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Asafa Jalata, University of Tennessee, USA

Wanda Rushing, University of Memphis, USA

Lemmu Baissa, Utica College, USA
Asfaw Beyene, San Diego State University, USA
Belletech Deressa, Global Mission, USA
Bichaka Fayissa, Middle Tennessee University, USA
Mohammed Hassen, Georgia State University, USA
Bonnie K. Holcomb, George Washington University, USA
William I. Robinson, New Mexico State University, USA
Admasu Shunkuri, University of New Mexico, USA
Addisu Tolesa, lndiana University, USA


Adam Abdalla, CUNY, USA
Mario I. Aguilar, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
George Banti, University of Rome, Italy
Paul Baxter, University of Manchester, UK
Mekuria Bulcha, University of Uppsala, Sweden
Bahiru Gametchu, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA
Richard Hayward, University of London, UK
Jan Hultin, University of Goteborg, Sweden
Virginia Luling, Survival International, London, UK
Said Samatar, Rutgers University, USA
Sidney Waldron, SUNY Cortland, USA
Rev. Ronald Ward, Toronto Baptist I-C Services, Canada

VOLUME 7, NUMBERS 1 & 2, JULY 2000


Department of Sociology
901 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0490
The Journal of Oromo Studies (JOS) is a multi-disciplinaly international
journal of the Oromo Studies Association, and it publishes original research
and book reviews on Oromo studies and other related issues twice a year.
J O S welcomes contributions from all areas of Oromo studies and related
fields. Since manuscripts are evaluated by anonymous peer reviewers in the
appropriate field, publishing decisions are made on the recommendation of
these reviewers. It is our commitment to work with authors, and we respond
with comments whether or not we publish the manuscript. Articles
published in this journal do not necessarily represent the views of the Oromo
Studies Association or those of its officers; individual authors carry full
responsibility for the accuracy of the facts and for opinions expressed in the

0 2000 The Journal of Oromo Studies

All rights reserved
ISSN 1070-2202

Subscriptions: Published twice a year. One year individual, $20.00; one

year institutional, $40.00. Single copies: $1 0.00 for individuals; $20.00 for
institutions. Add $5.00 for mailing outside of the USA.

Please send manuscripts, and business and editorial correspondence to Asafa

Jalata, Editor, The Journal of Oromo Studies, Department of Sociology,
901 McCIung Tower, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0490.
Manuscripts must be submitted in three copies (typed, double spaced) with
an abstract of about 200 words. Figures, tables, and maps must be camera-
ready. Authors must follow the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of
Style. Separate notes and references should be at the end of the manuscript.
Accepted articles must be submitted in Wordperfect 5.1.

Editorial Overview

The Politicization of My Oromo-English Dictionary:

The Writer's Reflections
Tilahun Gamta 1-17

Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights in the

Oromo Quest for National Liberation
Kuwee Kumsa 19-56

Intermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

Asfaw Beyene 57-85

"Where the Bulls Fight, it is the Grass that Suffers:" Impact of

Border Administration on Drought Coping Strategies of the Obbu
Booran During the 20'~century
Gufu Oba 87-108

A Short History of Oromo Colonial Experience: Part Two, Colonial

Consolidation and Resistance 1935-2000
Mohammed Hassen 109-198

Call for Papers 199-202

Book Reviews 203-218


TILAHUN GAMTA was an Associate Professor of Education and

Language at Addis Ababa University, before he retired in June 1996. He
has published, in addition to many articles, two major works, namely The
Oromo English Dictionary (Addis Ababa University Printing Press, 1989),
and Seera Afaan Oromo (Berhanina Selam Printing Press, 1995).

KUWEE KUMSA was born and raised in Oromia, Ethiopia. She now
lives in Toronto, Canada, where she studies at the University of Toronto.

ASFAW BEYENE teaches at San Diego State University, Department of

Mechanical Engineering. He has published several articles in scholarly
journals. His research interests include energy systems, gas turbine engine
cycle and energy analysis, mathematical modeling, and simulation.

GUFU OBA is Senior Researcher in Ecosystems Management at the

Agricultural University of Norway. He has conducted research on land use
and food security both in Booran, Southern Oromia (Ethiopia) and Northern
Kenya. He has worked on arid zone research and published numerous
scientific works in peer reviewed journals, such as BioScience.

MOHAMMED HASSEN is an Associate Professor of History at Georgia

State University, Atlanta. He is the author of The Oromo of Ethiopia: A
Histoty 1570-1860, (Cambridge University Press, 1990), and has also
published more than a dozen articles, numerous book chapters and book
reviews. He was the president of the Oromo Studies Association, and the
editor of The Journal of Oromo Studies

This volume of The Journal ofOromo Studies deals with the issue
of lack of intellectual freedom and the challenge Oromo scholars face when
they try to write something relevant for Oromo society in the Ethiopian
Empire, the dialectical relationship between human rights and peoples'
rights, the relevance of appropriate technology for the development of
Oromia, the impact ofthe colonization and partition of Boorana Oromos by
colonial forces, and the possibility of decolonizing Oromia and
democratizing Ethiopia.
Linguist Tilahun Gamta exposes the political slavery under which
the Oromo people live in the Ethiopian empire by using his own experience
of writing and publishing The Oromo-EnglishDictionary. He explains how
the Ethiopian military regime known as Derg and its bureaucrats
systematically tried to kill Afaan Oromo by forcing Oromos to abandon their
own language and learn the Amhara language. Despite the fact that writing
and publishing this book was risky, Professor Gamta wrote this book for
three major reasons: First, he wanted to save the Oromo language from
destruction by recording some Oromo words. The second reason was to
show Oromo students that Afaan Oromo, in its written forms, can enrich
their English vocabula~y.The third reason was to demonstrate how the Latin
alphabet was suitable to write in the Oromo language.
Professor Gamta demonstrates why the Latin alphabet is more
suitable to write in Afaan Oromo than the Amhara syllabary and the
International phonetic alphabets. Furthermore, he provides the detailed
descriptions of what happened to him by Ethiopian bureaucrats when he was
trying to publish this dictionary. Professor Gamta's work reveals that a
conscious and committed Oromo scholar can contribute to the development
of Oromo scholarship even in a very difficult and dangerous situation.
Kuwee Kumsa critically examines the dynamic relationship behveen
human rights and peoples' rights as pertaining to the Oromo national
struggle. By exposing the fallacy of those discourses that artificially isolate
human rights from peoples' rights, she explains how the West has abused
and misused the discourse of democracy, and endorsed and supported the
emergence and consolidation of an ethnocratic minority state in Ethiopia.
Further, by using a single standard for humanity on the issue of
human rights, Kuwee Kumsa notes that many Oromo nationalists do not
recognize the human rights violations that occur in Oromo society while they
are fighting against Ethiopian colonialism and global imperialism. She
suggests that while Oromos struggle for their human rights and people's
rights they should deal with the contradictions in Oromo society by
recognizing diversity and developing unity based on diversity. She
challenges the approach that dichotomizes human rights and peoples' rights
and demonstrates the need for integrating both types of rights into the
Oromo struggle for liberation.
Kuwee Kumsa argues that to maintain its revolutionary origin, the
Oromo Liberation Front must recognize Oromo diversity to mobilize all
sectors of Oromo society by combining Oromo human rights and people's
rights and fight against all forms of oppression, such as national, class, and
gender oppression. This alternative approach, she comments, will make the
Oromo liberation struggle participatory and powerful. Kuwee Kumsa notes
that this is the only way to facilitate a fundamental social transformation in
Oromo society.
Through documenting the historical evolution and development of
technology in the West, Engineer Asfaw Beyene assesses how intermediate
technology can help in promoting the development of peripheral countries
in general and Oromia in particular. He argues that nations like Oromia
while struggling to liberate themselves politically also need to think about
the adoption of appropriate technology that can promote sustainable
development. He recommends that Oromos who are interested in
development issues should not wait until the Oromo political problem is
solved, and they should start to search for ways of technologically and
economically developing Oromia. He implicitly suggests that political
freedom without sound economic and technological policies cannot solve
the problem of dependency and underdevelopment for nations like Oromia.
Gufu Oba explores how the colonization and partition of Boorana
Oromos by the British and Ethiopian colonial states violated the rights of the
transfrontier communities by denying them access to valued resources, such
as grazing land and water, and by destroying their pre-colonial drought
coping mechanisms. Since their colonization and partition, he argues,
Boorana Oromos in Kenya and Ethiopia have lost their political freedom and
economic resources and confronted by perpetual drought, famine, conflict,
and war. Illustrating all these problems, Oba also shows how the
diminishing of indigenous mechanisms of resolving contradictions and
conflicts and negotiating access rights to resources have affected various
Oromo communities in Kenya and Ethiopia. Oba demonstrates how colonial
policies have increased livestock mortality, famine, and hunger, and these
tragic problems will continue until these policies are changed.
Continuing his discussion of the decolonization of Oromia and
democratization of the Ethiopian empire, Historian Mohammed Hassen,
describes the Oromo colonial experience and resistance to Ethiopian settler
colonialism from 1935 to the present. He documents how successive
Ethiopian regimes have been attacking Oromo peoplehood, explaining how
the Tigrayan-led regime practices state terrorism to destroy Oromo
nationalism and independent Oromo organizations, particularly the Oromo
Liberation Front. Although he demonstrates that the Ethiopian elites are
mainly concerned with maintaining their dominance at any cost rather than
promoting democracy, Mohammed Hassen still believes that the
transformation of the Ethiopian empire into a truly federal democratic
Ethiopia can solve the Oromo political problem.
However, if all Ethiopian elites oppose the democratization of
Ethiopia that includes the decolonization of Oromia, as he explains, it is not
clear how a truly federal democratic Ethiopia can emerge. Although
Mohammed Hassen recognizes that most Oromo nationalists have been
struggling to create an independent republic of Oromia and to uproot
Ethiopian settler colonialism, he prefers the aspects of Oromo nationalism
that attempt to form a truly federal democratic Ethiopia. Those Oromo
nationalists who take similar positions must convince the mainstream Oromo
nationalists why the federation approach is better than the independence
approach, and how it can be achieved.
Finally, on behalf of the Oromo Studies Association and myself I
would like to recognize the outstanding contributions that Bonnie Holcomb
and Wanda Rushing have made for the last four years. Our team work has
increased the quality and visibility of The Journal ofororno Studies. As an
anonymous reviewer, Bonnie Holcomb has made an excellent job of
providing detailed comments and editing manuscripts. Wanda Rushing, as
an associated editor, has made a meticulous editorial job. The care,
commitment, competence, and skill with which these two scholars helped
this journal show their professional excellence and commitment for justice
and equality. I am very lucky to work with these two scholars and others who
combine professional excellence and commitment to the development of
liberation knowledge. Whenever I needed immediate assistance it was
Shirley Hollis who generously provided her time and skill to finalize the
activities that were needed to publish this journal. Hence, she deserves
many thanks for her extraordinary contribution. 1 also appreciate Sam
Zahran for contributing his skill and knowledge. Sherry Cable also deserves
appreciation for her moral and other necessary supports. Further, Shirley
Walker and Pam Morgan provided valuable secretarial assistance, and,
therefore, deserve many thanks. I also would like to thank other external
anonymous reviewers, such as Lemmu Baissa, Mohammed Hassen, Bill
Robinson, Sisai Ibssa, Guluma Gemeda, Asfaw Beyene, Gobena Huluka,
Bichaka Fayissa, Robert Jones, and Richard Hayward. I also thank those
who contributed articles and took the pain of going through the process of
revising and finalizing their intellectual work. I also thank the Dean of Arts
and Sciences, the Department of Sociology, and the African and African
American Studies Program for providing financial assistance for publishing
the journal for the last four years. Furthermore, the Department of Sociology
at the University of Tennessee deserves special appreciation for providing
clerical and financial support this year, too. Kelli Blair deserves many
thanks for preparing the manuscript for printing this year. The Journal of
Oromo Studies is produced with the efforts of all these individuals and
institutions. I am very glad to work with all of them.

Asafa Jalata,
Editor, July 2000

Tilahun Gamta/Xiilaahun Gamtaa


Many Oromos wonder how I was able to write and publish The
Oromo-English Dictionary (OED) in Ethiopia under Mengistu's regime, a
reflections on the writing of the work and some of the difficulties
encountered in publishing it.
trilingual dictionary. Some of my Abyssinian colleagues at Addis Ababa
appearance of "Amharic," though ostensible, at the beginning of the
trilingual dictionary probably explains why they showered good wishes upon
me. Very soon, my name and the title ofthe elusive project appeared in one
of Addis Ababa University's research news bulletins. To complete this
'ingenious' project without any difficulty, I was advised to submit a research
I thanked my enthusiastic Abyssinian friends and tacitly ignored the
the so-called ingenious project.
I believe that the regime's ubiquitous security members took my
language, in spite of one hundred years ofthe flagrant policy of suppression
by the Abyssinian colonizers of Oromiyaa.

The Journql of OromoStudies, Volume 4, Numbers I & 2, July 2000, pp. 1-17
elderly Raayyaa Oromo. Despite a minor difference in our pronunciation,
kaleeshakaleessa (yesterday), for instance, we could understand each other
handsome face, that the younger generation must be taught Afaan Oromo
Oromiyaa and Kenya is almost identical at the lexical level. The then-
rampant and alarming rumor that there were wide regional variations in
Afaan Oromo, I became convinced, was baseless.
"Addis Ababa" after the colonization of Oromo country). I saw corpses being
shoveled out of dump hucks and shewn on the sidewalks for all to see and
presumably with the message that they should behave themselves! I saw
boys, girls, younglold men and women thrown out of speeding military jeeps
and shot dead.
There were two primary reasons for attempting to write this
Empire had cowered in the aftermath of the brutal Red Terror, Mengistu's
of every nationlnationality in the Ethiopian Empire. The unsuspecting
victims of this tacit policy were beguiled into believing that fifteen languages
distribution of literature written in the Amharic script in areas where the
Amharic syllabary, which cannot be adapted to writing the Kushitic
Politicizarion of my Oromo-English dictionary

280 Amharic characters as compared to about 35 Latin symbols required to
write, if adapted carefully, most Kushitic languages.
The opposition voiced by Kushitic people against the use of the
Amharic script was made to appear by the regime's cadre as a resistance
against learning their own respective ethnic languages! The regime's cadre
started to report that all the nationalities, including about 30 million Oromos,
prefer to learn the Amharic language instead of their own respective
languages for practical reasons since Amharic is the official language of the
Empire. The implication of this argument was in effect to urge the regime to
abandon altogether the policy which I considered specious all along of
allowing the use of nationality languages and then declaring openly an
"Amharic only" policy. To my mind, this was clearly an attempt to
assimilate the non-Amhara groups into Amhara culture.
It is to be remembered also that prior to the eruption of the
Ethiopian "revolution" in February 1974, a grade of C in Amharic had been
one of the minimum requirements for candidates who wished to join
institutions of higher education. Because of this requirement alone, many
non-Amhara students had been barred from joining AAU. Obviously, the
native Amharic-speaking students had an advantage over the non-Amhara
students for whom Amharic was a second language. Even afterjoining the
freshman program of AAU, the non-Amhara students had to overcome
another hurdle: they had to pass the required Amharic 101 and 102 courses
to remain in the university. More difficult still, some of those who succeeded
were forced to join the Education Faculty, major in Amharic (then offered
by the Amharic Department), and teach it afler graduation. In the heyday of
the revolution, the non-Amhara students put up a strong resistance and had
this arbitrary requirement rescinded. They also managed to have the
Amharic Department closed altogether.
However, after the non-Amhara students' anger had subsided, the
regime reinstated the same Amharic Department in a very subtle way. One
approach the regime came up with was changing the name "Amharic
Department" to "Ethiopian Languages and Literature Department". The
change, the department declared, was necessary to accommodate the
nationality languages. In fact, what it did was to offer, in addition to
Amharic, an archaic language called Ge'ez -- a language used only in the
liturgy of the Coptic Church. Once again, using the misnomer "Ethiopian
languages and Literature" as a fagade, the department continued to resist the
very idea of introducing and teaching any of the nationality languages in the
To realize the ambitious plan to eliminate or to cast the other
languages into oblivion, the regime made a substantial effort. To further
promote Amharic, it decided to discontinue even the use of English as a
medium of instruction in the high schools, colleges, and in AAU. The
regime's "revolutionary" cadres started their campaign against English,
denouncing it as a "capitalist" language. In Addis Ababa University, a
generously funded committee was established to translate science and
technology terminology into Amharic. A cadre who overheard me say,
"things are going a bit far", said to me, perchance in jest, "you Englishman,
you are not a good Ethiopian!"
All these stratagems were clearly designed to promote Amharic at
the expense of the languages of the other nations/nationalities. I could easily
see through the regime's tactics. I was bitter. I thought Afaan Oromo would
not be able to endure and that Wallo's fate was looming up for all Oromiyaa.
So, though I had no money for the project I did have interest and
determination, and thus I made up my mind to try to save my language from
sinking into oblivion by recording at least a part of its vocabulary on paper.
The second reason for my writing the bilingual dictionary was to
enrich the English vocabulary of Ororno students through a bilingual
dictionary and at the same time enable them see their language in its written
form. As stated in the OED itself, I believe that in an environment where
contact with the native speakers of English and exposure to their culture is
almost nil, the OED is extremely useful. Although some foreign language
teachers may frown upon the idea of using bilingual dictionaries to teach a
foreign language, it does no harm to tell an Oromo speaker that, for instance,
qoru, qoom, qorru, respectively mean to investigate, to dry, and to feel cold
(See OED, pages 396 to 397).
Politicization o f m y Oromo-English dictionary

Regarding the question of what symbols to use to write Afaan

Oromo, I had two options. One option was inventing 33 symbols that could
represent the 33 Oromo phonemes. After dallying with this idea for a while,
I abandoned it because it proved to be impractical. The second option was
to adapt any suitable script. Here again, after trying the Amharic syllabary,
the Latin, and the International Phonetic alphabets, I concluded that the
Latin alphabet is the best of the three for writing Afaan Oromo.
Also, a similar conclusion had been arrived at in the early 1970's.
A group of Oromo scholars in Europe anonymously wrote in 1973 an
excellent grammar book titled, Hirmaatadubbii Afaan Oromo: Beekumsi
durii jireenya har 'aatiifakka tolu. As can be seen from this 139-page book,
the authors almost perfected the adaptation process for us. They show
short/long vowel sounds by singleldouble vowel letters, respectively, as in
busadbuusaa (malarialfringe), and to indicate gemination, which is
phonemic in Afaan Oromo, they use double consonants as in badaafhaddaa
(manyhighland). So do we today. Perhaps, the only difference is that
whereas they use diacritical marks to represent five sounds, we now employ
the digraphs ch, dh, ny, ph, sh for the same sounds. Because of this added
refmement, it is now possible to use any typewriter or computer that has keys
for all the letters of the Latin alphabet and the Arabic numerals. The qubee,
the Oromo alphabet in its present form, has now firmly established itself in
Oromo culture in spite of the Abyssinian opposition.

The Oromo-English Dictionary (OED): the Writing Process

The work was done in three stages: planning/decision-making,

writing, and publication.

