Oromo Parliamentarians under Threat
November 1, 2007
By Abdi Galgalo
In a recent parliamentary session that was broadcasted live on Ethiopian Television, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia has threatened Oromo MPs that his government is keeping tab on them since he suspects that they are members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). These MPs come mainly from the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Oromo National Congress (ONC). The Prime Minster warned that the MPs will be presented to court once enough material is collected against them.
This threat came after the OFDM leader Honorable Bulcha Demeksa complained about widespread arrests and harassment in the Oromia region and requested for an immediate investigation. This warning by the PM has re-ignited the memory of the horrific coldblooded killing of the parliamentary-elect Tesfaye Adane (ONC), and the torture and harassment of several Oromo MPs and their families in the recent past.
On June 12, 2005 on a Sunday afternoon, Tesfaye Adane was shot dead and two of his friends wounded by Ethiopian security forces. Tesfaye was just elected as a member of the parliament in the May 2005 election by winning a landslide victory from his district in Arsi Negelle near Shashamene. One of the survivors recounted that the policemen slashed Tesfaye’s abdomen with a bayonet and
“gutted him like an animal”. (Photo Courtesy of Oromo Parliamentarians Council, OPC).
Not long after this incident, another Oromo elected MP, Mr.Abiyot Kebede, was abducted at night by security forces and taken to a grave yard where he was made to dig his own grave. He was severely beaten and left for dead.
The Oromo MPs, some of whom have fled the country, criticize the international community for a tragic fate befallen them. The US and the EU had given them assurances and had pressured them to take up their parliamentary seats. Today, these parliamentarians are in a bitter struggle with the ruling party to protect the rights of Oromo citizens by constitutional means. Their repeated cry for solution has invariably fallen on deaf ears both at home and among the international community.
The PM’s response to the enumerable concerns of the Oromo MPs is by alleging that they are being like Trojan horses for the OLF.
The two leading Oromo opposition leaders in the parliament Dr. Merara Gudina of ONC and Mr. Bulcha Demeksa are very wary and restive over the recent wave of mass arrest in Oromia region. They reported to the Associated Press that over 107 Oromos from Western and West Central Oromia were arbitrarily arrested in just two months.
Currently, over 40,000 Oromo citizens described by the government as being “OLF elements and sympathizers” are in prison. Some are kept in without trial for over 10 years and their age ranges from 10 to 85years.
The Oromo Parliamentarians Council is struggling to document the condition of the tiny fraction of these largely inaccessible detainees and those who died of abuse while in prison.