explanation, he changes his allegiance again and becomes an EPRDF member. He travels to Mekele to attend their “6th congress.” Obbo Nuguse the man, who would have nothing to do with ethnic organizations using armed struggle as a means of struggle in 1990, turns OLF supporter and “advisor” soon after. The same man, who claims to have worked hard to help bring the plight of the Oromo people under the TPLF regime to American public attention turns TPLF’s mouth piece. He now portrays Oromo university students and school children as nothing but hooligans bent on causing chaos and havoc. He bad mouths Macha-Tullama self help association blaming them for standing up for their rights. Does this guy believe in any thing? Has he no shame?

Naturally, the next question that came to my mind was “why did he do this? Why all this flip-flopping?” If he was exposing TPLF records to the world, as he claims he had been doing up until 2006, what changed between 2006 and now? TPLF’s human rights records have not improved but actually worsened, especially against the Oromo people. To add insult to injury, TPLF is inflicting misery, not only on Oromos in the country, but on those in exiles in Somalia as well.

What do you think of Obbo Nuguse treason and how do you explain his change of heart toward TPLF? What do you know about his person: his character, his relationships, etc …

Have your say!