Planning/Decision-making Phase

I decided to proceed as follows: to make all the necessary decisions

carefully, write them down, and place a reminder, i.e. paper or card on which
the decisions are written in a convenient place for easy reference. I was
aware that to ensure consistency, lexicographers must stick to their decisions
throughout. Changing hisher mind after typing on a manual typewriter, say,
400 pages, can be costly and time-consuming drudge. Here is an example
from my own experience: I discovered that 1 had made two minor mistakes.
One was using three consonant clusters as in /Kur'CCi:/ instead ofjust two
as in /Kur'Ci:/. The second mistake was that I had assumed that there was
a shade of difference in length between /a:/ and /a/. However, after typing,
using the conventional typewriter since I had no computer then, 307 pages
I realized that, in the phonemic transcription part, either /a:/ or /a/,not both,
could have been appropriate to represent the long vowel sound. In other
words, I should have transcribed, for instance, the present 1 ka:'su: 1 and /
kaw'u: 1, either as / ka'su: 1 and / ka'wu: / or as 1 ka:'su: / and / ka:'wu:
/consistently. Obviously, it is not difficult to imagine the formidable task of
going over 307 pages had I attempted to make the changes!
The first decision I had made before I began writing the OED was
to compile a bilingual dictionary that educated Oromos could use. All
Oromos educated in Ethiopian schools know at least two other languages
besides their own. They can read and write the other two or more languages
except, for the most part, their own first language.
The Oromos are not illiterates in their own first language by choice.
For over one hundred years, the Abyssinians spared no expense to prevent
Afaan Oromo from becoming a written language and from being used in
schools, in courts, and anywhere near the bureaucracies that have always
existed as exclusive clubs to serve the interests of members! They banned
both the production and the introduction of any Oromo literature idinto the
Empire. They even burned the Bible for being written in Afaan Oromo.
Ironically, the fact that the translator of the Bible, Abbaa Gammachiis, used
the Amharic syllabary, which Abyssinians consider sacred, did not save him
from cruel harassment and witch-hunts! They hunted down Shaykh Bakri
Saplo, who died mysteriously in exile, because he tried to invent an alphabet
for writing Afaan Oromo. It is my view that if such harsh measures had not
been applied, no Oromo would have chosen to remain illiterate in hisfher
own mother tongue.
My second major decision before starting writing the OED had to
do with the number of entries and the dialect to he included. I decided to
include all the words and morphemes in the language. Dictionary writing
can be a very difficult undertaking for one person. Dealing with, say, ten
Politicization ofmy Oromo-English dictionary

thousand entries is like working on ten thousand projects, not just one
project. I tackled it without the benefit of the computer and financial
assistance. So, if once in a while, one cannot find in OED what one
considers a household word, it is understandable and, in due course,
The words came from my own store of vocabulary, from the scanty
literature available at the time, from radio broadcasts, and from
conversations. After coming across an unfamiliar word, I made it a point to
meet or telephone at least five persons to clarify its meaning before entering
it in the dictionary. Obviously, I did not always expect an accurate
definition; it was enough if they uttered the word and its collocation. For
instance, I remember asking a man if he knew the meaning of (h)imimsu (to
snort). Somewhat surprised at my ignorance, he answered my question with
a question: "Maal, (h)imimsu jechuun maal akka ta'e himbeektanuu?
Imimsu jechuun imimsu dhuma kaa! Farda malee ammo maaltu himimsa?"
(How come you don't know what himimsu means? Himimsu means
himimsu, it's that simple! Besides, what else snorts except a horse?).
What about foreign words that have firmly established themselves
in the language after being adopted, adapted, or translated? Certainly, words
like kootii (adoption of the English word 'coat'), rophilaanii (adaptation of
'airplane'), abbaa buddeenaa (probably translation of 'ye injeraa abbaat'
which in Amharic literally means 'father of bread', step-father) cannot be
ignored by a lexicographer whose responsibility is to record words as
objectively as possible.
In fact, I would like to propose that we Oromos encourage judicious
adoption and adaptation of technical and scientific terms. New commodities
and concepts are introduced along with the jargodterms by which they are
identified in the country of their origin. The word 'sputnik', the name for the
machine the then Soviet Union made to orbit the earth in 1957, is adopted
and used in the English language today. Regarding dialect, I made it a
point not to mention. In an environment where antagonists were looking for
every opportunity to divide the Oromo people, I did not want to give them
a weapon, a wedge to be put between us. There is no need for using labels
such as "Tuulamaa" or "Maccaa" dialect. 1 adopted the position that an
Oromo word used anywhere is a property of all Oromos everywhere. It is a
treasury that we Oromos all fall back on when we talk or write on topics
such as administration, arts and sciences, business, diplomacy, judiciary,
politics, science and technology, etc.
Pertaining to standardization, some Oromos have started talking
about the need for resolving this important issue as soon as possible. I
believe that the issue can wait until at least two prime requirements are met.
First, we have to collect all the linguistic data from all over Oromiyaa and
understand what the differences actually are. Some minor differences that
could exist, for example, in terms of what words mean and how they are
pronounced in different parts of the nation, must be identified and analyzed
scientifically. Doing the job well requires time, patience, dedication, money,
and material resources.
The second important prerequisite for standardization is
autonomylself-determination. When the Oromos themselves begin to
administer the affairs of Oromiyaa, they will develop Afaan Oromo as they
see it fit, not on the basis of the directives that are sent down to them from
" ye belaay akaal" (the higher echelon), the invisible decision maker from the
corridors of power. As a language at work Afaan Oromo will of necessity
standardize itself Standardization is already in motion. For instance, when
I was writing the OED, not only were there different names of the months,
but also there were contradictory versions of the order in which they were
cited. The present edition of the OED reflects that confusion. The OLF
calendar has now standardized the names of the months for us, and we are
able to say, off the top of our head: Amajjii, Guraandbala, Bitootessa,
Caamsaa, Ebla, Waxabajjii, Adoolessa, Hagayya, Birraa, Onkoloolessa,
Saddaasa, and Arfaasaa (January to December), in that order.
Finally, the most politically sensitive decision I made was to use the
Latin alphabet instead of the Amharic syllabary. Because of this and the
decision to abandon (for being cumbersome and expensive) the projected
"Amharic-Oromo-English Dictionary", the first typed draft of the OED was
caught up in Abyssinian politics. Even though I deliberately avoided using
the standard Oromo spelling we now use because it is identified with the
OLF, the decision got me into all sorts of problems. I was harangued almost
everywhere: in my office, in the corridors, and in the staff lounge. The
bureaucracy got tougher with me and used any pretext to at least delay the
Poliricization of my Oromo-English dictionary

publication of the work. After the bureaucrats got copies of the first draft,
my occupation became thinking of the most effective, diplomatic way of
answering their frequently asked questions, " Why the Latin alphabet? Why
not the Amharic alphabet? Why the OED? Why not OAD or AOD, i.e.
Oromo-Amharic Dictionary or Amharic-Oromo Dictionary? Why a bilingual
dictionary? Why not just an Amharic or Oromo dictionary?" As it will be
clearer later on in this paper, the tactics of asking irrelevant questions and of
setting up a committee of inquiry worked to delay publication. It took five
more years for the work to be published, i.e. between the completion of the
first draft in 1984 and its publication in 1989!

Writing Phase

A brief discussion of the irony of an event that actually facilitated

the writing of the OED is in order here. I was the Dean of the Education
Faculty, AAU, when the president of the university (an economist), the vice
president (a lawyer), and the Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty (a
geographer), met secretly (probably in 1977) and wrote a controversial
proposal which in effect dismantled the Education Faculty. Without
consulting any member from the Education Faculty, the trio of University
bureaucrats, agents of the regime themselves, proposed that most of the
major departments under the Education Faculty should be transferred to the
Natural Sciences and Social Sciences Faculties. As might be expected, all
the members of the Education Faculty, except one whom I considered a
renegade, were diametrically opposed to the proposal. I was accused of
inciting the members against the university administration, a dangerous
precedent in a "communist" Ethiopia, I was warned.
That was the time (sometime in 1977) when the regime was labeling
Oromos with phrases such as "Right Roaders" and "Narrow Nationalists".
When I arrived at my office one morning, I saw three large posters hanging
on the walls close to the door of my office and a woman standing in front of
it. On one of the posters was written, in large letters and in red ink, the
sentence,"Xabbaab bihertanyochi innaa qanyi mangadanyoch yi
wadimaallu!" (Narrow Nationalists and Right Roaders shall be annihilated!)
Whether her presence was by design or by coincidence I am not sure, the
woman said in Amharic and with an affected voice choked with emotion,
"Oh! How glad I am to see you! My husband, who was one of your
students, and I were crying all night because we heard that you died!" I
thanked her for her concern and said," As you can see for yourself, I am still
The same day, the man I referred to above as a "renegade," whom
I helped to join the Education Faculty after he had been dismissed from the
Minishy of Education, came to my ofice and gave me a great deal of advice
on how to work with the bureaucrats smoothly. Of the many things he
emphasized I always remember the saying with which he concluded his
diatribe. It goes like this: " Sittaazzi inda geetaa; sittittaazzaz inda baariyaa"
siibbaal alsammaahim? (Haven't you heard the Amharic saying, "When you
order, pose like a master; when you are given orders by your superior, you
must cringe and obey like a slave?") To my mind, this misguided
philosophy is one of the core problems of Abyssinian bureaucracy, which
functions as an exclusive club. The person stationed at every level of the
bureaucratic hierarchy takes the hint that helshe is entitled to be approached
with servile obedience and adulation by those who are in the lower echelon.
The existence of a law, no matter how nominal, does not matter to the
bureaucrat who is usually a law unto himself/herself. Because of this
mentality, there is not much that one can claim as right unless the
bureaucrat's m a l ~ a mfaqaad (graciousness) is secured. Nor is there a
pleasant atmosphere conducive to genuine, democratic discussions between
the bureaucrats above and below.
Frankly, that morning, I was distraught with worry because of the
posters, the woman's mention of my "death," and the renegade's diatribe. In
the afternoon of the same day, the Vice President asked me to arrange a staff
meeting of the Faculty for the next day. At the meeting, a heated argument
ensued. All the members but the renegade insisted that the courses (Biology,
Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Amharic, English, History, Geography)
that had been so meticulously designed, and over the years, had proved to be
very effective for would-be high school teachers and should remain under
the Education Faculty. The vice president, the regime's loyal cadre, did not
agree. To make matters worse, he added Educational Psychology to the list
of courses that should be removed from the Education Faculty. He also shut
Politicization of my Ororno-English dictionary

down Prince Beide Mariam School, the Faculty's laboratory where students
had done their practice teaching. After the meeting, he told me that he had
no problem with my ability as a whole and said that, all the same, it would
be better if I stayed away from any administrative activities at least for as
long as he, the leader of the moment, wielded the power. He was hue to his
word: he relieved me of all my administrative duties and transferred me to
the Institute of Language Studies (ILS).
That transfer was a blessing in disguise for me because writing the
OED as a member of the ILS was more justifiable than writing it as a
member of the Education Faculty. Besides, since I had been barred from
administrative responsibilities at the ILS, I was able to concentrate, after
teaching the required maximum of 12 hours a week, on my project during
my free hours at night and on weekends. As a result, I completed writing the
work in the summer of 1984.

The Publication Phase

Some time in 1984 I gave the completed draft to the AAU Research
and Publications Office @PO) for assessment. According to AAU rules and
regulations, any work submitted for publication must be assessed by two
anonymous, external reviewers who must also be at least one academic rank
higher than the author of a work to be published. The two reviewers lauded
the work and shongly recommended that it be published. However, one of
them asked, genuinely and out of curiosity, why the Latin alphabet was used
instead of the Amharic script. Gradually, this question gathered momentum
and became a cause into which almost every Abyssinian staff of AAU threw
himselfherself heart and soul. Surprisingly, while conducting my
father-in-law's funeral service, even the priest, suddenly, out of the blue said,
"ahunimmaa woromo dikshinarii tatsifowaal yibbaalaal!" (It is said that even
an Oromo dictionary has already been written nowadays!). The comment
about an Oromo dictionary was so unrelated and inappropriate to the
occasion that even the most anti-Oromo Abyssinians present were
Since the OED was not Amharic but was Afaan Oromo, a language
that is condemned to death, it must be assessed again. I can imagine what
a bureaucrat might have said to the RPO people, "More reviewers, not just
two, must be involved in scrutinizing this controversial work." I believe that
due to the pressure coming from higher up, the Office went against its own
rules and had the OED reviewed again by three more persons. Apparently,
this time the work was sent to reviewers who must have been handpicked
because all of them literally called me names for using the Latin alphabet.
Among other things, they labeled me a chauvinist intellectual, a narrow
nationalist, an enemy of Ethiopian unity and of the Amharic script. One
detected a single misspelled word in the "Introduction" to the OED and
concluded that I was not fit to be an English teacher! Amazingly though,
they, too, still recommended that the work should be published.
Using diplomatic language, I tried to prove my innocence. I assured
all concerned that the OED was only a scientific endeavor and that I was not
out to destroy the Amharic script. To prove the point that 1 do not hate the
Amharic syllabary and to allay their fears, 1 wrote an article titled "Ye Beet
Siraa" (Homework) in Amharic and had it published in a party-sponsored
education journal. Incidentally, for this article I was sent a check for 150
Birr (US$30). In addition, in a paper I presented in Finfinne at the
International Conference on Ethiopian Studies, I tried to convince all
concerned that the Latin alphabet was selected specifically for the purpose
of writing the OED and that it was not an endorsement of its use in general.
After the conference, some participants, mostly Kushitic scholars
from Europe, U.S.A., the then USSR, and Asia, expressed their support for
and interest in the work. Very shortly, a publishing company in Germany
wrote me a letter in which it promised that it was ready to publish the OED
at no cost to me.
At every opportunity, 1 capitalized upon this letter. I started to
appeal to the ego, prejudices, and fears of AAU bureaucrats. I argued that
instead of giving away its work to a German publishing company, an
autonomous university, whose purpose is to enhance teaching and research,
should welcome works such as an OED and publish it itself. If published in
Finfinne, the relatively low cost of publication would make the work
affordable in Ethiopia. Besides, not only can the university earn money by
producing and selling the work in bulk, but also the Amharic-speaking
governors deployed all over Oromiyaa, could use the work for checking their
Politicization of my Ororno-English dictionary

interpreters. More importantly, it is good politics for the Ethiopian

government whose very public policy at the time was its commitment to
"developing" the nationality languages!
These proffered reasons started to produce positive results. I was
even advised to submit the letter from Germany together with the OED draft
and request the university Senate to promote me from the rank of Assistant
Professor to that of the Associate Professor. I got my promotion, although
some thought that I should have saved the OED for a promotion to the rank
of Professor. One able member ofthe Senate, a professor, first congratulated
me and then jokingly said, "When playing rummy, people never throw away
their jokers! Few short articles would have been enough for the promotion
to the rank of Associate Professor." I laughed, but I did not tell him that my
greatest ambition was not to get the rank or money but to see the OED
published. Another positive result was, except for the staunch conservatives,
many stopped opposing the publication of the work.
Actually, in my opinion, the main reason for the ebbing away of
opposition was the involvement of the Dean of the ILS at the time.
Practically every member of AAU was in awe of the Dean, not only because
he was the representative of the Party and a man often seen on TV sitting
beside Mengistu, but also because he was in charge of all AAU political
affairs. After going over the draft, he said that the OED must be published
and that any opposition to this worthwhile work should be silenced.
Definitely, there was a temporary respite after the Dean's position became
clear. To my great surprise, even "Reasons for Choosing the Latin Alphabet
for Writing Afaan Oromo", a paper prepared for the Conference on
Ethiopian Studies to be held in Moscow, was accepted.
Unfortunately, that relatively calm, opposition-free period was
short-lived. At the Conference in Moscow, there was an attempt to sabotage
my presentation. In the program, one that had been prepared in Finfinne and
distributed in Moscow, the words in the title of my paper were so jumbled
that the title did not make any sense whatsoever. I suspected that was
deliberately done to embarrass me and discourage attendance. But a large
audience turned out in spite of the misprinted announcement that had
appeared in the Conference program. Before I started my presentation, I
requested that the participants correct the title of my paper. Although 1 was
told I was free to use the whole afternoon, I wound up my presentation in
one hour and opened the forum for discussion. A group of about four
conservative Abyssinians who were occupying the front seats started to
warm up to the familiar theme that writing Afaan Oromo in Latin alphabet
cannot be justified. They took it in turn to repeat the same timeworn
question, "Why the Latin alphabet, why not the Amharic syllabary?" One of
them said with an air of authority something like, " In making the decision
to use the Latin alphabet you have taken only linguistic considerations into
account, but what is more important to us is the political decision!" After
this verdict, some questions flashed through my mind: "As a researcher,
don't I have the right to choose and use any symbol for writing my language?
Why do the Abyssinian bureaucrats have to make that choice for me?" In
that moment I realized that their decision to block the publication of the
OED was nothing but a mere playful pinch in comparison to the heavy blows
targeted against Oromos who struggle to throw off conditions of oppression:
imprisonment, torture, expropriation, and death. When my mind flashed
back to the plight of Oromos in general, I lost my composure and even burst
into tears. One of the participants, a Russian, grabbed the microphone,
singled out the director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES), and
confronted him with a rhetorical question, "Being the Director of the IES,
how come you don't appreciate this work?" The chairman of the session
suggested that we should take a break.
When we returned, I found the hecklers' seats empty. I was glad
that the group had absented itself because it became possible for the other
participants to objectively discuss both the content and the form of the OED.
Some wanted to know if the sounds represented by the international
phonetic symbols / (,(,( / do in fact exist in Afaan Oromo. One who had not
seen the draft asked if warraaqsa (revolution) was entered or not. I enjoyed
answering such questions to the same extent that I had hated hammering the
reasons for choosing the Latin alphabet into the heads of people who
appeared impervious to reason. It is my experience that Abyssinian
bureaucrats never acknowledge the justice of an Oromo cause. Even when
a daring disputant comers them with indisputable facts, the bureaucrats
frequently respond by merely snapping, "biihoonim, biihoonim, biihoonim ..."
(even then, even then, even then...).
Politicization of my Oromo-English dictionary

At the Plenary Session, the spokesman for the Linguistics Section,

a highly respected American scholar, turned the table on the opponents of
the OED. Afier giving the summary of each paper on linguistics, he finally
announced that the committee had voted the OED to be cited as the magnum
opus at the Plenary Session. I was completely vindicated, and naturally I was
also exhilarated. Henceforth, I thought, the enemies of the OED would be
forced to capitulate.
On arriving in Finfinne, however, 1 observed some signs indicating
clearly that my opponents had not relented. First, they omitted my name and
the title of my presentation from the AAU News and Events Bulletin which
appeared with the list of "Ethiopian scholars" who came back safely after
presenting scholarly papers at the Conference on Ethiopian Studies held in
Moscow. The omission could not have been an oversight because the media
would usually blare out any news of success. Second, even colleagues at
the University who had been giving me at least a stiff smile started to give
me the cold shoulder and to ignore me altogether. Thud, one student of mine
who had been a party cadre before joining AAU, told me that the OED was
mentioned at a Politburo meeting and labeled as a work written in disguised
OLF script. The situation I was in was very tense indeed. Under the
circumstances, though, all I could do was to follow the Oromo maxim "
karaa cabe haa yaa'u" (let it run its course) and wait calmly for all
The eventualities I had expected were (1) the banning of the OED,
(2) loss of my job, (3) imprisonment, or even (4) death. Luckily, none of
these happened. Instead, the RPO people asked me to defend the work in
the presence of its Research and Publications Subcommittee established by
the university Senate to assess the work. I pointed out tremulously (for by
then I was almost on the verge of being broken) that I had already convinced
six reviewers and defended the work at two international conferences on
Ethiopian Studies. The curt reply was "No, you must convince the
subcommittee members; their decision is crucial because they are experts in
matters of linguistics." Actually, only one of them was a linguist.
The Subcommittee reminded me, from my reading, of the
Inquisition or the Holy Office! Most of the members had been the very
persons who had been openly condemning the work. Three of them had
already heckled me in Moscow. What could I expect from them? Whatever
the outcome, I thought, it would be better to answer every question they
might ask as politely as possible without reasoning with them. As I had
anticipated, each of them started to raise primarily questions of political
nature. In addition to the oft- repeated question, "Why Latin, why not
Amharic syllabary", one of them also asked me why I had not included a
bibliography! To avoid embarrassing him, I refrained from saying that I
have never seen a bibliography at the end of a dictionary. My plan to
compose myself worked. Everybody, including the university's guru in
matters of linguistics, was positively impressed by my obsequious behavior.
Sometime after the interrogation, I was instructed to omit, among
other things, the statement "The present estimate of Oromo population in
Ethiopia is 19 million". I complied and after all the changes and the
omissions were made, the work was accepted for publication. Henceforth,
a part of my job became shuttling between my off~ceand the office of the
general services that provides AAU printing house with stationery. That
shuttling alone lasted about two years because, I was told, the ship that was
supposed to bring the stationery from abroad arrived much later than usual.
To my mind it was worth going through the ordeal of the red tape
because the work was published at last. When about 1000 copies were
brought to AAU Bookstore in October 1990, mostly Oromo students in the
university and other Oromos queued up for copies at 30-birr each. The book
eventually sold for about 300 Birr (US$60) a copy outside Finfinne. I
learned that the demand was so great that the bookstore had to ration
customers to one copy a person. The university received 90% of the book
price for printing the work whereas my share was lo%, an arrangement I
agreed to because making money was not my goal in writing the OED.
The intense love the Oromo people have for their language
surprised even me. Persons who had been hiding their Oromo identities
came out of their shells - shells that had never fully protected them from
Amharas who appear to me as exceptionally gifted at scrutinizing and
identifying a non-Amhara no matter how hard one tries to pass as an
Amhara. Some users of the OED expressed their appreciation through gifis,
letters, and positive comments. For instance, although I did not send him a
copy, Professor Baxter sent me a hand written note in which he said, "Thank
Politicization of my Oromo-English dictionary

you for putting this pearl in my hand". One enthusiast made me laugh when
he said to me, "You know, after going over the OED I realized that Afaan
Oromo, too, has eight parts of speech just like Amharic and English." A
medical professor at the Black Lion Hospital, an Englishman, also made me
laugh when he said, " I didn't thank you as soon as I got a copy of the OED
because first I wanted to check the accuracy of the entries I had sampled.
Selected Oromos who live in the outskirts of Finfinne helped me with my
project. You are okay."
My own observation and experience has led me to conclude that it
is this kind of burning interest that the Abyssinian bureaucrats have striven
to extinguish from the hearts of Oromos. It does not seem to matter to them
if Afaan Oromo, the language of 50% of about 60 million people living in
Ethiopia is obliterated, as long as Amharic, the traditional palace language,
reigns. Their futile attempt to undermine 80 or so languages in the country
has always been under the pretext of saving "Ethiopian unity," a euphemism
for forced assimilation of other nationalities into Amhara culture. The
custodians of "Ethiopian unity," however, have fashioned governments that
operated as exclusive clubs. Each successive form, whether it was absolute
monarchy or socialism/communism/democracy has targeted the Oromos.
The "club" mentality produced members who would even stoop to condemn
an apolitical writer of a dictionary, as "anti-Ethiopian unity". One colleague
of mine, an Englishman, bluntly told a vociferous group in the AAU
staff-lounge at the Sidist Kilo campus, that if one dictionary could divide
Ethiopia so easily, the country had never been united!
I offer my account of the difficulty I faced in having my
Oromo-English Dictionaiy written and published in Ethiopia between 1980
and 1990 because it sheds some light on the kind of processes of control and
intimidation that were in operation against the Oromos in that country. My
experience reveals that Abyssinian bureaucrats went to great lengths to keep
Oromos under close scrutiny and provides an example of the effort to
undermine our legacies-language, culture, and history. The OED, in the
words of one reviewer "a singular contribution to Oromo Studies," did not
escape such scrutiny.

Readen' Imm. uticlcs and other
itcms should k s e a to:

Kuwee Kumsa

This paper examines the various discourses on human rights and

peoples' rights in the Oromo quest for national liberation. It is a critical
analysis and innovative weaving together of data from traditional and non-
traditional sources. 1 draw on both written and oral literature, songs,
children's games, personal correspondences, Internet resources, and
dialogues from Oromo discussion groups. As an Oromo who speaks from a
marginal location in the Oromo national liberation struggle, I also interlace
my personal experiences and insights to enrich the analysis. By exploring
Oromo experiences of both victimization and agency, I seek to re-
conceptualize and re-articulate human rights and people's rights in the
context of Oromo liberation. As a way out of the current dichotomizing of
human rights and peoples' rights, I propose a human rights approach to
Oromo national liberation struggle in which both human rights and peoples'
rights coexist and reinforce each other. I start here by providing the historical
backdrop of human rights and peoples' rights against which I frame my


Human rights and peoples' rights are socio-cultural constructs that

need to be placed in their specific historical and political contexts. The
origin of human rights concept can be traced to the era of Enlightenment in
the West. Its contemporary articulation, however, is based on the dominant
liberal ideology of individual rights to life and liberty (Foucault, 1980; Baxi,
1991; Wallerstein, 1997). In the crisp definition of the United Nations
(1994: 4), "human rights could be generally defined as those rights which are
inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings."
The underpinning philosophical values of these rights are the intrinsic values
of life, freedom, equality and justice. All human beings are believed to be
born free and to have the right to liberty, equality, dignity, and justice
(Agyemang, 1985; Milne; 1986, Wronka, 1992; UN, 1994).

