The current official campaign, declared as ‘Zemecha Menelik” that barbarically massacred the Karayyu Abba Gada and his team in East Shewa zone is the second coming of the original operation by Menelik II in the late 1800s
A statement by the Oromo Federalist congress – Global Support Group (OFC-GSG) on the brutal massacre of the Karayyu Abba Gada and his team in East Shewa, Oromia.
The Oromo people are currently going through one of the toughest times in their recent history. The original project to subjugate and conquer Oromo land and its people was led by the then king of Shewa, Menelik II in the late 1800s. Menelik acquired modern weapons from his European allies, built and deployed an army that killed, burned, mutilated, and terrorized as many Oromos and southern people as possible. Not only did he destroy as many Oromo institutions, including Gada structures as he could at the same time, he violently eliminated all levels of Oromo leadership from Abba Gada to religious and community leaders. Some of the Oromo leaders were hanged while others were jailed for an extended period. All these atrocities were for the sole purpose of subjugating Oromos and looting their lands. As a result, the majority of Oromos were turned into destitute surfs on their ancestral lands for many decades afterward.
Since the forceful incorporation of Oromo lands and its people into the current Ethiopian territory were unjust, Oromos started fighting this racist system right from its beginning and continued fighting it today. Few revolutions came and gone since then and with some gains such as the declaration of “land for the tiler” of 1975 that returned the land to Oromo surfs. After 17 years of civil war, ethnic-based federal regions were created for nations and nationalities in Ethiopia. The establishment of the Oromia Regional Administration had brought hopes of reclaiming Oromo culture, language, traditions, and identity from where they were deliberately buried to facilitate brutal forced assimilation.
However, any revolution or historical junction that has attempted to correct the original sin of Ethiopia’s formation has been met by strong opposition from the groups that have been benefited from the death, displacement, and dispossession of Oromos. Just as the original plans of Menelik II mentioned above, the current Nafxanyaa class and its collaborators are following the original blueprint to reverse every progress Oromos, and nations and nationalities of Ethiopia have made over a protracted struggle. And now, more than ever, these reactionary forces are working tirelessly to complete the original ill plan most violently and horrifyingly without any consideration of the consequences of their actions including disintegration of the country along ethnic lines and death of millions of Ethiopians.
It's to be recalled that the current Ethiopian government, led by prime minister Abiy Ahmed, has emerged from within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ruling coalition that controlled Ethiopia for 27 years. The EPRDF was an undemocratic regime that remained in power since 1991 and until its removal in 2018. EPRDF was removed from power in 2018 through a popular revolt, led primarily by the Oromo youth, aka "Qeerroo" under the banner of "The Oromo Protest" in the hope to bring a new dawn of hope for a transition to a peaceful political settlement. However, the hoped transition changed its expected course and was hijacked by greedy leaders whose interests became clinging to power at the expense of a path to democratic governance. Consequently, today the country is going through the worst humanitarian crisis, and economic hardship in its history due to the current murderous and unnecessary civil war that is consuming the country.
The current cold-blooded massacre of the entire Aba Gada of the karayyuu Oromo in the East Shawa zone shows the true nature of the group on power and the level of its cruelty when it comes to Oromo. The Nafxanya class of this generation has a full utilization of the Ethiopian state power as it is fully controlling all sectors of the federal government and armed itself with weapons ranging from a light assault rifle to modern artificial intelligence mass killing machines like sophisticated drones. Moreover, the group is also armed itself with a dangerous ideological banner conveniently coined, “Zemecha Menelik” (Operation Menelik) to make matters clear about its tie to its historical roots of the late 1800s.
We, members of the Oromo Federalist Congress - Global Support Group (OFC-GSG) would like to express our anger and outrage about the cold-blooded and brutal mass assassination of the Karayyuu Abba Gada and all his team. We understand this brutality is part of our continues miserable history that have started by Menelik II in the late twentieth century that is now being repeated by the forces of this government and its ideological bases of Menelik II under the banner of “Zemecha Menelik” for the fulfillment of the original agenda in assimilating Sothern Nations and Nationalities including the Oromo people.
With a heavy heart and complete shock but full confidence in our people’s resoluteness, OFC-GSG calls for the following:
1. The Oromo people should unite and stand with our Karayyuu community with the highest affirmation and solidarity, and with the understanding that the massacre of Abba Gada Karayyu and his team is part and parcel of the original plan that started 150 years ago.
2. All Oromos living in the vicinity of in East Shawa zone should show their support to assure Karauu’s physical security from a further massacre.
3. Oromos with financial means, both in the homeland and the diaspora, must help our Karayyu brothers and sisters in East Shawa, so they could bury their martyrs, assist the injured to recover, and help the orphans and widows of the massacred.
4. The Oromo people must be alerted to protect their villages, their qe’ee (neighborhood), and their leadership, both in prison and outside, from this brutal and historical enemy that is killing innocent Oromos.
5. The Oromo people should also vigilantly watch out for treasons and subversive groups and individuals that deliberately create agendas to distract us from the main issues like the massacre of our Abba Gada , the dangerous breach of physical security our leaders in Kality prison experienced just a few weeks back, and most importantly, to erode the unity of the Oromo people by dividing us along with religion and regional lines.
6. To Oromos serving this regime, especially in the armed units of the police or the military to understand that this anti-Oromo murderous campaign that is mercilessly killing Oromos with disdain to our culture and tradition is part of the 150-year-old plan and understand that the goal of this campaign is to eradicate Oromo identity including our culture, language, and way of life. Therefore, you the collaborators must realize that any active or passive contribution to this campaign you are making is considered as a betrayal of the Oromo family, and its consequence certainly leaves you with a dark historical mark that stains you and your family for the generations to come. Therefore, we ask you to save yourself and your people by standing up for Oromo just as other regional forces stand for their people.
7. To members of the Prosperity Oromo party (aka OPDO), understand that in a country where a civil war is raging like a wildfire, and at a time when all major ethnic groups except for Oromia are building military capabilities that dwarfs the defense forces of most African countries for the single purpose of protecting the safety, security and most importantly interest of their prospective regions, only you abandoned and exposed the Oromo people just to serve anybody else’s interest while claiming you represent Oromo. The people you claim to represent are yet to be protected by any party in this government you are part of, and we ask you to stop facilitating the death, mass incarceration, and mass massacre of innocent Oromo civilians including our revered Gada leadership for the sake of empowering a system that is anti-Oromo by nature.
In conclusion, OFC-GSG would like to remind everyone that the struggle that is being fiercely fought by Oromos’ brave sons and daughters, the struggle many Oromos were imprisoned and exiled for, above all the struggle many of our martyrs paid the ultimate sacrifice for, and the struggle that is producing millions of patriots of Oromos of this generation cannot and will not be pushed back. The truth is on the side of the oppressed people.
Justice for the viciously murdered Karayyuu Abba Gada and his team!
Oromo shall triumph!
Oromo Federalist Congress-Global Support Group (OFC-GSG)
Minneapolis, MN. USA
Email [email protected]
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