Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)

Statement On

The Wayane/TPLF Instigated Massacre of the Oromos in Western Oromia

 

Once again the TPLF/ EPRDF regime has deliberately organized and instigated

armed attack on the Oromo. This time the regime organized, trained, armed

and unleashed militia from Gumuz, a nation in a region neighboring Oromia

from the West, on wanton killings of the Oromos of East Wallaggaa, Western

Oromia. This is a Crime against Humanity.

The Oromo and Gumuz peoples have lived together as good neighbors for

hundreds of years. It is these neighboring peoples that the TPLF regime

maliciously turned against each other causing days of violence that claimed the

lives of more than 400 people, as a result of a campaign that went on from May

17, 2008 to May 19, 2008. The Gumuz militia attack on the unarmed civilian

Oromos caused the death of hundreds and many more injuries and

displacement of hundreds to people, and destruction of large amount of

properties. The TPLF regime trained and armed Gumuz militia with AK-47

and heavy machine-guns and ordered them to commit indiscriminate killings of

unarmed Oromo civilians of East Wallagaa. As a matter of the TPLF

government’s policy, the Oromos were disarmed and are not allowed to bear

arms. The Gumuz militia attacked the unaware and unarmed civilians.

Hundreds of Oromos were subjected to horrific and barbaric killings. The

militia is said to be so heavily armed that the local police themselves had to flee

along with the civilians. The relevant government body and armed forces were

bystanders watching the massacre of the unarmed and defenseless Oromos.

Ever since it came to power, the TPLF/EPRDF regime has applied the outdated

‘divide and rule’ policy to weaken peoples’ struggles for freedom and justice by

sowing seeds of disharmony among friendly neighboring peoples. The TPLF

regime’s track record of the past 17 years of tyrannical rule is full of such evil

intrigues that instigated bloody conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia. As a result

of TPLF’s machinations Oromo and Sidama, Oromo and Somali, Oromo and

Gedao, Anywak and Nuer, Oromo and Amhara, Oromo and Oromo, now

Oromo and Gumuz and several other people have clashed. As the result

thousands of innocent lives were lost, tens of thousands of people were

displaced and enormous amounts of properties were destroyed in the past 17

years. Behind all the conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia during this period,

there always are the TPLF regime’s security agents deliberately creating

distrust and suspicion among peoples who have lived peacefully for many years

as neighbors. The regime survives by creating armed conflicts among peoples

in Ethiopia. Such heinous act is a crime against humanity

For years, the OLF has been issuing warnings to all the peoples in Ethiopia in

general and to the Oromo in particular to be cautious and not to fall into the

trap of TPLF instigated ethnic conflict. It is sad that contrary to our early

warnings, the regime succeeded in recruiting thugs from among the friendly

people of Gumuz and attacked and caused the death of hundreds of innocent

and unarmed population and the destruction of their properties. Only in the

past weeks this regime made agreement with bio-fuel companies to

misappropriate hundreds of thousands of hectares of land from that region and

persecuted the local administration. The current move is to deflect the attention

of the people from that scheme. We have no doubt that the TPLF regime will

continue to foment similar conflicts among the peoples in Ethiopia. Therefore,

all the peoples in Ethiopia need to always be vigilant and work together to foil

future similar wicked acts of the minority TPLF regime.

Finally, the OLF vehemently condemns the cruel act and policies of the TPLF

regime and Gumuz militia that resulted in the death and injuries of hundreds of

innocent Oromos. Again we forewarn the brotherly peoples of Oromo and

Gumuz in particular and all the peoples in Ethiopia in general to defy the

regime’s malicious divide and rule policy, unite and work together to hasten the

inevitable downfall of the minority TPLF regime. At the same time, we remind

the Oromo people, the victim of the minority TPLF regime’s long declared allout

war of subjugation, that you are in the war of liberation, to which you have

all the rights, and hence to rise and defend yourself by all means at your

disposal.

Last, but not least, we call upon the international community and governments

to exert all necessary pressures on the TPLF regime to desist from its inhuman

and destructive policies of deliberately setting the people it purports to govern

against each other. We also call on all concerned governments and

international organizations to pay close attention to the crime against humanity

the minority tyrannical TPLF regime is perpetrating in Ethiopia and the Horn of

Africa in general and take remedial actions before it is too late.