Journal of Oromo Studies, Volume 4, Numbers I & 2, July 2000, pp. 19-56
Beneath the rhetorical surface-equality of all human beings,
however, closer historical examination reveals exclusionary holes revolving
around who is considered human and who is not (Baxi, 1991; Wallerstein,
1997). Baxi notes that, "We the American people" in the Declaration of
Independence did not include slaves, women, lower class people, and
"backward" nations. Nor did the French "inalienable rights of man" (droits
de I homme) embrace these social groups according to Wallerstein. Although
the 1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights (UDHR)
attempted to embrace the fundamental rights of all human beings, it
remained oblivious to peoples' rights. The concept of peoples' rights as
human rights was not integrated into the document until after colonized
nations seriously challenged colonialism and began to win their
independence. It was only in the 1960 declaration to bring a "smooth end"
to colonialism that United Nations affirmed its "faith in fundamental human
men and women and of nations large and small" (Wallerstein, 1997: 182).
The contemporary liberal concept of human rights has been
challenged on many fronts in its application to persons and peoples
worldwide. Defining human rights as "those rights which are inherent in our
nature" is claiming the universality of human nature (UN, 1994; Machan,
1994). However, the existence of a human nature on any stable basis and the
cross-cultural applicability of any concept of human rights have been called
to question. Thus, polarized theoretical debate raged between cultural, moral
and ethical relativists on the one hand and universalists on the other
(Renteln, 1990). African challenge to the liberal concept of human rights is
manifest in the rejection of the UDHR in favor of a distinctly-African
understanding of human rights. The two dominant and most polarized
discourses are those of individualists and communalists. While the
individualists envision human rights norms based on cross-culturally
applicable precolonial African individualist values,' the communalists
envision human rights based on strongly communal African values (Howard,
1990; Femyhough, 1993; Ilesanmi, 1995). A proponent of the communalist
view, Legesse (1980) refers to the UDHR document as an instrument of
cultural imperialism that does not represent African perspectives but imposes
Western supremacy on nowWestern nations. Although it includes the
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

individualist views, the African Charter on Human and Peoples ' ~ i ~ h t was
primarily inspired by the communalist perspective (Okoth-Ogendo, 1993;
Hollenbach, 1998). However, both extreme views have been criticized on
the basis that there is no monolithic Western or African perspective. An
alternative view envisions a human rights concept that protects both the
individual and the collective without dichotomizing them (Howard, 1990;
Fernyhough, 1993; Ilesanmi, 1995; Hollenbach, 1998).
The liberal model of human rights is also challenged for its tendency
to dichotomize human rights and human needs. Baxi (1991) contends that
by dichotomizing human needs and human rights as bread and freedom, the
liberal model runs the risk of reducing human rights to nonmaterial needs
like freedom of expression and ignoring material needs like bread. In the
African context, Hollenbach (1998) takes this a step further and questions
the liberal insistence on multi-party politics and free market as a
precondition for the respect of human rights in Africa. He contends that
divorced from the respect of other fundamental human rights and economic
justice, free market and democracy alone will not free Africans from
oppression, poverty, violence, and the tyranny of hunger.
The discourse of non-violence, as one of the corner stones in the
philosophical values of the UDHR, was also challenged for its assumption
that human rights and violence are mutually exclusive. Baxi (1991) asserts
that human rights and violence are intimately interrelated. He argues that the
liberal model does not consider state violence problematic in so far as it has
trappings of the due process of law. Thus, he contends that the liberal
discourse of rights is the discourse ofjustified violence. Violence against the
poor is perceived as justified whereas the struggle of the impoverished to
remain human is condemned as unacceptable violence. In a closely argued
work, Gutto (1993) also expands on this definition of violence. He asserts
that slavery, colonialism, exploitation, poverty, and violence against women
and children all constitute violations of human and peoples' rights that have
been passed over with impunity for far too long.
It is in keeping with these challenges and against the backdrop of
this shifting historical and political context that I examine the Oromo
struggle for national liberation. Although the Oromo struggle was conceived
in the context of worldwide anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle, it
respects the provisions of UDHR and supports the African Charter (Oromo
Liberation Front, 1976). Therefore, it is engaged both in the struggle of
challenging and changing the oppressive aspects as well as embracing and
supporting the progressive aspects of these international provisions on
human rights and peoples' rights.

The Oromo Experience

Neither the UN Declaration on Granting of Independence to

Colonial Countries and Peoples (Wallerstien, 1997) nor the African Charter
on Human and Peoples 'Rights, (Ilesanmi, 1995) clearly defines peoples'
rights. This has adversely affected both the local anti-Abyssinian colonialism
and the global anti-imperialist aspects of the Oromo struggle. In the global
terrain, both the Western and the Eastern sides of the Cold War fault line
were lukewarm about the Oromo liberation struggle. Both blocs separated
the deserving peoples from the non-deserving ones and rank-ordered them.
Thus, if at all they had categorized Oromos as deserving of peoples' rights
to self-determination, they seemed to have put them on the bottom rungs of
their hierarchies of peoples.3
In the local landscape, as the African Charter insisted on
maintaining colonial boundaries, peoples' rights were reduced to the rights
of peoples to nominal independence within a colonial boundary. It was
designed to protect the rights of the nominally independent African countries
against nowAfrican old and new colonizers. But it did not have provisions
for the rights of peoples confined within specific colonial boundaries. The
OAU's recognition of an "independent" or "never colonized" status of
Ethiopia helped more in confounding the Oromo question than in clarifying
Historically, Oromo people's experience with liberal discourse of
human rights and peoples' rights has been one of violence and continued
violations. Their political oppression, economic exploitation and cultural
genocide that started in the colonial era in the late 19" century has continued
unabated through the Cold War period right into the present era of re-
colonization named "New World Order." Oromos who have witnessed
impunity for slavery, impunity for colonial plunder, and impunity for
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

genocide, are still continuing to witness impunity for the tyrannies of their
new oppressors. What happened to oppressed peoples elsewhere in the world
has repeated itself in the case of oppressed peoples in Ethiopia, including
Oromos. As they did elsewhere, Western powers promoted democracy and
free market capitalism as preconditions for the respect of human rights. "Free
and fair elections", they promised; "no democracy, no cooperation," they
insisted (Holcomb, 1997; Jalata, 1997; Robinson, 1997; Trueman, 1998).
But elections went awry. Reports of International Observer Groups
expressing concern about the unfairness of elections went ~nnoticed.~
Dissident voices were silenced, as opposition groups were thrown out of the
Ethiopian parliament one after another. Democracy became a sham as the
ruling party wrenched 539 out of 546 seats in the parliament. The peoples
of Ethiopia came under the harsh grip of a minority ethnic group that
comprised only 7% of the total population (The Economisr, 1997). Western
powers looked the other way as a single-ethnic-group-single-party
dictatorship consolidated itself. Indeed, they continued to support the
derailment of democracy despite their own promises. "No Democracy, no
cooperation" went down the drain as the process of democratization stood
on its head and authoritarian tyranny swept over the land.
Notwithstanding, even as they witnessed impunity reign high and
justice become a casualty, Oromos continued to resist oppression. They used
every venue possible to assert their human rights and peoples' rights. The
consequence? Peaceful demonstrators were gunned down. Thousands were
thrown in jail and tortured. One by one, the fledgling free press and other
venues of free expression were closed down. Oromo human rights groups
who documented these atrocities were repeatedly denied legal status. Human
rights activists, journalists, publishers, folk singers, musical groups, students,
teachers and farmers were jailed, tortured and killed in cold blood. Amnesty
International and other local and international human rights groups exposed
the atrocities and called forjustice. But report after report of disappearances,
imprisonment, torture, extra-judicial killings and summary executions fell
on the deaf ears of Western powers.5
It was only after the oppressed people's resistance intensified and
state violence became too glaring to ignore that Western powers responded
to the persistent reports. This response however, was more a face-saving
exercise than a genuine concern for human rights. The West engineered the
establishment of government-organized non-governmental organizations
(GONGO) that the Ethiopian government used to disseminate
misinformation and discredit critical human rights reports (Tronvoll, 1997).
While the US government poured money into Ethiopia under the cover of
"Democracy and Governance Support" (Robinson, 1997), the British
government sent an aid mission to Ethiopia for a "human rights training" of
the Ethiopian police (BBC, 1997). Oromos received this as an exercise to
obscure the systemic nature of the violations and make it appear individual
ignorance. The face-saving effort of Western powers and their race for
justified violence became even more blatant when they scrambled to
establish the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Institution of
~ m b u d s m a nOromos
.~ received this as another attempt to silence their call
for the respect of human rights. But Western "aid" is still pouring into
Ethiopia aiding the regime in escalating violence and violations of human
rights (Buckley, 1998; Scott, 1998).
While this happened in Ethiopia, the efforts of Oromos in the
Diaspora to promote human rights in the homeland were quickly and
conveniently dismissed as emigrdpolitics.7 To add insult to injury, the US
government honored Ethiopia's Prime Minster as one of Africa's "New
Leaders" and granted him an award for "good government" (The Economist,
1997). Far beyond impunity, human rights violators were even rewarded for
their atrocities. Oromos interpreted this as an award not for the acclaimed
"good government," but for inviting the World Bank's SAP to sap Oromo
With such a grim response of double standard from Westem liberals,
Oromos resorted to armed resistance in order to confront violence with
violence and restore their human rights. While it is arguable that a cycle of
violence can be broken only by violence, Oromos justify their resistance by
claiming that they picked up arms in order to disarm oppressors.9 Justified
or not, however, by being forced to seek justice through violence and create
their human rights through violence, Oromos have walked into that same
trap that brought the Western bourgeoisie to power. As the donkey said in
an Oromo saying, "Aniduunaan araddaan hin margin [Let there be no grass
after I die]" the bourgeoisie has also renounced the violence of revolution
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

after securing power for itself through revolution and defining its human
rights through revolution. Obviously its worst nightmare is to be removed
from power through the violence of revolution.
Thus the fluid liberal definition of violence has changed its colors
like a chameleon according to what suited liberal interests. Western powers
looked away from the violence of the Ethiopian State and charged Oromo
resistance with violence. They demanded that Oromos renounce violence,
lay down their arms, and come to the dialogue table. Oromos fighting for
legitimate peoples' rights and resisting state violence and repression were
represented as "terrorists" and "against peace and stability." When the
Ethiopian State scooped up countless children of the oppressed peoples and
used them as cannon fodder in the recent Ethio-Eritrean war, except for
crocodile tears from some quarters, Western powers have continued with
their approach of impunity. Whose peace and stability is a concern and
whose is not, remains a taboo question. On the one hand, state violence is
sanctioned and people's resistance is condemned. Yet, on the other hand, by
the same definition, radical violence is sanctioned (e.g. Nicaragua and
Afghanistan). Zenawi's regime is praised for the same violations that
Mengistu's regime was condemned. In the endless fluidity of the liberal
definition, we have also witnessed 'terrorists' of yesterday become allies of
today (e.g. Yaser Arafat) and allies ofyesterday become 'terrorists' of today
(e.g. Osama Bin Laden). Whose violence gets defined as violence and who
gets named a terrorist depends on the contextual void that the fluid liberal
definition fills.
In his analysis of the liberal concept of human rights and peoples'
rights, Wallerstein (1997) argues that liberalism ardently asserts the
legitimacy of human rights, but ardently works to avoid their
implementation. This, he contends, is also the fundamental contradiction at
the heart of capitalism. With its built-in structures of inequality, capitalism
will not be capitalism if it does not make one people or one social group
superior to others. He asserts that, "any 'rights of peoples' were resewed to
a few specific peoples and were by no means the rights of all the other
peoples. Indeed granting 'barbarians' their rights as people was thought to
result in the effective denial of 'human rights' to their peoples (Wallerstein,
1997: 189). "This experience with liberal human rights clearly shows that,
in the liberal dictionary, Oromos are defined as the must-be-controlled
'barbarians' and 'dangerous' people. Given the fluidity of their position,
liberals have easily and subtly slid towards the conservative right on the
Oromo quest for human rights. How can they let "barbarians" abuse human
rights? Thus when the liberal surface is scratched, the conservative interior
calls for an intervention to save Oromos from themselves.
Western powers have clearly pursued the policy of all are human
but some are more human than others, one of the "otherized" humans being
Oromos. In line with the liberal definition of inherent human nature, if
Oromo rights are violated, it is because of some defect in the nature of
Oromos. So, Oromos are to blame. Liberal promise of democracy first and
human rights ultimately, has proven incompatible with Oromo aspirations
of liberation from oppression and violence. It is rather the respect of human
rights that leads to popular and participatory democracy, not the other way
around. Democracy is absurd without freedom of expression. Oromos cannot
live some aspects of their humanity at one time and save other aspects for
other times. Even in the liberal definition that remains lip-served, human
rights flourish when people live all aspects of their humanity to the fullest.
What characterizes Oromo reality is multiplicity, complexity and
simultaneity. Thus, liberal promise that sought to apportion, rank-order, and
prioritize its human rights and peoples' rights handouts has become empty
rhetoric. Worse still, it has been used as a smoke screen behind which
atrocities happened against Oromos.
Oromos now are at a crossroads in this era of globalized aggression.
Should they reject human rights and peoples' rights discourses as utterly
Western mechanisms of oppression and exploitation? Or should they give
up all forms of resistance and embrace them? Should they insist only on
peoples' rights and give up human rights? Fortunately for Oromos, their
reality is not locked into this eitherlor situation. There are myriad creative
and productive alternatives. Oromo struggle for human rights and peoples'
rights has come this far, not because of Western support and acclamation,
but despite their subversion and condemnation. At least two phenomena
work to Oromo advantage vis-a-vis Western discourses of human rights and
peoples' rights.
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

First, the West is far from being a monolithic entity. As in other

parts of the world, the West is also constituted from a diverse polity. People
in the West are multiply located in various social positions with relative
degrees of privilege and marginality. Thus, there are many individuals and
groups with various degrees of commitment who work to close the gap
between the rhetoric and reality of human rights, for their communities as
well as in solidarity with world-wide movements. So Oromos, and indeed all
oppressed peoples, do have allies in the West.
Second, the concepts of peoples' rights and human rights are neither
static nor unalterable. As dynamic cultural constructs, they have evolved
through the years and will continue to evolve and change further as
oppressed peoples continually challenge them. Oromos can reinvent and
recreate human rights and peoples' rights that are in harmony with their own
reality. They can make it serve the purpose of radical transformation and
liberation. Obviously, this calls for a re-conceptualization of these rights in
the context of a liberation struggle in this era of recolonization. This also
calls for an assessment of the hitherto operating concepts of human and
peoples' rights within the context of Oromo national liberation struggle. This
is the subject of the next section.

Some Polarities in Oromo ~ o v e m e n t s "

The assertion that all forms of oppression constitute human rights

violations seems to be a far-fetched concept to many Oromos in their
struggle for national liberation. Although they denounce the violation of
Oromo peoples' rights in articulating Oromo national self-determination,
Oromo nationalists turn blind eye to the violation of human rights within the
Oromo society. They view people's rights and human rights as binaries. Even
among Oromos who seem to be in the process of a conceptual shift in recent
years, attitudinal and behavioral changes still lag far behind the faltering
cognitive tread. One pitfall on this conceptual path is the view that Oromos
are a monolithic group v i s - h i s human rights. In this view, all Oromos are
victims of human rights violations. However, this obscures the diversity
among Oromos, the possibility that Oromos can both promote and violate
human rights, and that they simultaneously resist and embrace various forms
of oppression in their everyday experiences. In this section, I discuss some
of the polarities that fetter the Oromo struggle for liberation.

Liberating the nation versus liberating the national

One of the manifest dichotomies in the Oromo national liberation

shuggle is between liberating the nation and liberating the individual Oromo
national. In many ways, this is a reflection of the dichotomy between
peoples' rights and human rights in the West and between individualism and
communalism in Africa. In the West, the dichotomy between human rights
and peoples' rights heightened at the height of oppressed peoples' struggle
against colonialism/imperialism. On the one hand, liberals saw the
inevitability of peoples' revolution and became global champions of peoples'
rights by articulating the "self-determination of nations". On the other hand,
conservatives objected to peoples' rights insisting only on human rights.
They argued that colonized populations were not true "peoples" but a
collection of individuals whose human rights should be recognized only
when the individual is educated and adequately civilized (Wallerstein,
1997). On the African scene, individualists focused on universal human
rights while communalists insisted on peoples' rights to the extent of denying
diversity within African peoples and ignoring human rights of the individual
(Howard, 1990; Ilesanmi, 1995; Fernyhough, 1993; Hollenbach, 1998) .
In the Oromo case, the national liberation struggle started from a
revolutionary premise of liberating both the Oromo people and the Oromo
individual." However, the false dichotomy and increasing polarity between
the split goals of liberating the individual Oromo national and liberating the
nation have increasingly fettered human rights and peoples' rights.
Paradoxically, both the nation and the national have to be invented by
Oromo nationalism before they can be liberated. But the invention of the
nation, the nation-state, the citizen and the national was originally a
bourgeois project (Foucault, 1980; Wallerstein, 1997). Oromo nationalism
is caught in that no-man's land between the old model of nation-state from
which it has to liberate itself, and a new radical goal for which a model has
not yet been envisioned and parameters defined. Caught in this damned-if-
you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation, Oromo nationalism becomes second-
Discourses on Human Rights a n d Peoples' Rights

hand nationalism repeating the same oppressive patterns if it copies the

bourgeois model, or it fails to create a nation if it does not.12
As the Oromo national liberation struggle is a response to
Abyssinian colonial aggression, Oromo nationalism is also a response to the
exclusionaly discourse of Ethiopian nationalism. Constituting competing
identities, the two nationalisms are in oppositional dichotomy to each other.
While liberators of the national work within the Ethiopian framework, the
logical conclusion of liberators of the nation is to create an independent
Oromo nation.13The irony of it is that, in the era of globalization, the nation-
state itself is being besieged both by global homogenizing forces and by
local fragmenting ones (Hall, 1996; Cvetkovich and Kellner, 1997). In this
era, when even the most consolidated nation-states are allegedly running for
cover, it may be wrong timing to attempt to create a new nation-state based
on the old model. As well, the conceived nation runs the risk of being
stillborn into a strange global world. The challenge of Oromo national
liberation is to envision a new model of constructing the nation and its
However, by emphasizing commonality and suppressing difference,
Oromo national movements have de facto adopted the model of the nation-
state in which a nation is created through erasure of differences and
exclusionary practices. The authentic national is constructed as the norm
against which all deviants are measured and privilege is dished out according
to the degree of deviance (Foucault, 1980). In the Oromo case, the normative
national is constructed against the competing identity of the normative
Ethiopian in a kind of mutually exclusive dichotomy. Whatever is Ethiopian
is not Oromo, and whatever is Oromo has nothing to do with Ethiopia. The
normative Oromo national is thus an inverse of the Ethiopian depending on
the formula that defines the national (e.g. territoly, ancestry, religion, region,
class, and gender). If the normative Ethiopian is the upper class Shoan
Amhara male, the normative Oromo has to be defined in the reverse also.
The farther away from the Ethiopian, the more "authentic" the normative
Oromo national becomes. But the nightmare of Oromo nationalism lies in
this definition of authentic normative Oromo national. Is s h e a wolman,
youngfold, richlpoor, educatedluneducated? Is s h e from ruralturban
Oromia? Is s h e Moslem, Christian, Waaqeffattuu, Waaqeffataa? Is s/he
from Arsii? Harargee? Shawaa? Wallaggaa? Who is the normative Oromo?
Who is the prototype in the hierarchy of Oromos, the top human being in the
hierarchy of humans? Who defines who is human, and who defines human
rights on whose terms? Who determines who deserves human rights and who
does not?
For the same reasons that the expression of diversity was the
nightmare of Ethiopian nationalism, it is also the nightmare of Oromo
nationalism. The Oromo fear of expressing diversity comes in at least two
forms. Pragmatists point to the fragile nature of Oromo nationalism. They
argue that Abyssinians have used divisive tactics for centuries and have
constructed such a divisive difference and enmity that any mention of
diversity will end up in fragmenting the Oromo movement. Oromo diversity
will open a Pandora's box that will be used by their enemies to dissolve the
nation into an ocean of individuals. The less honest ones, on the other hand,
vow that they genuinely believe in addressing Oromo diversity. But they
insist on prioritizing national oppression giving the pretext that resources are
too scarce to fight against all forms of oppression.
However, both assertions fly in the face of reality. With respect to
fear of fragmentation, genuinely addressing difference rather than
suppressing it enhances trust and mutuality and cements a movement. It does
not fragment it. Nor does the resource argument hold because one need not
fight against all forms of oppression at all times. The fight is contextual and
the only psychological resource it requires is will and attitudinal change.
This may be a much more difficult fight, not because of lack of material
resources, but because it deals with a deeply ingrained version of oppression
and we have no model to combat it at that level. For example, a man does
not require material resources to take up some of a woman's social roles. He
does not need to put a gun to his head to liberate himself from the
entrapments of oppressive culture that prevents him from crossing the taboo
line and cooking for his wife, mother, daughter, or sister.

