The Oromo protest in Oromia on its Eighth day
Oromo Liberation Front
Nov 18, 2005 — The flame of Oromo people’s struggle against tyranny is picking momentum by the day, engulfing the entire Oromia state. On the 16th of November, Oromo students in Arsii Zone, Qoree town, staged a peaceful demonstration. However, the Wayane regime of Ethiopia and its agents turned the peaceful demonstration into a bloodbath by directly opening fire on the protesters killing four students instantly. Angered by this brutality, the residents of the city joined the protesters plunging the city into a state of total chaos. In the middle of that chaotic situation, six more people were killed, bringing the number of deaths to ten people. Information leaked out from the government inner circle indicated that a plain-cloth mercenary hired by the regime committed the killings of the first four Oromo students. This dangerous mischief is designed to blame the killings of the Oromos onto the ethnic group of the culprit, on the one hand, and to divert attention from the fundamental questions rose by the Oromo people, on the other hand.
The Ethiopian government has been fanning inter-communal tension with deadly consequences throughout its tenure. It is disconcerting to witness that it is still engaged in this same callous behavior in its dying days. We call on the Oromo and all other peoples to be vigilant against such heinous acts by this regime. The responsibility of any further bloodshed lies squarely on the Wayane regime in Finfinnee.
Following this massacre, students in Kofalee town staged a huge demonstration on 17th of November while Oromo students from Arsii Nagellee and Kuyyaraa towns have staged similar protests on 18th of November.
In eastern Oromia, the people of Hirnaa and its surroundings have continued their protests that have been going on for more than a week now. On top of the many people who had been arrested previously from Hirnaa, nine more students and several residents, including one mentally disabled person, were shipped to a concentration camp in Hirna on the 18th of November.
The names of the nine students arrested on 18th of November are: Aammee Shankor, Bushiir Muhassan, Husseen Aammee Mohammad (with his entire family), Abraahiim Aliyyi, Ahmad Abraahiim, Abdii Mohammad, Mohammad Hassan, Mohammad Khaliif. Family members who managed to see the prisoners have told a gruesome story in the concentration camp. Most students were severely beaten up and one student has sustained life-threatening injuries.
In similar developments, farmers in the rural areas surrounding Hirnaa, have refused to attend a government-organized conference and instead staged demonstrations rejecting the government’s propaganda conference. In another town in eastern Oromia, Ciroo, Oromo students and Oromo residents have continued their peaceful resistance, closing down all the roads leading to the town on the 18th of November.
The protest that started on the 9th of November has continued in Ambo, Jimmaa, Bushooftuu, Roobee, Naqamtee, Gimbii,
and fast spreading in the entire Oromia. The aim of OLF lead national struggle is to enable the Oromo people to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination – rights enshrined in the charter of the UN, AU and others.
Victory to the Oromo people!
– External Information Division
– Foreign Relations Department
– Oromo Liberation Front