Open letter to VOA : Avert hovering genocide in Oromia
Open Letter to the VOA: Now is the right time for the World to AVERT the hovering GENOCIDE in Oromia: Ethiopia
By Mekonen Demissie*
Dear Sir/Madam,
April 21, 2006 — The Voice of America has been doing services of incalculable magnitude for the Voiceless people in the Horn of Africa, more specifically for powerless majority-Oromo people-of Oromia, Ethiopia. This is true as people have started to reject the excessively government controlled Ethiopian media which only serves its agenda setting functions and the public have openly chosen to listen radio broadcasts from the Voice of America.
Following the May 15, 2005 General Elections in Ethiopia, there have been continuous mass protests both in the cities and in the villages of the country. These demonstrations have been suppressed violently by government security forces leading to the killings of hundreds and imprisonments of thousands. The Voice America Horn of Africa programs cover the mass protests in the cities, but the killings and disappearances in the greatly rural area of Oromia, Ethiopia, still goes on uncovered.
The reasons for the mass protests in Oromia are because the “elections” have left the overwhelming majority of people unrepresented-40 million. The main Oromo political party, the Oromo Liberation Front, have been systematically banned from taking part in the May 15, 2005 Elections like it was banned in 1991/92.
The present use of Media in Ethiopia is so much similar to the Hutu Radio broadcasts during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Thus, both the voice of America and the International Community have the moral obligation in averting the hovering Genocide in Oromia, Ethiopia before it is too late. The world must not witness the second biggest genocide in Eastern Africa anymore. A permanent solution should be sought to the Ethiopia’s deep political problem by way of involving the big political actors in the country. The existence of many liberation fronts in the South all of which the government has banned from the legal forum should tell the world that there is a deep political problem in the country. Such liberation fronts include, the Oromo Liberation Front, the Ogaden Liberation Front, Gambella Liberation Front, and the Sidama Liberation Front. All of them have enjoyed broader popular support for the people they are struggling for. There are also opposition political parties who have suffered tremendous loss from the May 15, 2005 “Elections” because of widespread government vote rigging. Literally these political parties have been banned in similar ways the liberation fronts have been banned.
But VOA in all its capacity should allow for dialogue between the main political actors in Ethiopia on all its Horn of Africa programs and on its English programs so that democratic solutions would be worked out together.
Government politicians often oversimplify the political issues in Ethiopia when they are given a chance to speak on the Voice of America or any western media. For example, the prime minister and his advisers, try to dupe the western media by reducing the causes of political problems in the country to what they call ” the challenges of decentralization in Ethiopia” in a program hosted by VOA English program recently. In fact none of the Regional Federal States in Ethiopia are autonomous. As a result, the presidents of these regional states are merely object made in the image of the prime minister and they merely serve the purpose of echoing whatever he says/plans. Adding to this problem is the non-existence of independent institutions of democracy in the country including the media and election boards.
Dear Sir while I still remain grateful for the services that VOA has been doing to the Horn of Africa, I would like to alert VOA to act to avert the hovering genocide in Oromia, Ethiopia. If you are not directly concerned with this kind of messages, please forward it to the right officer in charge for the sake of humanity.
With regards,
* Mekonen Demissie is a lecturer at one of the Universities in Ethiopia. He can be reached at [email protected].