Reform versus Revolution

Another dichotomous characteristic of contemporary Oromo

movements is the polarity between evolutionary reform and revolutionary
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change, peaceful negotiation and armed resistance. Liberators of the national

seek to restore human rights through democratizing Ethiopia and perfecting
the system through reform. This perspective fits in well with the liberal
discourse of the vital center where they ride the safe terrain between extreme
conservatism on the right and radical socialism on the left (Wallerstein,
1997). Liberals begrudgingly acknowledge that change is inevitable but
insist on rational process and controllable pace. Liberators of the nation and
fighters for peoples' rights, on the other hand, seek to wage armed resistance
and rid the Oromo nation of the yoke of Abyssinian colonialism. They tend
to eschew any mention of reform in the fear that it would strengthen the
Ethiopian State. Thus, they put off the fight against other forms of
oppression for after the revolution when liberation is supposed to solve all
problems overnight and all Oromos live happily ever after.
The Oromo people have lived the painfully slow paces of some
insignificant reform. They have also experienced radical revolutionary
change in 1974 and 1991 only to find themselves in the same repeating
patterns of oppression both times (Lata, in 1999). Poor peasants, for
example, have seen how their peasant association leaders took up the role
and tumed into landlords before their eyes. They have seen former oppressed
groups turn into new oppressors. This shows that, without the accompanying
attitudinal change at the micro level, wider structural changes at the macro
level alone will not lead to transformation. Regimes have changed only to
recycle tyranny. Persons in positions of leadership have changed, but the
relationships of power have remained oppressive. Experience proves liberals
right that a cycle of violence cannot be broken by violence. However,
turning the right cheek for a slap on the left has also led to more violence for
the opposite reason of taking the oppressed for granted. In a violent world
subtly and blatantly perpetuated by liberal discourses, reform alone cannot
restore human rights and peoples' rights. Both the two extremes of reform
and revolution as well as the various possibilities that lie between them are
crucial for transformative change. However, the attempt to integrate the two
extreme positions and utilize all venues and all paces of resistance and
change remains a minority effort in the Oromo struggle for liberation.
This false dichotomy between reform and revolution is reflective of
liberal polarization of human rights and violence. Pointing to revolution and
armed resistance as violations of and antitheses to human rights (Baxi,
1991), liberals effectively mask the multiple faces of violence. The violence
of poverty and deprivation, the violence of cultural genocide and political
domination, the violence of racial and gender oppression, the violence of
neo-colonial exploitation, and the violence of global militarism get
effectively washed away by liberal discourse of non-violence. By justifying
state violence and restricting the very definition of violence to armed
resistance of the oppressed, liberals carefully hide their own violations of
human rights and peoples' rights. Nor do the polarities in the Oromo struggle
unmask this range of violence. This limits the possibility of redefining and
re-conceptualizing violence in terms of its coexistence and intimate
relationship with human rights.

Agency versus Viclimization

Oromos are viewed by their friends and by themselves as victims of

both human rights and peoples' rights violations. Abyssinian colonialists and
Western imperialists are viewed as subjects who violate Oromo rights and
victimize them. In this polarizing view, Oromos are objects with no agency
and being not once in the subject position as social or political actors. In the
Oromo nationalist discourse, Oromos are oppressed, Abyssians are
oppressors; Oromos are good, Abyssinians are bad; Oromos are innocent
victims, Abyssinians are vicious agents of human rights violations. This
victimization discourse is deeply ingrained and is especially accentuated in
war situations where women and children are rendered victims. I will
elaborate this point through an analysis of a popular song used by both
Ethiopian and Oromo nationalist discourses for contrasting purposes.
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

O r o m o Song English translation

Diina kee sirraa deebisuufii To ward off your enemy

Bilisummaa sitti uwwisuufii to adom you with liberation
llmi kee garaa kutateeraa Your son is determined
Jaiiabaaddhu egaa yaa haadha be strong oh mother of [a] male

Imimmaan kee faffacaaftee Don't shed your tears

hin booyin ofjajjabeessii and cry, pull yourself together
Haati dhiiraa daftee hin naatuu Mother of [a] male is not upset so easily
Eebbisii nagaan geggeessi Bless him and send him off
Yaa haadha dhiiraa, yaa Oh mother of [a] male, oh you miserable
dhipphanuu, one
Jabeeffaddhu sabbataa kee Tighten your girdle [belt]
Allattii tu bishaan obaasaa, Birds will give him water
Malee hin argitu ati ilma kee but you will not see your son

Haati dhiiraa, dhiira isheenuu Mother of [a] male, is [a] male herself
hin na'uu dafee garaan ishee her heart is not softened easily
Ammas duris, har'as boris, Now and before, today and tomorrow her
Ulfina qabaa maqaan ishee name is dignified

Three subtle but strong interrelated messages jump out from this
song. One is that women are objects and people do things for them. They
just tighten their belts and passively wait for whatever men, the subjects,
decide to d o with them. The second message is the loud gendered
nationalism. In a nation that acclaims and praises only the courageous and
the strong national, the woman is a national only through the strength and
courage of her son. In this song the word male is synonymous with hero. A
hero is only a male, a son, not a woman, or a daughter. The mother of a male
[a hero] is considered a hero [male] herself by tightening her girdle and
waiting. The epitome of women is the one whose son is the hero who goes
out and dies for her liberation. The third message suggests that salvation
comes from without. Liberation is something that males [heroes] go out and
bring home. It is a trophy that others bring home after a triumphant
engagement out there (in the guerrilla wars in the case of Oromo
nationalism, and at the war fronts in the case of Ethiopian nationalism). But
in each case it comes from without, not from within. It is something others
bring to one, not what one creates or does for oneself. Nor is it what people
create through interaction.
The damage of this is manifold. First, it objectifies and dehumanizes
the Oromo people by denying them the opportunity to own the struggle.
Freire (199750) argues, however, that "They [the oppressed] cannot enter
the struggle in order to later become human beings." The Oromo people
must struggle as subjects and agents of their own liberation. But rather than
exploring the multiple possibilities of resistance and liberation, this
discourse keeps them passively waiting for the liberator out there. Hence,
Oromos in the homeland look towards Diaspora Oromos, and Diaspora
Oromos look towards Oromos in the homeland for salvation, for liberation.
This forecloses creative possibilities where liberators look inside to liberate
themselves from the entrapments of their own oppressive culture.
Second, such portrayal of women as victims obscures their agency. It
obscures, for example, the fact that women both violate and respect human
rights. It simplifies the complex fact that it was women who sang these songs
to mobilize women, and that it was women peasant association and
community leaders who participated in scooping youth from their homes to
send them off to the wars. It denies women's agency and their subject
positions as political and social actors. For example, women heroines of
Oromo liberation struggle who threw themselves into the armed resistance
and fought are rendered invisible. Heroic deeds of such women disappear
into the objectified role of the mother of the male [hero].
Thirdly, homogenizing women's experiences obscures the diversity
among women. There are, for example, Oromo women with feudal
upbringing and those with peasant upbringing; there are elite Oromo women
and those who are denied the opportunity of literacy. They all experience
national oppression differently, think differently and behave differently
owing to their different and multiple social locations. Their different
locations exacerbate or attenuate national oppression differently. Denying or
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

obscuring these differences leads to erroneous interpretations of their

experiences with human rights and peoples' rights.
Although this song dealt with women, gender is only one dimension
of the myriad differences among Oromos. In a similar analysis,
homogenizing Oromo experiences masks their diversity, and their
categorical victimization renders Oromo agents invisible. It tells Oromos to
passively wait for some liberatorlsalvation from without. The victim position
is a comfortable position in the sense that Oromos as categorically victimized
can gain sympathy. From that position, they can also condemn Abyssinians
for their predicament and shrug off their own responsibility. But such
dichotomizing of agency and victimization renders Oromos blind and deaf
to the many levels and possibilities of rights and responsibilities, the many
levels of organizing power and resistance. It denies Oromos the many
possibilities of creating and inventing nation and nationalism as well as
human and peoples' rights pertinent to the Oromo reality.

Problems of Oppositional Dichotomies

Polarities and oppositional dichotomies are not unique to Oromo

movements. Examples abound of movements that started in opposition to
some oppression and hegemony but ended up establishing counter-
hegemonies of their own. Hence, the feminist movement started in
opposition to male dominance; but an extreme version of it tries to create its
own hegemony by replacing andro-centrism by gyno-centrism. The negritude
movement started in opposition to the hegemony of white supremacist
ideology; but an extreme version of it tries to establish its own hegemony by
replacing Euro-centrism by an extreme version ofAfro-centrism, In the case
of Oromo movements, an Oromo-centred view replaced an Amhara-centred
one. Instead of saying "I don't want to do what you do!" to the oppressor,
these movements ended up saying, "Whatever you do, I can do better!" In
lieu of dismantling the "centric" world and levelling out its hierarchical
structures of dominance/subordination, they ended up maintaining and
sustaining the superiorlinferior dichotomy. Oppositional dichotomy may be
a necessary starting point of political consciousness, but it misses the mark
of affirming human rights and peoples' rights ifthe counter-hegemonic move
is not driven home to its goal.'4
Oppositional dichotomies are so pervasive that they seem to be
natural phenomena. According to social identity theory, people tend to
categorize people into us and them and associate whatever they define as
good with themselves and whatever they define as bad with the other (Tajfel,
1982). Foucault (1980; 1982) and Deschamps (1982) take this up within the
context of power relationships and analyze the "dividing practices" by which
the Western society defines the norm. Anything that differs from the norm
is named deviant. When the speaking subject names and defines the Other,
then different is not just different but it also means deviant, abnormal,
inferior, pathologic, bad, etc. Thus people are divided into mutually
exclusive categories of normallabnormal, superiorlinferior, goodibad.
These polarities are inscribed into our selves starting from the
tender age of early childhood. We absorb them unconsciously through
pervasive ways of socialization (in Foucault's words, through the
technologies of self). Foucault expounds on how we are discursively
constructed into subject positions. Here discourse is not just conscious
narratives and practices, but it includes the unconscious and deeply hidden
ones as well (Mama, 1995). Some technologies of self consist of minute
details of schedules and practices. Thus, when one says I am an Oromo, I am
an Amhara, or I am a woman, the speaking subject speaks from the subject
position constructed through discourse. But this does not mean that the
subject is a total victim of social structures. The subject is also an agent in
resistance. I will ground this point by analyzing a specific technology of self,
which is one of the children's games I used to play at school when I was a
In this game, girls were grouped into two, Buda (evil-eyed) and
Amhara (the dominant ethnic group in Ethiopia). One girl was named the
sorter to do the categorizing. The criterion for assigning a girl to either group
was the cracking of the knees. The sorter girl would listen carefully for the
knee crack as each girl squatted before her and stood up turn by turn. If the
knees cracked, the girl was named Buda. If they didn't, she was named
Amhara. Within the context of that system of meanings, everything good
was associated with Amhara and everything bad with Buda. There was
nothing in between. A girl was either an Amhara or a Buda. Lining up in
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights
double file and facing each other, the two groups sang a song to kick off the
fight of the mutually exclusive opposites. The song itself involved questions
and answers that the two groups asked and answered turn by turn:

Amharas responding to
Budaas asking Amharas: Budaas:

Amaarooch! Amaarooch! Abeet! Abeet!

Min tibelaallachihu? Ye Beree Sigaa!
Min tixexxaallachihu? Xej! Xej!

Oh Amharas! Oh Amharas! Yes! Yes!

What do you eat? What do Beef! Beef!
you eat? Mead! Mead!
What do you drink? What
do you drink?
Budaas Responding to
Amharas Asking Budaas: Amharas:

Budooch! Budooch! Abeet! Abeet!

Min tibelaallaachihu? Ye feres sigaa!
Min tixexxaallachihu? Shint! Shint!

What do you eat? What do Yes! Yes!

you eat? Horse meat! Horse meat!
What do you drink? What Urine! Urine!
do you drink?

This game was so popular and so symbolic of oppositional

dichotomies facing each other with nothing but enmity between them. Eating
beef and drinking mead was considered good and indicated the highest
Amhara social status. But eating horsemeat and drinking urine was so
despised that it was relegated to the lowest of the low, the Buda. I remember
how I cried and denied that my knees ever cracked. Just to be named an
Amhara, to be saved from the humiliation of being named a Buda. I found
the very thought of eating horsemeat and drinking urine revolting. But my
knees usually cracked and I usually was sorted as Buda.
In the meaning system of that culture at that time, a Buda was one
who "ate" people. So the next stage of the game was for Budas to chase and
"eat up" whichever Amhara girl they could catch. My anger and frustration
at not being Amhara was released only when I embraced my Budaness and
chased and "ate up" Amharas. I ran after those girls lest any of them escape
me. I chased them howling, with my eyes flashing and my fingers stretched
out like claws. From that tender age, it was clear in a child's mind who was
respectable and who was despicable. Equally clear was that there were only
two possibilities. One was either respectable or despicable. Nothing in-
between, no overlap. Those technologies erased all the different possibilities
between the two extremes and riddled the relationship between them with
suspicion, strife and enmity.
Oppositional dichotomies restrict human possibilities by obscuring
the way power is organized. They deny the existence of multiple spaces of
resistance, thus foreclosing the myriad possibilities of negotiation and
transformation. How can the Oromo national liberation struggle break out
of these dichotomies and create a dynamic multidimensional interaction
between human rights and peoples' rights? How can it express the
multiplicity, complexity and simultaneity of Oromo identities through such
an interaction? This is the subject of the following section.

A Human Rights Approach

What we glean from the preceding sections is the need to envision

and act upon an Oromo human rights approach to Oromo national liberation
in this era of global recolonization dubbed New World Order. In this era, all
forms of oppressive forces are increasingly intertwined and interdependent.
They support and sustain each other. Thus, in a world of interlocking
oppressions it is increasingly difficult to isolate just one form of oppression
(e.g. national oppression) and struggle for justice." Old models that
dichotomized and rank-ordered differences have served Oromos only in
more violations of their rights as individuals and as a people. Moreover, the
second-hand Oromo nationalism based on the old bourgeois model has not
Discourses on Human Rights a n d Peoples' Rights

moved Oromos an inch closer to their aspirations of human dignity and

liberation. Indeed, there is a need for a dynamic model that integrates human
rights and peoples' rights into a harmonious combination and leads to
liberation. In this section, I will highlight some of the elements that those
with a vision of such a human rights approach might need to incorporate.

Addressing IdentityDifference

Identity and difference, Connolly (1991) argues, are a paradoxical

juxtaposition. When one defines selflidentity and draws a boundary around
it, one also defines the otherldifference beyond the boundary automatically.
Thus, one cannot talk about difference without talking about identity.
Whether we define identity as essentially bound self or as socially
constructed entity, difference remains juxtaposed to it. Thus, whether or not
we subscribe to the liberal assumption of a stable human nature, what
characterizes human beings and contemporary human societies is dynamic
multiplicity, complexity and simultaneity of identitiesldifferences.Polarizing
and prioritizing these, even by the lip-served liberal definition, restricts
human possibilities, and therefore constrains human rights. Thus, any form
of oppression and discrimination that suppress any dimension of human
identitiesldifferences violates human rights. By contrast, expressing
identitiesldifferences opens up space for exploring human possibilities and
thus promotes human rights.
While the expression of similarities is essential to create a
movement, it becomes self-defeating the moment it denies the expression of
difference. As Lorde (1984) argues, the need for unity is often mistaken for
a need for homogeneity. Oromo national liberation movements express
Oromo similarities and suppress differences for fear that expression of
differences might lead to division and fragmentation. However, division and
fragmentation are the results of suppressing identitiesldifferences, not of
expressing them. And, as Lorde contends, this fear belongs to the oppressor,
not to the oppressed. The primary tactic of the oppressor, she asserts, is to
occupy the minds of the oppressed with the fears and concerns of the
oppressor. It is to meet the divide-and-conquer need of the oppressor that
oppressed people are taught to view difference with suspicion, fear and
loathing. In tracing this fear back to the oppressor, Lorde (1984: 113)
challenges her feminist colleagues to "reach down into that deep place of
knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference
that lives there. See whose face it wears."
Lorde (1 984) also contends that these tactics are the master's tools
and will never dismantle the master's house. If Oromo liberation is to
dismantle the oppressive structures of the Abyssinian master's house, it
needs to fashion its own tools. In cases where Oromos are stuck with only
the master's tools, they can creatively reinvent those tools and make them
dismantle the master's house. Fear of expressing differences belongs to
Abyssinian colonizers, not to Oromo liberators. And their masters' fears and
concerns have occupied Oromos for far too long. Some Christian Oromos
might want to ask themselves why they fear Moslem Oromos. Some Oromos
from Harargee might want to ask themselves why they fear and distrust some
Oromos from Wallaggaa. In Friere's (1997) words, they need to find out the
oppressor they house within themselves. In Lorde's words, they need to
reach deep down within themselves and touch that loathing and see whose
face it wears. An Oromo human rights approach then promotes the
expression of the multiple human dimensions without fear or loathing. As
Lorde insists, we must relearn differences as sources of strength and as
forces of change and liberation. For the oppressed, she asserts, divide and
conquer must become define and empower.

Multiplicity, Simultaneity, Complexity

Dichotomizing human rights and peoples' rights is denying the

multiplicity, simultaneity and complexity of Oromo identity. Oromos are not
a collection of individuals as conservatives would argue. Nor are they a
homogeneous collective as communalists would have it. Sticking to the
communalist end of the spectrum leads to embracing Abyssinian landlords
and Oromo tenants in the same anti-West category.'6 Embracing the
individualist end leads to the dreaded Oromo fragmentation. But the Oromo
saying, "kootiin kan ofii ti keenyaan kan warraa ti [mine is for the individual
selc ours is for the collective self]" weaves and integrates both the individual
and the collective aspects of Oromo identity. In its broadest meaning, warra
Discourses on Human Rights a n d Peoples' Rights

indicates any level of collective from the family to the nation. Between the
individual Oromo and the collective, there are innumerable forms and levels
of interrelationship, kinship solidarity, and identity.
However, the individual and the collective selves are not in a position of
exteriority to each other. The individual self is also a collective self. For
example, an individual person can be an Oromo, a woman, a wife, a mother,
a Moslem, poor, from the Liiban clan, from Wallaggaa, and so on, all at the
same time. She is indeed an intersection of multiple collective identities. She
cannot, for example, be dissected to live her Oromoness at one time, her
womanhood at another time, and her poverty at still another time. She lives
all of her multiple identities at the same time. Thus, her identities are
characterized not only by multiplicity, but also by simultaneity. But this does
not mean they all compete for expression simultaneously. The most
important dimension at one particular moment is determined by the specific
context. For example, when she deals with a person from the Samarroo clan,
her Liban identity might be the most important. When she deals with an
Amhara friend, her Oromoness might be the most important. And when she
deals with her Oromo husband her womanhood might be the most important
dimension of her identity. If her husband is an Amhara, her Oromoness, her
womanhood, and her being Moslem may or may not be equally important
depending on the issues raised.
The experiences of the ways in which each dimension of her
identity intersects with the Ethiopian identity is unique to the individual
woman. Scott (1992) argues that experience is both individual and social,
subjective and objective, unconscious and conscious. Much as her
experience creates the Oromo woman, she also creates her experience as an
acting subject. Owing to her agency, therefore, her identity is neither static
nor linear. Her alliances and allegiances shift dynamically. For example the
woman can embrace Oromo religion and become a Waqeffattuu. She can
also educate herself out of poverty and join the ranks of the elite. The
intersection of these new identities with the Ethiopian identity spins her into
yet another experiential space. Some dimensions of her identity mediate
while others constrain her human possibilities.
Given this analysis then, all Oromos do not experience national
oppression in the same way. For example, Oromos in the diaspora do not
experience the same degree of national oppression as Oromos in the
homeland. Educated Oromos do not experience Abyssinian oppression in the
same way as uneducated Oromos do. Oromo women of feudal upbringing
do not experience oppression in the same way as Oromo women of peasant
upbringing. Homogenizing these experiences is making a serious error that
masks Oromo diversity and complexity.
An Oromo human rights approach to national liberation cannot
afford an oversight of this dynamism, complexity, multiplicity and
simultaneity of human identities. If it is to break the dichotomy of human
rights and peoples' rights, this approach needs to challenge the view that puts
the individual and the collective outside of each other. The individual and
the collective are in a relation of interiority to each other, not of exteriority.
One way to transcend the individual/social duality, as Mama (1995: 89)
argues, is to start "viewing individuality as socially produced, while at the
same time viewing sociality as produced within individual subjects." Indeed
the dynamics of social forces get played out within the individual. We can
then assert that both peoples' rights and human rights are achieved in the
context of interpersonal relationships, thus validating a human rights
approach. An individual Oromo agent is indeed an interweaving of multiple
collective identities. To achieve a dynamic multidimensional and
multileveled interaction between human rights and peoples' rights, then, we
need to place the acting subject at the center of the national liberation
struggle. An Oromo human rights approach necessitates that the Oromo
people enter the struggle as social and political actors, as subjects and human
beings who own their national liberation struggle. Ultimately, the liberation
of the most oppressed ofthe oppressed as an acting human agent will be the
litmus test for the success of the struggle and for the respect of both human
rights and peoples' rights.
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

Linking Rights to Responsibilily

If all we are concerned about is recognition of complexities and

expression of differences, are we not dissolving in our individualities? Ifthe
rights of an individual begin where those of another end, where are we to
draw the line of individual spaces? McNee (1997) observes how precolonial
Africans resolved this dilemma by linking individual's rights to others'
responsibilities. She argues that such blending of individual and collective
rights recognizes the individual subject only within a social framework and
the individual agent only with respect to other agents. If this agent acts from
hislher own vantage point with others' vantage points in mind, then
collective and individual rights and responsibilities meet here in this action.
This assertion begs the question: responsibility for what? But the
answer may be inadequate without an understanding of how power is
organized in a social setting. Foucault (1982) observes that social ties are
embedded in complex relationships of power, and that people are multiply
located in this web. As this web is riddled with inequality, we inhabit
various positions of relative privilege and marginality. But these positions
are more dynamic than static. Although the position of privilege is a
comfortable place, in an unjust world this comfort comes at the expense of
others. The same historical and political forces that structure our privilege
also structure others' marginality and vice versa. For example, in many
contexts, male is privileged over female, white over black, rich over poor,
and educated over uneducated. These are structured by oppressive forces of
sexism, racism, classism and elitism respectively.
If equality and justice are central to human rights, then the
privileged must take responsibility for others' marginality. If we are wealthy,
we are implicated in the poverty of others, if we are educated we are
implicated in others' lack of opportunity to get education. Oromos of my
generation were educated when over 95% of the Oromo people were denied
the opportunity of literacy. We must take responsibility for our conscious or
unconscious participation in oppressive systems of inequality. But what does
it mean to take responsibility? Privilege is carefully hidden, normalized, and
made invisible. Taking responsibility means to make our privileges visible
in order to be able to combat it. It means to recognize that there are
oppressive dimensions in the multiplicity of our identities. Taking
responsibility is standing in solidarity with the marginalized and fighting
oppression. It means liberating ourselves from these oppressive relationships
in terms of both our privilege and our marginality. And liberation means to
rid ourselves of not only external oppressive structures, but also of the
oppressive dimensions of our own identities. Standing in solidarity with the
oppressed is not to save poor them or to liberate them. It is to liberate us too
by taking responsibility for participating in the marginality of others as well
as holding oppressors responsible for our marginality.
What characterizes the contemporary world is the globalization of
capitalism and liberal ideology. But global capitalism is not as interested in
democracy or Oromo liberation as it is in opening up the Oromo society to
global markets (Robinson, 1997). Nor is the elusive liberal ideology really
interested in human rights or peoples' rights (Wallerstein, 1997). A point of
reassurance, however, is that local fragmenting processes are as equally at
work in the contemporary world as global homogenizing ones (Hall, 1996;
Cvetkovich and Kellner, 1997). This opens up space for resistance as well
as the transformation of the concept and practice of human rights and
peoples' rights. Indeed the intensification of globalization comes with both
opportunities and limitations (Holcomb, 1999). As the Oromo society is an
integral part of these global and local processes (Jalata, 1997), how might
Oromo national liberation structure its struggle against internal, local, and
global oppressive hierarchies? How might it avoid the pitfalls of other
African nations whose nationalism ends up reproducing oppression
(Davidson, 1992) and bring about radical transformation of the Oromo
society in the context of such fluidity? If the various forms of oppression are
interwoven, then the goal of Oromo national liberation, and the litmus test
of its success, has to be the liberation of the most oppressed of the oppressed
Oromo. How might an Oromo human rights approach strategize and
organize resistance that interweaves both human rights and peoples' rights?

Organizing Resistance

So far I have argued against dichotomizing human rights and

peoples' rights. I have deconstructed the oppressive elements of oppositional
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

binaries. But deconstruction is not an end in itself. It is a means to the goal

of creative reconstruction. It is a tool not only for tearing down, but also for
innovative rebuilding, for inventing a uniquely Oromo national liberation.
This needs a creative taking account of both global and local contexts.
Hitherto Oromo liberation organizations have been envisioned and
structured in a binary world with monolithic mutually exclusive entities like
WestEast capitalism/socialism, oppressorloppressed, imperialistlanti-
imperialist, and colonizer/colonized placed at each pole. Power in such a
world is perceived to be concentrated in central state structures. Thus, at
least in theory, Oromo nationalists aspired for monolithic, centrally-
controlled organizations to counter what they perceived as centrally-
controlled state repression. Although such organizations have managed to
keep the struggle going so far, I contend that they will not lead to
transformation and liberation at least for three reasons.
First, any dichotomy is defmed by its relationship to the oppositional
Other, rather than by its own uniqueness and internal constructs. Therefore,
it is bound to remain locked to and dependent on its Other (Collins, 1997).
Defined from the very outset against Ethiopian nationalism and its
oppressive state structures, Oromo nationalism and Oromo liberation
organizations are bound to remain dependent on and tied to the Ethiopian
Other. Unless they also define themselves by their own internal uniqueness,
antagonistic external relationships alone will not lead to Oromo liberation.
Simple reversal strategies do not transform oppressive relationships. Second,
hierarchically organized and centrally-controlled monolithic structures may
replace Abyssinians by Oromos, but they do not lead to liberation as they
continue to reproduce oppression. This may open state bureaucracies to the
Oromo elite as Robinson (1997) argues, but it does not achieve the respect
of human rights or peoples' rights. Third, monolithic organizations that
attempt to erase differences are bound to explode by the very forces of the
differences they suppress. By denying a space for difference, they end up
defeating the purpose of liberation. As the historical and political conditions
that produced rigid monolithic organizations have shifted in the
contemporary world, we need to explore more flexible and dynamic
organizational structures that counter the current fluidity.
How, then, can resistance be organized without depending on the
Ethiopian Other, and without dichotomizing or hierarchizing human rights
and peoples' rights? Although a cookbook solution is impossible, it seems
worthwhile to suggest an alternative approach to organizing, however partial
and provisional it might be. For this, I will critically appropriate and weave
together Foucault's (l980a, 1980b, 1982, 1990) insights into how power and
resistance are organized; Collins' (1990, 1997) insights into multiple and
interlocking forms of oppression; Scott's (1 992) theorizing of experience;
Mama's (1995) insights into the multiplicity of identities and the role of the
unconscious; and Freire's (1997) concept of conscientization.
Although Foucault (1980a, 1980b, 1990) refrains from offering
concrete strategies, his insights into power and resistance might provide a
helpful starting point. According to him, power is not only repressive; it is
also creative. Power is not monolithic; it is exercised in multiple forms at
multiple points. Power is not concentrated in state structures; it is diffuse and
found everywhere unevenly. And wherever there is power there is resistance.
But power and resistance are not mutually exclusive antagonistic entities.
They are interwoven and coextensive. Just like power, resistance also has
multiple points of application. Foucault asserts that it is the strategic
codification of these myriad points of resistance that makes a revolution
These insights provide the basis for an alternative strategy of
mobilizing and organizing resistance. If oppressive power is applied in many
forms at many levels and ifthere is resistance wherever there is power, then
the Oromo people are de facto engaged in resistance against many forms of
oppression at many levels. Thus a liberation organization does not impose
its own formula of resistance on the people. Rather, it effectively taps into
the people's extant resistance by engaging them as active human subjects and
agents in their own liberation. In the process, they change repressive power
to creative power. To achieve this, instead of a centrally-controlled
hierarchical organization, leaders facilitate a liberation organization in
multiple forms with multiple centers and multiple leaders. For example, they
bring together Oromo youth, women's, elders', beggars', blacksmiths', faith,
regional, lawyers', and teachers' groups with a single goal of Oromo
liberation. An individual can be a member of so many groups simultaneously
as these are not rigid, essential monolithic identity structures. They are
Discourses on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

internally diverse overlapping and shifting categories that create new forms
from the neighborhood to the global levels. They are flexible structures that
fit both the structures of the Oromo society and the fluid context of the
contemporary world.
Validating and tapping into the everyday resistance of ordinary
Oromo people renders the organization accessible and makes it easier for the
people to own the struggle. Thus people struggle as they live their daily lives
and live their lives as they struggle. Such organization does not separate
people's lives from peoples' struggle. It only facilitates the pooling of
resistance; it does not control. It does not impose unity. Instead, it allows
space for unity as a natural development of interaction among acting human
While such structures address the multiplicity and complexity of
identities (Collins, 1990, 1997; Mama, 1995), they do not tend to the
unconscious experience (Scott, 1992). They engage people in challenging
and changing external structures. But the organization also needs to put in
place flexible structures for micro processes to challenge and change
unconscious structures at the interpersonal and intra-personal levels (Mama,
1995). This is a difficult area that fetters the liberation struggle because
people's stated beliefs and values often differ from their actual practices.
When the conscious efforts push the struggle forward, the unconscious pulls
it back. To avoid such paralysis and to enhance liberation both from external
structures and their invisible internalized versions, the organization needs to
start the slow process of narrowing the gap between the conscious and the
unconscious practices. It needs to provide space for reflexivity, circles not
only for individuals and groups but also for the organization to critically
reflect upon itself This process brings to light the invisible oppressive
dimensions of the multiple identities in the individual, the group, and the
organization. Naming the unconscious experience and making it visible
opens up space for taking responsibility. With the awareness that one's
privilege is structured by other's marginality, people take responsibility to
challenge and change their own participation in such systems of oppression.
Just as it needs to embrace multiplicity and incorporate the
unconscious, the organization also needs to be perpetually dynamic.
Although Freire's (1997) oppressed and oppressors are monolithic categories
of identity, his concept of conscientization is extremely important in
addressing the dynamism and fluidity of the organization even in the context
of multiple identities. Conscientization is revolutionary praxis by which
people actively engage in a constant cycle of action-reflection-action. The
organization provides space for critical reflection that informs action and
action that necessitates further critical reflection. While dialogue as a human
phenomenon provides the vehicle for such transformation, the fluid
structures of the organization enable it to shift with the shifting
consciousness and action. Such an arrangement leaves enough room for
uneven shifts and unequal paces for humans engaged in the process of
liberation. It will also allow room for multiple coalitions at multiple levels
among Oromos and with other peoples.
There are many reasons why such an Oromo organization will lead
to the liberation of the most oppressed of the oppressed. This strategy of
organizing invents a uniquely Oromo nationalism, nation, and national, thus
abandoning the second-hand bourgeois models. It does not define itself
solely against its Ethiopian Other as it taps into its own unique human
identities and material resources. It targets internal, local and global
hierarchies of oppression, thus opening up spaces that facilitate multiple
coalitions at multiple levels. This dissipates the fear that Oromos cannot be
democratic with other oppressed peoples if they are not democratic among
themselves. It breaks the fettering dichotomies I discussed in this paper,
including that of human rights and peoples' rights. It takes equality and
justice right into the heart of the struggle by linking rights to responsibilities.
It recognizes that there is no quick-fix to age-old problems and that there is
no zero-sum all-or-none solution. Thus, in the sense that it is strictly
processual, it is a vindication of Freire's (1997) claim that liberation is
neither gift nor self-achievement but a mutual process. It is a process of
liberation by which Oromos reinvent themselves as free human beings both
as individuals and as a people.


1. For more in-depth reading of this view, see Marasinghe, Laksham

(1984). Traditional Conceptions of Human Rights in Africa, in
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Human Rights and Development in Africa. Edited by Claude E.

Welch Jr. And Ronald I. Meltzer, pp. 32-45. Albany, N.Y.: State
University ofNew York Press. Also see Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988).
The Invention ofAfrica: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of
Knowledge. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights was adopted by
the Organization of African Unity in 1981 and ratified in 1986.
My assertion here is based on my correspondence with officials of
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in the context of comparing the
support the various liberation fronts in the Ethiopian Empire and
relief agencies received. The rank-ordering of peoples and peoples'
struggles was clear.
For details on the unfairness of elections see NDI, 1992; NIHR,
1992; Tronvil and Dyvind, 1995; Tronvil, 1997.
My source here is my personal correspondence files based on which
I wrote reports to human rights groups and a government lobby
group in Canada. Also see Trueman, 1998; Amnesty Internationals
annual reports 1992-present; International Freedom of Expression
(IFEX) Clearing House on Ethiopia; Oromia Support Group, all
issues of Sagalee Haaraa; Oromo Ex-Prisoners Committee, all
issues of Gadadoo; Lammii Guddaa, 1997.
See Government of Ethiopia's Conference Proceedings on the
establishment of Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the
Institution of Ombudsman. Addis Ababa May 18-22, 1998.
My assertion here is based on my experience as a member of a
Diaspora Oromo human rights lobby group.
For this assertion I draw on the dialogue in an Oromo Internet
discussion group, 1998.
This is a persistent theme in my experience with the Oromo study
circles of the 1970s and the present Oromo Internet discussion

Most of the arguments in this section are distilled from my

observations, my personal correspondence files, and my dialogues
with Oromo individuals and groups.
Here, I am referring to the OLF political program which clearly
states that it fights against all forms of oppression and
For details on the shrouded nature of nations see Amin (1997); on
the genocide and ethnocide of the nation-state see Berghe, 1992.
Here, I am contrasting the Democratic Republic of Oromia stated in
the political program of the OLF and other Oromo organizations, to
the Oromo organizations whose goal is liberating the Oromo
national within a democratized state of Ethiopia (e.g. Merera
Gudina's Oromo National Congress).
For critiques of Afrocentrism and andro/gynocentrism, see
Akinyela (1995) and Eichler (1987) respectively.
For more details on interlocking oppressions and multiplicity of
identity, see Collins, (1990) and Mama (1995).
For more details see Howard, 1990.


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Asfaw Beyene


Intermediate technology can be viewed as a customized

extension of sustainable development which global political and
philosophical advocates claim is a progressive and responsible human
interaction with the environment. The most commonly used definition of
the term Sustainable Development is suggested by the World
Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the
Bruntland Commission, formulated in a 1987 report on Our Common
Future. The report states that sustainable development is development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. The popularity of the term
stems from synthesizing environmental protection and economic growth.
This fitting global definition ignores important aspect of sustainability in
its third world dimension. The import of high tech goods without
protracted ability to manage and maintain such commodities is less
useful than a traditional tool that can be effectively employed and
operated by the end-users. For a technology to be sustainable, in
addition to responding to environmental demands, complexity of the
equipment must also match the users' expertise. Such intermediate
technology [I] best guarantees continued development of a society.
Intermediate technology is therefore, a means of development that
addresses collective needs of the society, mindful of environmental
concerns and conforming to the skill level of the society. The definition
of appropriate technology offered by the Office of Technology
Assessment of the United States comes the closest to definition of
intermediate technology. It defines appropriate technology as small
scale, energy efficient, environmentally sound, labor intensive, and
controlled by the local community[35]. Emphasizing the need for

Journal ofororno Studies,Volume 4 , Number 1 & 2, July 2000, pp. 57-86.

matching skills and societies, Gamser, Appleton, and Carter argue that
even technology aid shipped by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
to needy areas fails when it fails to work with local innovation [I 71.
Perhaps, the defining hallmark of countries known as third world
is that they import much more technology outputs than they produce.
Effective use of any technology however, greatly depends on systematic
maintenance of parts and systems according to specifications. Such
manufacturer supplied maintenance guidelines can be complex with
extensive instrumentation and trained personnel requirements. This
paper discusses the significance of intermediate technology as a
development tool, and also reflects upon implications of high tech
imports to nations such as Oromia. In addressing these issues, only
factors related to engineering feasibility are discussed briefly. Political
consequences such as foreign capital flow or fair resource distribution
are beyond the scope of this paper.

Marketing and Policy

By reason of political realities, Oromia's industrialization policy

is a component of the Ethiopian policy. A standalone policy
recommendation as a bureaucratic statement, within the current political
configuration, is therefore nonsense. But, it is commonly known that
political decisions and policies drive development. Thus, a legitimate
question comes to mind: what is the purpose of such a scholarly paper,
and what is the role of the intellectual, in a situation where a nation
cannot and does not define its own socio-political or economic program?
For instance, addressing a similar situation, Redclift [42] notes the
difficulties of building a sustainable development while most of the best
land in Kenya was resewed for the colonizers, and the indigenous
population forced to marginal land. This was written over a decade ago
to address colonial structure, and the topic will continue to be of
profound interest into the 21" century, to articulate the legacy of colonial
rules in defining intermediate technology. This political challenge
should not discourage analysis of future options and research topics. The
alternative, waiting for political breakthroughs to conduct research and
scholarly appraisal of vital development issues, would be more
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

damaging. Besides, the author is optimistic that a bulk of the research

conclusions may still diffuse through the unfavorable bureaucracy or at
least shelved for later use. Thus, a knowledge base for intermediate
technology must be gathered, and a progressive agenda formulated to
facilitate a quick adoption and transition to full scale development and
growth once self determination is achieved in political terms, even if an
immediate use and application of the results of such analyses may not be
The West has developed complex policies and regulations to
address and cultivate growth. A market-driven economy is a recipe
propagated by the West for developing countries, which, in some cases
has proven to offer less than a desired outcome. Consequently, the
internal markets of the same Western countries have implemented
policies that betray free competition in favor of sustainability through
decrees and regulations. For example, the California Energy Institute
provides financial incentives to consumers who purchase energy-
efficient appliances such as refrigerators and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) suggests tax benefits for products and
technologies that reduce material or hazardous waste. Even in some
European countries there is a limit on the maximum power of imported
automobiles. The system is not entirely a market-driven free economy,
because the most affordable and profit making tools can also be the most
polluting and unsustainable. In other words, its long term cost to society
could outweigh its temporary personal benefit to the individual. Valuing
the welfare of the society over the individual is deeply rooted in Oromo
and other African cultures. Guidelines and regulations that enforce
environmental protection will be well received in Oromia once promoted
and organized quasi-administratively.
Discussing the impact of political and economic policies on
appropriate technology, Stewart [47] presents case studies from his
African experience. He makes it apparent that third world countries have
historically undermined policies on technology imports or development.
When such policies existed, they tended to be too simplistic or too
ambitious. This is primarily because short term market profitability, and
not long-term sustainable growth drives the economic agenda. Well-
packaged cargo deliveries with imported goods ranging from expensive
automobiles for dusty roads to stereo equipment for a noisy street, reach
African ports every day to be distributed to a highly organized internal
market. Commodities are distributed with precision and calculation that
outshine the level of technology. In the 1960s, India's government
ambitiously carved a policy to invest in large-scale steel production at
the cost of small-scale industry involved in agricultural production.
Products of India's heavy industry competed with Europe, Japan, and
America with meager and limited access to the highly competitive US
and European markets. According to Hazeltine and Bull, the Indian
semiconductor industry spent $45 million to produce devices worth $15
million [20]. Deeply affected by this failing program, India changed its
policy in the 1970s in favor of developing small-scale manufacturing
targeted at rural areas. India's industrial strength also depends on the
need to export sustainable technology that can be understood and
adopted by importers. This requires offering simpler and affordable
alternatives to the high-tech Western industry. In the 1960s, China on
the other hand, focused on developing heavy industry alongside small-
scale manufacturing that also supported its agricultural technology. As a
result, China exhibited industrial growth in all sectors requiring no costly
policy changes.
Another aspect of intermediate technology and sustainable
development policies is waste minimization. Waste reduction enhances
manufacturing performance in a competing global market and also
promotes a clean environment. Recyclers in the USA get tax breaks and
other incentives to compete with suppliers of raw materials which are
often available at lower cost than the recyclable goods. The US EPA
policy also includes preferences on waste reduction and recycling
methods. As such, source reduction of hazardous waste is more
preferred to end-of-the-pipe type treatment. Yet, the US disposes 4.4
Ib./person per day of solid waste, the largest amount of waste disposed
per person in the world. This large amount consists of such general trash
materials as 247 million tires, 2 billion razor blades, and 1.6 billion pens
every year [24]. For this reason, recycling has come to the forefront of
environmental issues in the US and other industrialized countries.
Unfortunately, in most or all developing countries, including nations
such as Oromia, recycling is still driven by needs, not policies, and
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

remains peripheral to a sustainable development agenda. The future

progress of Oromia also depends how it deals with the environmental
problems associated with waste.
As one of the few countries, Ghana has a successful intermediate
technology policy, targeting small-scale industry and emphasizing on
technology transfer. John Powell 1371 discusses the establishment of
intermediate technology transfer cells throughout Ghana, a potentially
attainable policy in Oromia. The reader may also consult several case
studies of technology transfers discussed by Buatsi [12], although few
are results of comprehensive policy implementation. Oromia and others
can duplicate such technologies and their mechanisms of transfer.
Once the political realities are favorable, development policies of
the future nation of Oromia must target light scale, small and mid-size
industry [2]. Small and mid-sized plants are well defined in the
industrialized world, initially by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) established on December 14,
1960 in Paris to promote sustainable economic growth. Members of
OECD included Australia, Japan, USA, Turkey, Canada, Greece,
Iceland, New Zealand, and countries of Western Europe [13]. The group
formally associated sustainable growth with small and mid-sized plants
probably for the first time, and addressed the issue charting an industrial
policy. The OECD committee addressed diffusion of technology, the
creation of new firms, supportive networks, financial incentives, and
regulatory frameworks for target industries. As explained by King and
McGrath, small and medium firms were recognized and encouraged as
components of sustainable growth [28]. Such strategic approaches are
exactly how intermediate technology policies should be fashioned in
Oromia and elsewhere in Africa.

Historical Background of Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development was seriously embraced

as a pan-African agenda only recently. The Conference of African
Ministers responsible for Sustainable Development and Environment
(CAMSDE) convened its first session in Finfinne (Addis Ababa) in
March 1996 [25]. Several regional meetings have taken place in the
years leading to this ministerial conference. The very idea of Managing
growth was received suspiciously, particularly when propagated by
Europe and America. The August 1990 issue of the ECA Environment
newsletter [26] commenting on World Bank (WB) and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) initiatives that promoted sustainable development
in Africa through Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) wrote that SAP
had debilitating consequences on African development because
institutions "dictating them are governed by market forces in their
operations." The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) came up with
an African Alternative to Structural Adjustment Programs and
Transformation. Thus, the ideas forwarded by the WB and the IMF have
at least coerced the ECA into commencing an in-house growth agenda
and development strategy. The concept of sustainable growth in Africa
was further promoted by international events such as the 1992 United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The twenty years between the 1972 Stockholm meeting and the
Rio summit produced little change in African understanding of
intermediate technology, other than the limited agenda setting by
numerous scholars and policy-makers. The Rio summit formulated the
now-famous Agenda 21 for environmentally sustainable development
[3]. It is within such global recognition that the concept of sustainability
must be refined and pragmatically adopted for use by nations in Africa.
Several governmental and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) work towards a type of sustainable development that favors the
environment more than they work for intermediate technology. Most of
these organizations are based in Europe and America. The Global
Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) was
founded in 1989 to enhance international cooperation between
parliamentarians on global environmental issues. It has branch offices in
Brussels, Tokyo, Moscow, and Washington, DC [4]. The list of NGOs
established to promote a clean environment and related other missions
are too numerous to list.
A few grassroots organizations have contributed to the rising
consciousness of sustainable and intermediate technology in developing
countries. Redclift introduces one such case as the Chipko movement of
India [40] started in 1974 to integrate conservation of natural resources
Intermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

with maintenance of livelihood and preservation of culture and tradition.

It stems from traditional values that allowed management of forests as
common resources with unwritten but strict codes. In a similar style,
Oromos traditionally know when to label trees or hunted animals as
endangered, thereby imposing moratoriums on cutting or killing.
Another African grassroots effort is The Green Belt movement [41] of
Kenya, started by Kenyan women in 1977. The movement emphasized
dependence on local expertise and capabilities. The women identified
forest losses as a serious cause of soil erosion and land degradation.
Despite of these positive developments, there are still socio-political
challenges of building a sustainable society.
While Africa, with the exception of few countries, still suffers
from a serious lack of adequate organizational skills and technical
leadership to cultivate intermediate technology, Asia and South America
continue to produce organized institutions to address or implement
renewable technology. For example, the Pacific Island countries united
to contest negative impacts of Western technology including the export
of toxic and hazardous waste [29]. Among African countries, Ghana has
made considerable progress establishing intermediate technology as a
relevant vehicle for development. Ian Smillie [46] discusses Ghana's
profound efforts in advancing new small-scale technologies as a model
for others to follow.

Unique Features of Intermediate Technology

Technology growth has an evolutionary trend that has to follow

a sequence of innovative steps. Industrial revolution involves the rapid
impact of a series of breakthrough principles. Just as coal heated water
to steam, which in turn drove pistons, and pistons later turned wheels, so
the transition from industrial revolution to electronic complexity for
high-tech nations is characterized by continuous hierarchical growth of
knowledge through invention, application, and maintenance. In other
words, quite literally, knowledge gave birth to knowledge of higher form
and complexity. The history of development itself lends credibility to
engineering landmarks that benefitted from the advances and failures of
millions of unknown thinkers that contributed to the genius of inventors
such as Newton or Euler. Authors of new ideas have always relied on
the preceding experiences of others. The history of energy conversion is
a very good example of development as a continuous thought process.
Giovanni Branca proposed the first steam turbine in 1629. It took about
70 years for Thomas Newcomen to build the first steam engine in 1700
[lo], another 91 years for John Barber to patent the idea of gas turbine
engine. This patent was built to run in 1930 by Frank Whittle, almost
140 years after the idea was patented. The jet engine flew 9 years after
the successful design. Nuclear fusion was discovered by Otto Hahn in
1938 and Enrico Fermi came up with his own invention of nuclear
fission. So, Western technology grew from the horse wheel, through the
early diesel and steam propulsion, the next two strokes Otto cycle, to the
advanced multi-cylinder reciprocating engines, and to today's high
temperature rocket engines. The 1969 visit of man to the moon and
France's Superphenix reactor of the 1986 are recent chapters of the
endless pyramid of technology growth, standing in a queue of knowledge
marching to the unknown future. A concise illustration of industrial
revolution is presented by Grosser [19].
Today, third world countries face a huge challenge, lagging
behind in this exponential growth of Western-dominated technology,
particularly during the last century. The lag in industrial technology and
the associated heavy consumption of imported goods has impacted third
world countries and disrupted the chain of creativity. There can be
computer programers in Oromia or Nigeria with excellent skills, tapping
centuries of Euro-American erudition, but lacking knowledge of waffles
and etching of computer chips and boards manufactured through decades
of accumulated know-how. At the center of such random growth lies an
African industrial dilemma of which Oromia a part. Generating a
creative idea requires an enriched environment forged by needs and
Imports subvert this environment by preempting needs and
necessities. Planning and promoting industrial growth as a strategic
component of development, in a global market, is a serious challenge.
The possession of a high-tech commodity in Africa is a shortcut to Euro-
American comfort, a refuge from African hardship and discomfort.
Meanwhile, the need to attract middle class intellectuals who may
Inrermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

otherwise prefer to live in the West, the demand to import high-tech

appropriate technologies, and other political factors such as the right of
the individual to city comfort, will force the import doors wide open. On
the other hand, community rights to cultivate growth and nurture local
creativity, combined with cultural and traditional barriers to
technological changes in the rural areas, must be properly balanced with
forces of the import market. This apparent dichotomy makes the topic of
intermediate technology urgent in nations such as Oromia.
It has been documented consistently that indigenous techniques
have been used successfully to convert and harvest soil and water, coping
with existing difficult conditions and adapting to changing circumstances
for generations [43]. Strictly speaking, in light of such natural human
tendencies to overcome difficulties, import itself is a necessary evil, an
inappropriate decision for self support as it interferes with small-scale
technology growth which must be inspired and supported at the
individual and community level. An import-dominated market may
stimulate some service-based technology areas, but innovators are less
motivated to solve engineering or scientific social problems. As social
problems are temporarily solved by imports, the moral and financial
incentives to pursue creative ideas diminish. The result is stagnated
internal growth. The import market creates a wealthy middle class whose
interest lies in importing and profiting. Compared to an import strategy,
invention is unreliable, costly, and has a long pay back period to
investment. With an unproven track record for reliability and with less
capital disposition, the internal technical growth sector faces an uphill
battle competing with wealthy businessmen of the lucrative
import/export market.
African education also tends to be unbalanced with social
science dominating academia. The highly accomplished educators of
Africa are trained in a high tech Euro-American educational system that
is developed to serve Euro-American industrialized society. African
home countries do not have the supporting network or even the capacity
to use complex mathematical modeling of the human heart or for an
aerodynamic test of a spacecraft wing. Yet it is only human to take any
challenge as an individual, be the challenge in line with ones nationalist
needs or not, solely as proof of ones determination. The problem of
adopting the high end of technology research to the needs of Africa or
Oromia is an issue rarely raised in African academic curriculum. The
few schools offering majors in sustainable technology are outside Africa
In recent years, the Oromo and African peasants have faced
human-made crises. The difficult conditions and demoralizing prospects
for the future have undermined rural welfare and stability by migration
of farmers to the cities. Bryceson, Kay, and Mooij illustrate the
pressures that have befallen African peasants[ll]. In such "even worse
to come" scenarios, intermediate technology can be a timely alternative
to help farmers cope with these challenges.
It is essential though, not to dismiss high-tech imports for
developing countries totally. Intermediate technology should be
promoted selectively, without negating imports of complex but
sustainable and necessary technologies. For example, it may be more
technically and economically sound to develop a wireless telephone
system in Oromia than wiring the remote villages with old and expensive
technology. It has also been difficult to retain telephone wires in many
developing countries because copper lines can easily be dismantled and
stolen. Thus, the primary emphasis should focus on excluding
inappropriate technologies at the cost of promoting appropriate ones, a
few examples of which are listed and discussed below.


Economic growth is closely linked to a progressive increase in

energy consumption. Ethiopia has a per capita energy consumption of 20
kg of coal equivalent whereas Sweden has a per capita energy
consumption of 6,000 kg of coal equivalent [21]. The amount of energy
a house needs is determined by climatic and social conditions. A typical
Oromo family's energy needs are for cooking, lighting, and space
heating in the rainy season. Let us assess a hypothetical home with basic
energy needs as shown in table 1. The enormous benefits of
electrification both to the household and the environment can be
illustrated as follows. The calculated daily electric
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

Table 1. Hypothetical energy need of a household

~- ~ -

Application Wattage Hours per day

Light bulbs 4x50 5 1000
Stove 1400W 2 2800
Pumps, drills, etc. 250W 1 250
radio stereo 100 3 300
Total 1950 W 11 4350

use of 4.35-kilowatt hours (kwh) at an estimated cost of 15 Ethiopian

Cents (EC) would amount to about 65 EC a day, just under 20 Birr a
month. At about 10 US cents, this same energy would cost about
$13/month in the USA (but of course a typical US household consumes
ten times this total). A 300-watt (W) refrigerator running for 5 hrs per
day would add 1500-watt hour per day (Whlday) or 6.75 Birr per month.
Since 1 k w h = 3,600 kilo joules (kJ), the 1950 W or 1.95 kW translates
to 7020 kJ of energy per day. Assuming 10,000 kJIkg of Heating Value
for wood with 10% transfer efficiency, over 7 kg of wood must be burnt
in each home to deliver an equivalent amount of energy.
For a 10 million family society, which can be considered
reflective of the Oromo population, this could mean 70,000 tons of wood
burnt each day, a heavy and unsustainable load on a society and the
environment. For a countryside home in Oromia, fire burning lasts about
2 hours for cooking, and five hours for heating and lighting each day.
The fire, however, must be maintained over 24 hours period for re-
initiation in the evening. Since cooking is the main load, more wood
energy is probably required than the figures assumed above, and the
addition of a pump and other miscellaneous equipment, unlikely to exist
in a typical wood burning home, should not drastically impact the above
estimate. This requires a comprehensive energy and electrification
policy. A comforting side ofthese depressing numbers is that dried wood
is collected for fire where possible. But, it is also common to cut and
leave the tree until it dries for fire. Thus, an attempt to evaluate the net
impact of fuel wood on a society faces complex issues that cannot be
itemized. For example, the human energy required to transport the fuel
by piling of dry wood on the back of a woman, is another depressing
picture in the African panorama. This example and other social factors
add intricacy to the complexity of the energy problem.
Oromia is endowed with energy resources such as coal, biomass,
solar energy and natural gas. The need for petroleum fuels is limited.
Current natural gas reserves are estimated to be 24 million cubic meters.
Consumption of liquid fuel products for Ethiopia is approximately
700,000 tons per annum or 14,000 barrels per day. This amounts to
about 14 kglperson per year of liquid fuel consumption - very low by all
international standards.
The electricity industry is regulated by the Ministry of Mines and
Energy. Recently, the Ethiopian National Energy Committee (ENEC)
was established to deal with issues related to the energy sector including
petroleum exploration. Petroleum refining and supply facilities are
regulated by the Ethiopian Petroleum Corporation (EPC). The Ethiopian
Electric Light & Power Authority (EELPA) is responsible for electricity
generation and supply in Ethiopia. The EELPA operates an
interconnected transmission grid centered in Finfinne (Addis Ababa).
The main transportation fuel source is imported oil which
accounts for 45% of export earnings. The transport sector consumes
more than 70% of imported oil while the agriculture sector uses only 3%.
Ethiopia has one refinety, shared with Eritrea until the recent war. The
870,000 tons per annum Asab refinery, operating based on simple hydro-
skimming principles, was operated by the EPC. The World Bank (WB)
has suggested privatizing the refinery to allow distributors such as Shell,
Mobil, Total and Agip to operate in a competitive market and also to
encourage investment in storage facilities. As a result, the government
has drafted a law on the privatization of electricity supply recently and
submitted to the Council of Ministers. The draft law facilitates the
generation of electricity from water, petroleum products, wind,
geothermal power and sunlight with a limit of up to 25 megawatts (MW).
Currently, distribution and marketing of fuel is carried out by Shell
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations
(35.8%), Agip (22%), Total (18.8%) and Mobil (26.2%). The Ethiopian
Oil & Gas Exploration & Development Corporation, Ethiopian
Petroleum Corp., Kalub Gas Company, Total Mer Rouge SA are new
additions to the energy market. Annual petroleum tax revenue is
approximately $53 million and represents 84% of government indirect
taxes. Note that diesel, kerosene, and LPG are priced below their import
values, apparently to conform to the standard of living. The 1990
Finfinne (Addis Ababa) pricing is shown in the table below in Ethiopian
cents per liter (table 2).

Table 2. Import and retail prices of petroleum products in Ethiopia for

1990 [30]

Product I Import Price I Retail Price

Petrol 1 80.3 1 150.0
Diesel 1 82.7 1 78.0
I Kerosene 1 83.1 1 65.4 I
LPG 1 88.2 1 68.0
Fuel Oil 1 55.8 1 59.9

Oromia has significant hydropower potential. The current

government claims that it has electrified 146 towns, increasing electric
customers from 400,000 in 1991 to 550,000 [31]. There are several
projects currently underway including a 34 MW hydroelectric power
plant on the Fincha River in western Oromia. The second, Qoqa dam on
Awash River, is to be upgraded. A 230 kilovolt (kV) power distribution
station is to be constructed to enhance the northern grid and supply
power services to Alamaxa, and Mekele. A 132 kV distribution has been
completed to supply power from Gedo to Gimbi through Naqamte. Two
new hydroelectric power stations are being built in the Nile river basin.
The construction is being carried out by Chinese and Yugoslav firms.
Another hydroelectric power station on Gilgel-Gibe is also under
construction with a $200 million loan from the WB.
Ethiopia's power supply, and hence Oromia's, is almost totally
dependent on hydroelectric energy. Future energy supplies might then
fluctuate with droughts and river levels. In fear of similar total weather
dependency, the Kenyan government plans to diversify power generation
with now operating wind, thermal, geothermal, and even photovoltaic
energies. As a result, about 314 of its 527 megawatts that will be
connected to the national grid by the year 2003 will be generated from
non-hydro power sources [32]. This is a significant move from Kenya's
current 80% hydropower supply. Oromia's future dependency on
hydroelectric power can be of a serious concern since energy supplies
would depend on unpredictable weather and climate changes. Another
neighboring country, the Sudan has a fairly diversified energy supply
with 45% of the installed capacity of 500 MW from hydroelectric power.
In a future energy market, neighboring countries excess energy such as
that of Sudan can be a vital source of peak energy supply during hours of
high demand, as is the case in Europe and America, where countries and
States share electric and natural gas through interconnected networks of
It is well known that electrification of villages is one of the
driving tools of development. It is safe and appropriate whenever the
demanding maintenance and operation are conducted by trained and
qualified personnel. However, uncontrolled multiple grid power
generation can be both hazardous and costly. In the US, the permits
required for power generation have discouraged even Co-generation
plants for years, despite their superior overall efficiency.

Inappropriate Technology

Inappropriate technology decisions are common across the third

world. As a result of the 1954 US atomic tests, the people residing in
Utrek nearby Bikini were exposed to heavy doses of radioactivity
Drinking water was polluted and animals were declared inedible. With
NASA's support, the Hughes Corporation offered to install its surplus
space photovoltaic equipment to produce electricity [8]. The US
government funded the project as compensation to the Bikini victims.
One year later, an expert was sent to the field to evaluate the
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

performance of the system and witnessed near total failure. The inability
of the locals to maintain the photovoltaic equipment was not to blame.
Conditions on the hot and humid island were drastically different from
the dry and cold spaces for which the batteries were designed. This led
to the failure of the system. The habitats of the island made little use of
the resource. If the concept of intermediate technology had been
understood by the engineers who built the system, the technology could
have made a difference.
In the Ethiopian case, the government imported several tractors
to the Didhessa valley for large-scale farming in the 1980s. This was at a
time when corporate farming was highly unpopular in the country and
large-scale farming was a state monopoly. Morale and dedication to
communal farming were low. In the background of such political
realities, large numbers of tractors were imported from East Germany.
After a single season, parts needed to be replaced or serviced. This was
not an easy thing to do in the middle of the Didhessa valley, far from the
tractor plants of East Germany. Sustained arrangements for service had
not been made. The fleet of tractors was soon decommissioned, one after
another. Part of the fault lay with East Germany. The times were tough
even for East German farmers because the tractor company did not
produce enough parts for its own internal market. In fact a close look at
East European command economies shows that maintenance was
chronically neglected.
An additional burden to the Didhessa tractors was that the
equipment was designed to cut the wet soils of East Germany. They
were not designed to run in a dusty and bushy environment like that of
western Oromia. Hence, the expensive venture was a total failure leaving
shells of tractors in remote parts of the valley, standing witness to
random technology decisions, which the author calls inappropriate
technology. Several inappropriate technology decisions of tremendous
waste can be cited in Ethiopia or Africa, ranging from purchase of
expensive farm combines to building high-cost industries.
A case of failed power generation in the small town of Sibu Sire
in western Oromia is typical of administrative misjudgement. A local
entrepreneur installed a diesel motor to run a milling plant during the day
and to produce electricity for the town in the evening [6]. The poles
were planted, the wires networked, and the town electrified early in the
1960s. But it was only months into the bill collection process that the
astute businessman encountered serious problems. There had been no
metering devices installed to measure the usage of power because
metering would have increased the cost of implementation. Instead, flat
fees were charged on a per bulb wattage basis. This made sense because
the central power was turned off at a specified time, and most bulbs were
on during the four or five daily hours of evening operation. However,
the owner spent most of his day negotiating due days for the monthly
bills of his generator, and many just did not take the modern alternative
serious enough, and to many others the few dollars of monthly expense
came too suddenly in place of the five cents of daily kerosene expense.
Without collecting the monthly bills, the owner could not maintain the
plant to run more hours requiring more fuel. As a result, the electric
generation was turned off, and the town went back to burning lamps of
kerosene. Maintenance and the administrative needs of the generator had
been totally underestimated in the initial phase of this innovative process,
and consequently the entire idea was defeated, despite the heavy
financial up-front cost of the infrastructure. We can learn from these

Examples of Intermediate Technology

This section is an attempt to draw the readers attention to the

topic by providing simple examples of possible changes in the Oromian
scenario. A more complete list of such transferable technologies is
available in the literature, for instance in VITA [48].

Stove: In a traditional Oromo stove (Figure I) the fire is located between

three stones supporting a pot. Combustion is controlled via the loading
of fuel, the wood in this case. The open fire creates a draft drawing more
air from the surroundings. The fresh air increases the speed at which the
wood burns, and can also be used for controlling the rate of burning.
Since the fire is typically close to the ground, the fuel near the floor is
exposed to less air, creating a poor air to fuel ratio. The combustion is
incomplete with lots of smoke. Only 10 to 15% of the heat produced in
Intermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

Fig. 1. Open fire place

the open fire stove in this manner reaches the desired target of heating
the pot. The open fire stove is easy and affordable to build. There are
other stove designs with simple modifications to the open fire stove.
One such case is the Damru Chulha designed by Agricultural Tools
Research Center [7] in Bardoli, India with 30% efficiency. It can be
built simply by a local potter at a cost of about US $4. More refined
open-air wood stove designs of up to 40% efficiency are possible. An
example of such a high efficiency stove is the rim oven of Botswana,
which has received wide acceptance by small-scale commercial bakeries
in rural areas of that country [44].
These design examples illustrate that several improvements can
be made to the highly inefficient open fire stove. A chimney system,
which has been utilized in Europe and elsewhere, could wipe out the
smoke, thus improving the indoor air quality. A simple rock that serves
as a thermal energy storage, and a portable insulation for the cooking
hours could also save the hard-earned dry firewood. Raising the fire off
the ground, preferably on a grate, is another simple measure. Raising the
combustion floor is a relatively easy measure in most parts of Oromia
since fireplaces are located centrally in the house requiring no mobility.
The incoming air and the smoke flow can be controlled by the grate. A
box with a damper under the fireplace can also be used to control the
airflow and regulate the rate of combustion. These measures do not
require large resources, and can be mastered locally. Such a simple,
creatively organized combustion location can make a big difference in
the health of the family and also reduce the number of trees cut for
firewood. They can be more optimized by additional research, as was
done in Guatemala after the strong 1976 earthquake. The high demand
for rebuilding homes following the earthquake caused a severe shortage
of firewood. A program was initiated to improve stove efficiency and
reduce wood burning. An appropriate stove was designed by
Approvecho Institute in Eugene, Oregon, USA [14]. It was built from a
solid block of sand and clay with a firebox and holes for pots. A
chimney was added for better smoke circulation. The stove was widely
and positively received by the affected population in Guatemala.
Reiterating, the firebox, the damper, and the chimney are key
components that could be added to all stoves across Oromia.
Virtually every home requires some fonn of energy. Heat is
used for cooking and space heating. Wood has a very low Heating
Value, also known as Enthalpy of Combustion, which is a measure of
energy extractable from a given fuel. The term is called Higher Heating
Value (HHV) if water vapor is found in the combustion product, or
Lower Heating Value if otherwise [23]. The most frequently cited value
is the H W since vapor is a common unavoidable byproduct of the
combustion process. The HHV of wood at room temperature varies from
8000 to 15500 kJ/kg. The H W of benzene is 41825 kJ/kg, typically
lower than for most other hydrocarbon fuels. It is in the 25000-kJ/kg
range for coal, but can be as low as that of wood for low grade coal [27].
Thus, the poor quality of wood burning and the resulting
environmental damage or forest destruction that ensues is apparent.
Consequently, the electrification of villages discussed below is
considered paramount in most developing countries. The Oromo
fireplace is in the living room, which also serves as an all-purpose room -
a family room, a dining room, and meetinglreception place. In some
parts of Oromia, firewood is collected during the summer, and piled
behind the walls under the house for rainy season, reducing the total
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

available useful space of the house. The fireplace is also the primary
source of space heating. Smoke and vapor from the incomplete
combustion from the wet firewood, especially in the rainy months, can
cause suffocation in this most frequently occupied room of the family.
Residents are exposed to the possibly toxic smoke of some trees. In
addition to reducing smoke inhalation and improving health conditions, a
new stove design with better efficiency could also reduce deforestation.

Agriculture and Water Supply

Modem agriculture is a very energy intensive. Estimates of

agricultural productivity with automated farming often do not include the
cost of energy into the cost of production. Redclift provides the ratio of
energy produced per hectare to the total energy input from all energy
sources to compare energy efficiency of mechanized and pastoral
farming for various crops [18]. The result is 9.6 for traditional farming
in Africa compared to 2.8 for maize or 0.61 for tomatoes in the US. The
results show that pastoral agriculture is a relatively efficient user of
energy. However, pastoral agriculture has limited capacity to produce
energy per unit of land. These parameters are revealing and critical for
designing future growth strategies. Deploying such an intensive
consumption of energy relying on imported fuel and machinery, with the
prevailing unemployment ratio, can be a serious burden on development.
Large-scale agricultural mechanization cannot be imposed on a society
unless it can be run by centrally planned or corporate forces. When the
background is well developed, the growing infrastructure will pull
farming productivity by merging industry with agriculture as was
witnessed in the case of Spain. Spanish agriculture employed over half
of the population in the early 1950s with traction largely human and
animal. Cattle dung was the major fertilizer. In the 1970s, the number
of tractors grew from 10,000 to over 400,000 [39].
The use of tractors requires a wholly deployed infrastructure
support, trained personnel, roads, phones, import export capability,
storage, credible service, and profitlcost planning. Due to lack of
resources and due to the absence of an independent political voice of
Oromos as mentioned in the introductory part of this paper, these support
structures remain out of reach for most individual Oromo farmers.
However, appropriately designed ploughing equipment could be
propagated via, for example private media, etc, without government
policy support. Such outreach programs must be conducted creatively to
promote intermediate technology in a political environment where
anyone can be incriminated for anything. Appropriate design would
require lighter yokes and ploughs perhaps with fiberglass reinforcement,
correct and optimized angles o f braking and the tilt (Fig. 2A) the soil
for various soil hardness (dry, wet, light, heavy, etc.), stainless share, and
strong waterproof rope to tie the share to the beam. A solid connection

Fig. 2A. A typical Ororno plough

can replace the rope, and adjustable angles can also be designed to make
the plough flexible. Various share geometries, including double or triple
blades for soft soil, can be made commercially available with a wider
blade, twisted at the top to turn the soil (Fig. 28.) More input to the
farmer can be thought of with better research. The farmer who spends
hours or days looking for the right-angled natural tree to be used as a
Intermediafr Techno1ogyft)r Underdeveloped Ncrrions
plough and spends many more hours repairing them would appreciate
sucli simple technical support.

Fig. 28. Suggested share geometry with a flange to turn

Tool selection is vital for agricultural productivity. Even the

ergonomic design of scrapers, shovels and hoes can improve
productivity. Agricultural productivity can also benefit from a sufficient
water supply. This can be assured by pumping water from lakes, rivers.
and reservoirs. This would make agriculture less dependent on climatic
changes. Irrigation allows the use of land during the dry season in
locations where it is typically left unused until the wet season, thus
doubling the production rate per hectare. A useful pump design, one that
can be owned and operated by the farmer. is the treadle pump [ S ] . The
treadle pump technology i s being popularized in Tanzania, and several
Asian countries including China. It is operated manually. and has a
moderately large output. Animals can be used to pump larger amounts
o f water. Pumps also enhance the ability of the farmer to supply
drinking water for livestock.
In traditional societies such as Oromia, water is often carried by
heavy buckets made of clay, known as okkote or hoobo. The weight of
the okkote amounts a good percentage of the total back-load. This is a
tremendous labor job performed by women and children. Ideally, a
piping system that brings water to each home is desirable and can impact
the hygiene of the family and the society. To avoid manual water
transportation, wells are dug in many parts of Oromia if the water level is
not too deep for access. Such deep wells are hazardous for children, and
require pulling of the water bucket. A pumping system would allow
sealing the top of the well, and storing the water safely above in a tank
for continuous use.
In a rural setting, locally grown and available alternatives such
as bamboo pipes could be very useful and more effective than PVC
pipes. They can have wide applications for water distribution, low
voltage insulation, or even photovoltaic distribution. Seed selection
including access to DNA-assisted seed sources is another potentially
fruitful venture not discussed in this paper. Also not discussed are soil
erosion and watershed management.

Power Generation

One serious future challenge, as noted above, is that Oromia's

power supply will mostly depend on hydroelectric energy, making it
susceptible to drought and weather conditions. The technology of diesel
generators for small-scale supply is fairly simple. The technical know-
how required for simple maintenance and repair work of such motors is
fairly high. Automobile motor shops have existed throughout medium-
sized towns, and the design analogy of traction diesel motors has helped
the fast growth of milling machines. With little investment, these
machines can be switched from milling to electric generators that run
city lighting or irrigation pumps in remote parts of Oromia, alternating
between milling and power generating. A few kW power generators can
be transported even on horseback, and turned on in just minutes to light
the entire village, say for a wedding ceremony or to fill a large water
storage tank. Such portable electric generators are commonly used in the
US to supply power for artists and musicians in parks where power is not
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

accessible. They can be purchased by villagers as community property.

They require little maintenance, and if rented for each occasion, can
return their investment in a short time. Such projects have been
successful in the rural areas of Kenya to supply water [38].
Generally, solar and wind energy extraction devices are not
considered intermediate technology because they are too expensive.
However, the biogas generator, also known as methane (CH4) digester
(Fig. 3), is a simple technology that can produce methane fuel. Despite
the large number of cattle in Oromia (the highest concentration per
person in Africa), this simple technology is almost unknown to Oromo
farmers. For these reasons, a rudimentary process of the methane
digester is given below.
Methane is produced by bacteria, known as thermophylic and
mesophylic that are found naturally in raw materials such as livestock
manure and sewage, which are in free su ply Thermophylic bacteria
g .
thrive at temperatures between 47 and 55 C, and mesophylic bacteria
yield between 27 and 3 8 ' ~ . Mesophylic bacteria produce about l.25m3
of methane per m3 of digester volume at optimum temperature while
thermophylic bacteria produce about twice as much. Cattle manure starts
producing methane in about four weeks, and it is completely digested in
SO days at 2 4 ' ~ ,after which the waste remains a formidable fertilizer, no
nutritional value lost.
The bacteria use carbon as fuel and nitrogen to build their cell
structure in the weight ratio of about 27 carbon to 1 nitrogen. This
means the raw material has to allow sufficient air circulation in order to
harvest nitrogen from the air. This largely depends on the type of the
raw material. The carbon to nitrogen ratio of cattle, sheep, and horse
manure is in the 25 range, requiring no further C:N balancing operation.
The raw material must also be diluted with water using a in 1: 1 ratio to
convert it to a liquid form. The methane gas can be used for cooking,
lighting, space heating, or even to run a generator. A typical system is
shown in figure I, with more detailed designs and operating parameters e
explained by Palmer [36]. Case histories of early operating models are
also available in a National Academy of Science report [34]. Despite its
simplicity, biogas is vaguely known in Oromia or other parts of Africa.
Legislative and other valuable experiences can be drawn, among many,
from Internet sources, and institutions such as the Biomass Energy
Alliance of Washington and the National Bioenergy lndustries
Association [22].
There are other factors to be considered for the system to operate
properly, such as pH balancinglincreasing of the fermentation by adding
burnt ashes, particularly at the early stages of the mixture when the
reaction tends to have higher acidity. Methane producing bacteria die if
the pH drops below 7 or rises above 8. Leaks and the presence of
fermentation inhibitors such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, or
potassium cations must be closely guarded. Too much urine in the raw
material could increase the acid level making it unfavorable for the
bacteria to flourish. The most serious concern however, would be
explosion and the necessity to isolate the gas from air and heat sources.


Transportation is a market phenomenon. There is no reason to

build roads and bridges where there is no traffic. Expensive ventures
such as building a bridge across the Nile connecting two provincial
regions that have little commercial or cultural interactions is not an
example of appropriate development. This took place during the
previous military regime. The financial and energy expenses could have
instead been invested in many other more relevant areas. More emphasis
should again be made on simple means of transportation such as bicycles
that run with reduced friction. Bicycles are a very crucial mode of
transportation in China and even some countries of Western Europe.
They weigh as low as 20 lbs., and can be carried across rough roads if
needed. At about 12-mph typical speed, they are much faster and less
tiring than walking. Bicycles with special tires and frames can attain
speeds of as high as 65 mph. At an average rated power of 75 W,
bicycles have an average efficiency of 98.5%. The bicycle can cany
loads of up to 400 lbs. Notwithstanding its known drawbacks such as
difficulty to ride steep hills, it can play an important transitional role in a
developing nation such as Oromia when the weather and the landscape
permit. They can be designed to operate as taxis, as stationary power
Intermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

generators 1491 to run water pumps and machining tools, and as village
ambulances [33].


The intermediate technologies discussed in this paper were used

in the development of technologically advanced countries. For centuries,
creative technologies, now considered obsolete, then considered
revolutionary, were used to design labor saving tools [45]. Modern
science in non-industrialized nations must embrace appropriate
technology as a necessary bridge to cross to sustainable development.
Such a measure does not negate direct adoption of modern tools and
technology if and when the tools are sustainable. TheAppropriate
Technology Source-book by Darrow and Saxenian covers varieties of
suitable agricultural tools, water supply systems, small enterprise
developments, training, and renewable energy sources applicable to
current conditions in Oromia and Africa [16]. The primary purpose of
technological change is to improve the living standards of people. This
would mean technology is desirable if it has few or no negative
consequences for the environment, and impacts the health and wealth of
the society positively. Intermediate technology puts the consumers in
control, and can be adapted to local conditions without requiring a
sudden shift in established cultural and traditional methods. The Oromo
people have to overcome political, material, organizational, and
traditional obstacles to employ intermediate technology. Several other
relevant areas have not been discussed in this paper. These include
renewable energy sources such as wind energy, and non-technology
issues such as aqua-culture and health care. In the ongoing highly
politicized nationalist conflict in the Horn of Africa, participants must
recognize that, technological development is a critical element of nation


1. This concept of intermediate technology is promoted by the

Intermediate Technology Development Group, 9 King St.,
London, and WCZE 8HN. The group works with rural
communities in nine developing countries: Bangladesh, India,
Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.
The founder, Dr. Fritz Schemata, is author of a best selling book:
SmaN is Beaut~jiil.
Over the years, each country modified the definition of Small
and Mid-sized Plant, depending on its own scale and growth. In
the US, such a plant has less than 500 employees.
Agenda 21 is now coordinated by the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development and implemented through national and
local authorities.
Globes web page can be visited at
One such school is Charmers University of Technology in
Goteborg, Sweden.
Discussion with an eyewitness who lived in Sibu Sire during
these years.
Agricultural Tools Research Center, Suruchi Campus, P. 0. Box
4, Bardoli 394601, Gujurat, India.
Appropriate Technology. 1990, December. Innovations for
development, 17(3), 29.
Beckman, R video presentation about the Marshall Island project
is available on videotape from Brown University, Division of
Engineering, Providence, RI 02912.
Briggs, Asa. 1982. The Power of Steam, University of Chicago
Bryceson, D., Kay, C., and Mooij, J. 1999. Disappearing
Peasantries? Rural Labor in Africa, Asia, and Latin America,
Buatsi, S. 1988. Technology Transfer: Nine Case Studies, ITP.
Committee for Scientific and Technological policy, Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development 1982. Innovation
Intermediate Technologyfor Underdeveloped Nations

in Small and Medium Firms.

Cookstove News, Approvecho Institute, 442 Monroe St.,
Eugene, OR, 97402.
Drucker, P. 1964 Managing for Results, Harper and Row, New
Darrow, K. and Sexanian, M. 1993. The Appropriate
Technology Source-book, VIA.
Gamser, M., Appleton, H., and Carter, N. 1990. Tinker, Tiller,
Technical Change: Technologies from the People, ITP.
Gligo N. quoted by Redclift M. 1987, in Sustainable Economy,
Methuen, pp. 27.
Grosser, M. 1978. Diesel, The Man and the Machine,
Athenaeum, NY, USA.
Hazeltine B. and Bull C. 1999. Appropriate Technology, Tools
Choices, and Implications, Academic Press, pp. 3 17.
Hosier R., Okeefe P., Wisner B., Weiner D., and Shakow D.
1982. Energy Planning in Developing Counhies. and
Incropera D. 1990. Fundamentals of Heat and Mars Transfer,
3rded. John Wiley & Sons
Interagency Environmental Technologies Ofice. 1995, April.
National Technology Strategy, A Bridge to a Sustainable Future,
955 LEnfant PlazaNorth, SW Ste. 5322, Washington DC 20024,
April, 1995, pp. 14.
A Journal of the ECA Environment Programme, 1995, Dec. Vol.
5, special issue.
ibid,, pp. 4.
Kenneth W. 1966. Thermodynamics, McGraw Hill, pp. 535.
King, K. and McGrath, S. 1999. Enterprises in Africa: Between
Poverty and Growth, ITP. The authors revisit vital elements of
the debate surrounding small and micro enterprises in the context
poverty in Africa.
Marjoram, T. 1994. Island Technology, ITP.
MBendi Information Services Ltd., P.O. Box 23498, Claremont
7735, South Africa, E-mail:
McCullagh, J. C., 1977, Pedal Power, Rodale Press, Emmaus,
National Academy of Science, Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on
Technology Innovation. 1977. Methane generation from human,
animal, and agricultural wastes, Washington DC, USA.
Office of Technology Assessment. 1981. An Assessment of
Technology for Local Development, GPO Stock No. 052-003-
00797-5, U S . Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Palmer, D. G. 1981. Biogas, Energyfrom Animal Waste, U S .
Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 20402, USA.
Powell, J. 1995. The Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit: A
Handbook on Operations, ITP.
Program for International Development, Clark University, 1989.
An Introduction to Participatory Rural Appraisal for Rural
Resources Management, Clark University, Worcester, MA,
Redclift, M. 1987. Sustainable Development, Methuen, pp. 25.
ibid, pp. 159.
ibid, pp. 162.
ibid, pp. 164.
Intermediate Technology for Underdeveloped Nations

43. Reij, C., Scoones I., and Toulmin, C. 1996. Sustaining the Soil:
Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa, Earthscan.
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Botswana, Catalogue of Goods and Services. 1992. 2nded., page
45. Sloane E. 1965. Diary on early American boy. Ballantine, NY,
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Technology, 3(4), 21-22.


' 77u O r o m CmMwnrvn i s mbltrhed by whalarr md h u m nghu acorlru


Gufu Oba


Treaties may resolve political conflicts between colonial states

over common borders. However, more often than not the most insidious
conflicts are those which occur as result of denying the transfrontier
communities access rights to resources. Each colonial state by trying to
exert its influence ignores conventions that previously guaranteed the
communities to maintain access rights to grazing and water resources
along traditional grazing and watering routes. In the Horn of Africa, a
conflict of this nature profoundly influenced drought coping strategies of
the transfrontier pastoral communities during the 20th Century
(Markakis, 1996). I shall suggest that the evolution of colonial and post-
colonial state boundaries that split the peoples of Africa and their
resources left legacies of conflict on resource use. I shall also contend
that the colonial and post-colonial states, by establishing jurisdictions
and controlling resource access rights of the transfrontier communities,
violated traditional coping strategies. The colonial states scrambled over
resources carving out territories between themselves without due regard
to the inhabitants. By partitioning the resources between themselves and
by redefining ethnic relationships vis-a-vis access rights to resources,
they created more conflicts.
Within the created borders, state administrative apparatuses
replaced ethnic powers and influences. Hence, indigenous means of
resolving conflicts and negotiating access rights to resources were
weakened. In place, rigid state borders were fixed; leading to the
emergence of ethnicities that violated the traditional quid pro quo
arrangements. In some cases, ethnic conflicts over resources assumed
political dimensions. The problem occurred on the common borders of
most African countries, where colonial boundaries and the present state
borders split the same communities. In the Horn of Africa where

Journal of Oromo Studies, Volume 7, Numbers 1 & 2, July 2000, pp. 87-108.
Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya share borders, many pastoral communities
have been affected.
In this paper, I discuss consequences of the conflicts over
transfrontier grazing and watering rights of the Obbu Booran of northern
Kenya-Ethiopian borderlands during the 20th century. Resource borders
of the Obbu Booran, straddle the Kenya-Ethiopian borderlands, while in
northern Kenya, their grazing lands comprise the vast arid scrubland of
Golbo. The Obbu Booran through their closer contact with their brethren
in southern Oromia, Ethiopia, served a natural link between the Oromo
in Kenya and Ethiopia. Their resource use and social economic systems
are also closely intertwined with those of the Booran in the Districts of
Marsabit and Isiolo in Kenya.
The region of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya borderlands
has been in turmoil even before colonial annexation. The characteristic
migrations and expansion of various pastoral groups brought them in
direct conflict with the resident groups. The Booran Oromo or their
ancestors known by the name Heero Abba Biyya were resident in the
present territory earlier than 13th century.' about a century ago, the
Somali expansion followed (Dalleo, 1975; Schlee, 1984). External
conflicts were initiated by new waves of migrants from Somalia
following later by the scramble for regional resources by the colonial
powers of Ethiopia, Italy and Britain. The partitioning placed the Booran
under the jurisdictions of Ethiopia and the British administrations.
Before the army of the Ethiopian Warlord, Menelik, arrived in
the south in 1889, the Booran had strong influence on the cultural entities
of ethnic groups of the region for two main reasons. First, through the
gada system, they built strong political institutions that provided internal
peace (naga Booran). Second, clientship was established with smaller
pastoral groups in a process of integration and assimilation (Baxter,
1954; Oba, 1996). The clientship was disrupted in the latter part of the
19th century following invasion by the Somali clans (Schlee, 1989). The
client alliance threatened the peace of their former host, challenging the
Booran rights to grazing lands and water resources (Oba, 1996). This did
not cease following the creation of international borders in 1902-1905
(Maud, 1905). The British colonial administration in a bid to maintain
law and order, delimited each pastoral group within the confines of the
Border Adminispation and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

official grazing zones, where each group was expected to run its affairs
without transgressing ethnic borders (Kennaway, 1955: 29). But it was
the water and grazing resources in Ethiopia that were vital for survival of
the Obbu Booran pastoral economy.

The Treaty on Grazing Rights between Ethiopia and Kenya

Before the Kenya-Ethiopian boundary was fixed, the Booran

used their own arrangements to gain access to grazing and water in
different parts of their territory. That ended with the establishment of the
international border. For the Obbu Booran pastoralists of northern
Kenya-Ethiopian borderlands, use of wells in Ethiopia was an essential
aspect of their land use (Pinney, 1946). Access becomes crucial during
periodic droughts, when water and pasture are scarce on the Kenyan side
of the border. The international treaty signed by Britain and Ethiopia in
December 1907 allowed the Booran on both sides of the border to gain
access to water and pasture resources, as dictated by climatic condition^.^
The Treaty was again renegotiated by the two powers in 1947. A clause
in the 1947 agreement assured preservation of transfrontier grazing and
water rights by the Kenyan Booran (Mckenzie-Smith, 1948).

Drought Coping Strategies during the 20th Century

Droughts were common occurrences in northern Kenya during

the 20th century. For example, the years of 191 1 and 1913 were periods
of severe drought (Kittermaster, 1917, 1918, 1919). In 1914, partial
rainfall failure coupled with the rinderpest epidemic resulted in high
livestock mortality. By 1917, heavy rains filled the depression of
Malalba in the Golbo lowlands of Northern Kenya, resulting in plentiful
grazing. The short rain (October-November) of 1918 was a failure. The
drought created very severe water scarcity. The long (March-July) and
the short rains of 1919 were failures and grazing was scarce
(Kittermaster, 1919). The drought of 1921 was severe for the livestock
economy, affecting the whole of the Northern Frontier District (NFD)
(Muirhead, 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942). There were series of severe
droughts in the 1930s, while shortage of rainfall and pestilence of locusts
caused the famine of 1943.
In 1945, the long rains failed but the short rains were favorable.
Rainfall was, however, poorly distributed resulting in poor distribution of
pasture (Symes-Thomson, 1945). Rains in 1946 did little to improve the
critical water and pasture conditions. The result was a famine. The
situation was made worse because there was shortage of food throughout
Kenya (Pinney, 1946). The long rains of 1948 were below average
although the short rains were heavy. Conditions were even worse in 1949
because both the long and the short rains were low and poorly
distributed. Drought became severe, pasture and water were scarce
resulting in a great deal of livestock loss. The famine condition forced
majority of the Obbu Booran to cross into Ethiopia. By contrast, rainfall
in 1950 was well distributed but below average. Because of the failure of
the short hagaya rains (October-November) in 1950, the 1951 season
started with a dry spell. By February 1951, the situation slowly
deteriorated. Water and pasture were lacking everywhere and the stocks
were dying in hundreds because of the total failure of the ganna rains
(March-July). The situation was saved by access to water on the
Ethiopian side of the border (Turnbull, 1949). The necessity of making
arrangements for accessing wells on the Ethiopian side was stressed in
the letter by the Moyale DC to the Northern Frontier District (NFD)
Provincial Commissioner: "Had it not been for our watering rights in
Ethiopia the position would have become extremely serious, and it has
sewed to show how completely helpless our tribesmen would be should
the Frontier ever be closed.. . ".)
As opposed to the ganna rains that failed, the hagaya rains of
1951 were heavy. The heavy rains filled all the pans and the springs were
running again and "There was far more grass than could possibly be
utilized ..." (Turnbull, 1951: 2). The following years showed a similar
pattern of wet and dry cycles, emphasizing the need to gain access to the
wells across the frontier. Like other years, 1952 was a period of water
shortage. Although the rainfall of 1953 was moderate, it was patchy. The
Obbu Booran was luckier because the rains in the plains of Golbo
improved grazing and water. The March-May-June rains of 1954 were
moderately good but distribution of the short rains was late and
extremely patchy. However, in 1955, conditions were reversed when
there was rainfall failure in Obbu. The years 1958-1960 received above
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

average rainfall (i.e., greater than 350 mm). Although there was little rain
in the southern portion of Golbo, the floods that came from Ethiopia in
the laga filled the depression of Bododa attracting the population from
Isiolo and the whole of Moyale Districts (Kelly, 1958). The year 1960
was a good year with plentiful grazing and water (Walters, l960), while
1961 was a famine year because of rainfall failure, followed in 1962 by
the heaviest rainfall ever recorded (the period called hagaaya gaabo).
Similar to the earlier decades, drought coping strategies of the Obbu
Booran included transfrontier migration. However, these movements
were persistently disrupted by the Ethiopian and Italian administration^.^
Effects of Border Conflicts on Drought Coping Strategies
The response of the Obbu Booran to drought stress was to cross
into southern Ethiopia to water cattle at the traditional wells. The treaty
of 1907 recognized these movements (Dick, 1914, 1918), but crossing of
the international frontier created political friction between the colonial
administration in Kenya on one hand and the imperial Ethiopia on the
other. Whereas the Treaty of 1907 allowed movements of the Booran
across international frontiers, interpretation of that treaty was a source of
contention. Thus administrative disagreements further affected the coping
strategies of the Booran. When droughts forced the Kenyan Booran to
water at the wells on the Ethiopian side of the border, they were forced to
pay taxes (Kittermaster, 1918). In addition, between 1915 and 1929,
border banditly by the so-called "~igre"'distablized the coping strategies
of the Booran. For example, in 1918, the Booran living near Moyale
escaped the "Tigre" attack by paying a blackmail fee of 3,000 Ethiopian
birr (Kittermaster, 1918). Banditry forced movements of the Booran
from Ethiopia into Kenya. Ethiopian officials subjected the Booran who
ran away to harassment. A well-documented case occurred in January
1919 when ~ a r a z m a t c hGashi
~ and Garazmatch Woyessa with an aid of
800 men came to attack the bandits. Since they were out numbered by
the bandits, they turned towards the runaway Booran and "demanded
them back from the British colonial administration with threats.
Mr.Bamber (the DC. Moyale) being unable to keep these Boran owing to
lack of water, agreed to send them back but the Boran choosing the lesser
of two evils, fled ...and made [pact] with Tigre for protection"
(Kittermaster, 19 19: 2).
The problem arose because the Ethiopian officials and the
soldiery received no payments from the central government but were
allowed to compensate themselves from the inhabitant^.^
For this latter purpose, [the BooranIY are allocated to officials
and soldiers according to rank. This means that not only do the
natives have to pay tribute to the Ethiopian Government but also
they have to pay tribute to the official[s] to whom they have been
allotted. On top of this, outlaws seize their women and hold them
to ransom for large sums (Kittermaster, 1919).

By comparison, the Kenyan colonial administration considered

tribal movements across international borders as having political
repercussions. First, reliance on resources on both sides of the border
made their control nearly impossible. Second, although the Kenya
colonial administration was sympathetic to the maltreatment of the Obbu
Booran at the hands of the Ethiopians, it was also concerned that their
movements were inclined to play one government against the other
(Butler, 1928). The political confrontation across the frontier was
particularly sensitive following the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. The
Italians not being signatory to the Treaty of 1907 between Menelik and
the British did not take lightly the Kenyan administrations demand of the
full right of the British subjects to water at the Ethiopian wells. Like the
earlier "Tigre" bandits that terrorized the Booran population along the
border, the Italian irregulars looted Booran cattle (Butler, 1928). The
Ohbu Booran in particular was persistently persecuted. The Italian

Threatened to abrogate the trans-frontier water and grazing rights

which [the Kenyan pastoralists] had enjoyed under the Anglo-
Abyssinian treaty of 1907. The Italian authorities stated that they
would refuse all water unless the actual [Booran] villages
crossed into [the Italian] territory. The result was that nearly all
Boran [in Obbu] crossed the border (Reece, 1942: 2).

The Italians had no obligation to recognize the treaty. Moreover,

Italian policy encouraged westward migration of Somalis, who made up
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

the bulk of their irregular soldiers (the ~anda''. forcing the Kenyan
colonial administration to adjust the tribal boundaries on their side. The
result was a continued encroachment of the Somalis on the Booran
grazing lands. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia thus aggravated the
political conflicts by arming the Somali tribes with firearms under the
pretext of fighting Ethiopian resistance but actually directed against the
Booran. In March of 1936 the Italians "armed the Gurre under Hassan
Gababa and incited them to attack the Ethiopians and the Boran who had
remained loyal to the Ethiopians. The Gurre at once fell upon the Gabbra
and raided many hundred head of stock and camels from them ... The
Boran-Gurre feud broke out on the Ethiopian side and there were
constant raids and counter raids " . 9
Following Italy's occupation of Ethiopia, the Kenyan colonial
administration was unable to give assurance to the Booran and other
pastoral groups who relied on resources distributed on the Italian side of
the border. For example, on February 15, 1938, the Italian major,
Signorini, who was the commissario of the Booran Province (in
Ethiopia) visited Obbu and instructed that all the British Booran who
wished to water in Italian territory should be in possession of a pass
signed by the residente. "He instructed the "Banda" that the tribesmen
had three days in which to obtain such passes, at the end of which they
were to be refused water." This policy was enforced in July 1938 when
the wells along the border were closed and [the Booran] compelled to
move into the Italian territory. In the words of the District Commissioner
of Moyale:

The closing of these wells to the British Boran was partly a

matter of policy and partly owing to the fact that the Banda
stationed along the frontier [were] ... allowed to make [farms] ...
and to amass large herds of stock, all requiring considerable
quantities [of grazing and water resources]. The Italians having
allowed the Degodia to penetrate [into Obbu] further
complicated the situation in considerable numbers."

The issue of access to water and pasture on the Italian side was a
perennial one. Access was essential for the Booran to survive during the
dry season as mentioned earlier, and this could only be accomplished
through arrangements with the Italian officials. However, the Italians
always took advantage of this convenient weapon to harass the Obbu
~ o o r a n . " Initially, the Italians exempted the population from paying
taxes for three years following establishment of their government in
Ethiopia. Exemption from taxes was one other reason that attracted the
British Booran to cross to the Italian side. However, after 1939 this
policy was changed and all the pastoralists who crossed the border were
required to pay taxes. The Kenyan colonial administration objected to
this policy on grounds that the terms of the Treaty of 1907 was to honor
free access to the nearest wells by the border community. The Italians
argued that they interpreted the policy to mean that during "Emigrating
the tribes people should be subject to the territorial jurisdiction and that
the Italian government was ...empowered to tax them should they wish to
do so".I2 One outcome of this administrative conflict was the incident
that occurred on 9 December 1939, when about 250 heads of cattle
belonging to the Obbu Booran watering at the wells across the frontier
were seized. A fine of 3% was charged as trespass tax on the stock taken
to the wells.
Despite this event, Galgallo Muudhale, the Chief of the Obbu
Booran was convinced that given the choices, his people would rather
cross to the Italian territoly to benefit from its better resources than
paying double taxes, first to the British and then to the Italians.
Furthermore, the connection of taxes and resource access was
constraining their coping strategies when water and pasture conditions on
the Kenyan side became scarce. The administrative arrangements were
counter to the climatic conditions, which forced the Booran to use water
on the Italian side of the border. However, following the outbreak of the
Anglo-Italian war in 1940, the British administration vacated the border
areas and the people whose lives were controlled by the colonial
administration for approximately 40 years were suddenly left on their
own to fend for themselves. This change of events did not bother the
Booran despite increasing conflicts between them and the Somali clans
and the devastation of the war on the livestock economy. The District
officer of Moyale summed up the indifference of the pastoralists to the
conflicts between Britain and Italy: "The matter had an inevitable effect
on [our] prestige ....The tribes people are ... so entirely engrossed in their
Border Adminislration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

own struggle for existence...that events, to us sufficiently important and

dramatic concern them only as a momentary topic of ephemeral
interest ...,913
Even after the departure of the administration, the Obbu Booran
were so persecuted by the Italian Banda and the Degodia that they
escaped to Marsabit (Saaku). After the defeat of the Italians, lawlessness
broke out between the Booran (the former victims) and the Somali tribes
whose population was the source of recruits for the Italian irregulars. The
retreating Banda and the Marehan and the Garre massacred the Booran
living in the Diire and Liiban regions of ~ t h i o ~ i a . ' ~ with
~ v e resumption
of the Ethiopian administration, conflicts intensified. The return to power
by the Ethiopian administration did not improve conditions for the
Booran across the frontier. The situation was such that the Ethiopians on
any pretext would close their wells to the Kenyan Booran "which would
mean loss of stock in dry weather" (McKenzie-Smith, 1949: 1).
Therefore, the poor rains, famine conditions, border banditry and the
rigidity of the Ethiopian authorities against the Kenyan Booran use of the
water and the grazing across the border, combined with the near
economic collapse of the pastoral economy during the Anglo-Italian war,
made the pastoralists very vulnerable to droughts. Due to perennial
conflicts, the Kenyan colonial administration was convinced that a
lasting solution was to establish self-reliance in water and grazing on the
Kenyan side of the international boundary.

Effects of Grazing Control on Coping Strategies

The administrative policy of the British also constrained drought

coping strategies. It restricted ethnic groups within their delimited
grazing zones. The establishment of the Somali/Galla line (the term
Galla was applied to the Oromo speakers) Is was aimed at stopping the
westward movement of the Somalis, while forcing the Booran to
abandon their traditional grazing lands in Wajir, Buna and Batallu
regions. But as observed by Glenday (1934) and Butler:

The policy of enforcing tribal borders had contradictions.

Whereas, concessions were allowed for the worst hit groups the
guiding principal was keep the various sections within
certain areas and then, however, hard the dry season may be,
they [are] not ... allowed any extension whatsoever, and any
trespass should be punished vigorously .... The fulfilment of this
policy is [however] handicapped by the climate [because], all
areas are subject to frequent droughts which cause the
inhabitants to scatter in all directions (Butler, 1928: 2).

This longstanding policy of grazing control was vigorously enforced

until changed in the 1940s. The objective of the administration was to
continue to enforce grazing control, while developing water in the
rangelands. The Obbu Booran showed much enthusiasm in the water
projects and initiated their own (Mackenzie-Smith, 1949). In 1948, they
dug the Garbi wells (near Sololo-Ramata town) that fell into disuse
earlier in the century and began to clean up traditional water pans
(Turnbull, 1948).
Unlike water development that was received with considerable
enthusiasm, grazing control needed much discussion. To enforce the
grazing control, the administration engaged "grazing guards". Later the
services of the tribal police (duubas)16 were used to enforce grazing
control. Water development in Obbu began with digging of the Sololo
Ramata dam in 1949 and the Yaa-Share dam and the water pans at Aria
in 1952 (Turbull, 1951). The pan at Damballa Fachana was deepened in
1953 (Kennaway, 1952). Yet even with the grazing control and digging
of the Sololo Ramata bore hole in 1955, the water situation in Ohhu was
far from being adequate.
The Booran continued to practice their indigenous mode of land
use and reliance on Ethiopia for water during the dry years. Therefore, it
took the administration a long time to appreciate the indigenous model of
land use. In his 1957 report for the Northern Frontier Province, M. Kelly
(1957: 35) was apologetic about the past actions of the administration,
for not understanding the pastoralist's model of land use. "I now realize
that it would have been of infinitely greater value for me to have spent
more of my time in learning about the grazing and water, the things that
affects so much more vitally; and more intimately, the movement of
these tribesmen than do the pronouncements of activities of any
government." In Obbu, the functions of the pans and dams were,
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

therefore, to postpone the movement from the wet season in the Golbo
lowlands of Kenya to the dry season watering in ~ t h i o ~ i a . "

Effects of Ethnic Conflicts on Coping Strategies

Despite the confinement of the tribes within fixed borders,

conflicts over shared grazing and water resources persisted.
Notwithstanding the harshest punishments periodically handed out by the
administration to the trespassing groups, the conflict between the Booran
and the Somali clans intensified, assuming political proportions. The
cause of the hostilities between the Booran and the Somali clans was
elaborated by the Chief Political Officer who was responsible for
administration of the Booran after the Italian defeat.
...Somali tribes [SIC] have been moving southwards and
westwards, but until the invasion of Ethiopia by the Italians
they had not made much progress westwards into Borana.
With the coming of the Italians the situation changed because
the Italians liked to have Somalis for their irregular Banda and
they regarded settlements of them in Ethiopia as potentially
useful in case of Amahara rising (McKenzie-Smith, 1949:l).

Before this period "The Boran tribe [SIC] used to occupy nearly all the
NFD, southern Ethiopia and parts of Somalia, but had been steadily
pushed westwards by the Somalis" (McKenzie-Smith, 1949). The
Provincial Commissioner of NFD, R.G. Turnbull (Turnbull, 1949: 2) did
not put lightly the implications of the conflict: "The ...south-west
[movement] follows an unchanging pattern-migration, alliances ...[and]
treachery. It is by this method that all the Somali tribes now in the NFD
have reached their present ranges. [But] [tlhe policy of the province is to
ensure that the tribes are kept apart and that each has its fair share of
grazing and water; infiltration, migration, and trespass constitute
therefore a set of problems of great importance. On the other hand the
stronger tribes tend to encroach into the grazing preserves of the weaker
and to consume their grass and browse under threats of force... "
Thus, by 1947, following the formation of the Somali Youth
League (SYL)'~ - the semi-political party agitating the unification of all
the Somalis, the westward movement of the Somali groups was already
beginning to have a wider political ramifications (Farson, 1950; Lewis,
1963). The Somali political agitation that started in the British and the
Italian Somalilands had spread into the Northern Frontier District (NFD)
(Lewis, 1963). The SYL's "professed aim was to unite all Somalis living
in the Horn of Africa. They set up branches in Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo,
Garissa and Moyale" in Kenya (Sagar, 1947). The creation of political
movement among Somali groups throughout NFD was seen as
legitimization of the territorial claims, which resulted in fighting in
northern Kenya 20 years later (Aguilar, 1996).
Following the independence of the Somali Republic in 1961 and
arrangements in the Northern Province for registration of voters for 1961
general elections, political activities intensified (Walters, 1960). It is to
be remembered that NFD represents one of the five points on the star,
which is the Somali Republic's emblem (Lewis, 1963, 1965). The Somali
population, the majority of whom lived in northeastern Province of
Kenya, wished to secede (Baxter, 1966). Political temperatures were
rising following the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference (Kenya
Colony, Commonwealth Commission Report, 1962). With increased
political fever, the desire of the Somalis for unification with the Somali
Republic, and their rejection of an "African" government of Kenya
became the main political slogan. These dynamic political transformation
found the Booran in political ~ i m b o . The
' ~ Waso Booran in particular
were divided between those who supported the Somali view and those
who opposed it (Baxter, 1966). In the Marsabit and Moyale Districts, the
Booran were opposed to secession and opted to remain in independent
Kenya. At a meeting held by all the Booran chiefs in Garba Tulla in
August 1960, they made "a unanimous decision against the proposal to
link up with the Somalis" (Walters, 1960).
After Kenya was granted independence and the secession
rejected, unofficial war was fought between Somali bandits locally called
shifta and the Kenyan army (Aguilar, 1996). Northern Kenya was placed
under an emergency and movements of the population were restricted.
The conflict introduced firearms into traditional warfare (Goto, 1972;
Diffield, 1994), devastating the pastoral economy. Livestock losses to
shifta attacks coupled with losses during periodic droughts, diminished
livestock holdings of the pastoralists families (Hogg, 1985). Raids on the
Border Adminishation and Drought-Coping S h t e g i e s of Obbu Booran

livestock economy resulted in transfer of assets from the victims to the

armed groups, thereby forcing the impoverished population to rely on the
states emergency assistance (Diffield, 1994). In the Obbu area alone, an
estimated cattle loss to shifra attacks was greater than 30,000 during the
1970s (Oba, 1990). The attacks on the pastoral economy caused changes
in settlement patterns, resulting in dislocation of the Booran from greater
than 80% of the grazing lands in Kenya. All the former grazing areas of
Obbu and the vast grazing lands of Golbo were abandoned. Fear of
cattle rustling restricted livestock grazing to a 5-10 km radius of the
Sololo Ramata town. Concentration of livestock near security settlements
caused severe overgrazing, while scarcity of pasture during periodic
droughts resulted in high livestock mortality, impoverishing a majority of
the population. Nonetheless, the periods of 1980s and 1990s were
recovely years as conflicts between groups ended. During the 1990s, the
Obbu Booran began to experience the old border administrative conflicts.
Insecurity along the border caused by ethnic conflicts and unofficial
closings of the border and restrictions of the Obbu Booran followed
insurgency by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) from crossing into
Ethiopia with their livestock.

Internal Response to Insecurity along Resource Borders

In Obbu, dependency on famine relief came to symbolise the

subsistence economy. In addition to the shifta banditry, the droughts of
1970-1973, 1975, 1979-1981, 1983-1984 and 1991-1992 severely
affected the pastoral economy. However, as peace returned to the area
after cessation of hostilities, new coping strategies were introduced. A far
reaching was in land tenure. The region of Obbu was communally used,
but with sedentarization and creation of farms, the communal grazing
lands along the Kenya-Ethiopian borderlands were converted into private
farmlands, while range enclosures replaced communal grazing lands.
However, the change in resource tenure was not a substitution for access
to grazing and water across the border in Ethiopia during droughts.
Despite this, political developments both in Kenya and Ethiopia
during the previous 90 years had succeeded in gradually reducing
contacts between the two Booran communities. First, internal political
developments in both countries are keeping the two peoples apart.
Kenya's policy was to establish self-reliance within Kenya. Second,
attempts to separate the communities on both sides of the border were
reinforced by giving them the Ethiopian and the Kenyan identity cards,
respectively. On either side of the border the Booran who did not carry
the right identification were harassed. This has worsened following the
coming to power by the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) government in 1990.
Two major events followed the coming to power by the EPRDF.
The fall of the government of Mengistu-Haile Mariam created a power
vacuum that lead to ethnic clashes between the Booran and the Garre in
early 1990s. The conflict internally displaced many pastoral communities
in the region (Bassi, 1997; Schlee and Shongollo, 1995). Furthermore,
after 1991, the EPRDF army was clashing with the Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF) along the Ethiopian-Kenyan border. The EPRDF suspecting
that the local Booran communities in Kenya were aiding the OLF
conducted cross border raids and were blamed for the deaths of some
Kenyan local chiefs (Kotile, 1997; KHRC, 1996). Consequently, during
the 199111992 drought, mobility of people and livestock was limited,
resulting in high livestock loss in Obbu (Oba, forthcoming).


The Horn of Africa comprises many transfrontier communities

split during the period of scramble between the European powers and
Ethiopia. Partitioning of the same communities between different
colonial political entities affected drought coping strategies. The colonial
administration limited movements by delimiting each ethnic group into
fixed areas. These administrative policies were ignorant of the
indigenous resource use and the periodic needs to cross both ethnic and
international borders. This study sketches a 90-year history of resource
alienation and its impact on the coping strategies of the Obbu Booran.
The Booran became vulnerable to state politics that undermined their
access to traditional resources across international frontiers. Failure of
gaining access to the water sources and grazing land in Ethiopia during
years of drought aggravated livestock mortality. Thus, during the future
drought, survival of the pastoral economy will be improved if the
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

governments of Kenya and Ethiopia reaffirmed the trans-border treaty

that was rectified in 1947 and allowed the border communities to
continue sharing resources.

End Notes

1. The Booran Oromo population of the 15th Century were divided

into two groups: The historical clans who lived in the present
day Booran region of Southern Ethiopia are Heero Abba Biyya
and Sodom Booro. The clans of the Heero Abba Biyya are
referred to as Choqorsa. The word figuratively translated means
roots (Oba, 1996). The word Choqorsa is also the name of a
grass that the Booran use in ceremonies during the gada cycle.
(See also A. Legesse, Gada : Three approaches to study A)ican
society, The Free Press, New York, 1973). The Choqorsa were
the resident of the region earlier than five centuries ago. They
were owners of wells, ritual lands, ponds and the grazing lands.
According to the oral source, ownership rights to water sources
and grazing lands by the Choqorsa clans are inviolable. The
second group who joined up with Heero Abba Biyya was Sodom
Booro. They were the clans that assimilated Heero Abba Biyya
in the 15th Century. Oral sources suggest that most biological
genealogy of Sodom Booro have died out, while the adopted
Heero Abba Biyya families have taken on the former identity.
2. The transfrontier agreement between His British Majesty's
government and Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia on 6 December
1907 had several essential points. According to the Article of
1907 transfrontier agreement the tribes occupying either side of
the line shall have the right to use the grazing grounds on the
other side as in the past, but during their migrations it is
understood that they shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the
territorial authority. Free access to the nearest wells is equally
accorded to the tribes occupying either side of the line (Fowler,
1924). The highlighted part of the Article was the major source
of contention between the Ethiopian and the Kenyan
administration and the Italian and the Kenyan administration.
This may be illustrated by the communications between Fitaurari
Walde the Ethiopian administrator and Captain Barret who was
in-charge of Northern Frontier District administration in Kenya.
The letter by Fitaurari Walde on July 1913 in part says "I have
heard that our Boran we counted has run away and entered the
British territory. I ask you to return them. The reply by Captain
Barret was soundful and authoritative. It is with regret that I have
to inform you that I am unable to comply with your request to
hand back to you the Boran who have run away from Abyssinian
territory. I have already informed Garazmatch Gashi that
throughout the British Empire it is not customary to hand back
people who enter British Territory and do not wish to return to
the country they have left." The basis of the argument by Captain
,Barret was Article 1 of the transfrontier agreement. According to
Article 1 of the treaty made between Great Britain and Ethiopia
signed by the Emperor Menelik I1 and by Her Majesties Envoy
at Addis Abbaba on 14 May 1897 and ratified by H. M. the
Queen, July lath 1897 States: The subjects of or persons
protected by each of the contracting parties shall have full liberty
to come and go and engage in commerce in the territories of the
other, enjoying the protection of the government within whose
jurisdiction they are.
In the letter, Mr. H. W. Wallee, the District Commissioner of
Moyale addressing himself to the Provincial Commissioner of
NFD underscored the need to maintain access to the grazing and
watering resources in the Frontier area by the Booran. Letter
Ref. No. AGW1113, 12 April 1951.
The Italian administration lasted for five years, but being the
most heinous for which the Booran have few comparisons. The
irregular Italian Banda who were mainly Somalis created havoc,
looted stock and killed without discrimination. The authors own
father, the late Oba Sarite Kura remembered this vividly as the
following discussions demonstrate "G.O. Did the Nalian regime
and their Banda commit serious crimes? O.S. Yes they did. The
Booran sufered more under their short-lived administration
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

than that of Ethiopia. The terror they unleashed is remembered

in the following cattle song. Galgallu gaara diidha kuute,
baqaate Banda uufira kuute" - they traversed the plains of Diid
GalgaNu and by escaping saved themselvesfr.omthe Banda.
5. The origin of the name "Tigre" representing the outlaws that
terrorized the Booran between 1916-1923 is not certain. They
represented the Ethiopian-farmer soldiers who failed to get the
spoils of the occupation and rebelled against their leaders.
Among the most notorious of these rebels were Lie Balai and his
brother the ex-Barambras Gabre Hiden (Kittermaster, 1918).
According to a Booran source, the "Tigre" outlaws were
disgruntled elements that after failing to get the shares of the
Booran gabbari or Gebar took into the bush. The outlaws called
themselves after their leaders. Whereas, majority of the Tigre
bandits were dominated by the Ethiopian highlanders from
Tigrai (and hence the name), others were Oromos. For example,
according to Oba Sarite Kura who had personal experience of the
period, the leaders included Allamu Wayesa, Wold "Maganyo"
Gashe, whose leader gave himself the name "Abba Bokaa"- the
father of rain. See also, Hickey, D., "Frontier banditry and
legitimate bade: the Moyale cattle market, 1913-1923".
Northeast African Studies, 8: 169-173, 1986.
6. Garazmatch-an Ethiopian title for A commander of the left, a
title of nobility, see Harold Marcus, Hailes Sellassie I: The
formative Years (1892-1936), Red sea, Press, 1995.
7. Gabbar system (see end note 5). The Ethiopian settler soldiers
divided up the Booran and other communities among
themselves. The Booran sub-clans were allocated to individuals.
For example, members of the sub-clan of Dambe-Nonno were
divided among the soldierlsettler families of Angasu and Birasu,
while the Waar Jida and their associated Gabra families were
allocated to the families of Baqalla Iddo, Gutuma Urgeesa and
Gutuma Abba Bisso. The soldiery of Menelik were paid in terms
of gabbar from whom they extracted labour, the produce and
forced payments of miscellaneous taxes.
Banda-see end note # 4

See End note # 27.

The major ethnic border established by the Kenyan
administration was the so-called the SomaliIGalla line (the word
Galla was used in reference to the Oromo speakers). The purpose
of the line was to separate the Oromo speaking groups from the
Somalis who had succeeded in pushing them westwards.
Kennaway (1955:29) in his report noted "The greatest infiltration
menace was, as always, due to the Southerly and south-westerly
migration urge of Somali tribes."
Duubas-were the tribal police recruited from among the
pastoralists by the British. Their characteristic uniform
comprised red turbans by which they were called duuba gaar.

SYL -Somali Youth League. In the Northern Frontier district

(NFD), the Somali political movement was nicknamed "the
sewing needle" by the Kenya administration (Officially called
Somali Youth League or qulub). See also, Lewis, I. M., A
pastoral democracy. Oxford, University of Oxford, Press, 1961.
The Booran and other Oromo groups in Kenya formed their own
Party called Northern Peoples United Association (NPUA). See
also, P. Goto, The Boran of northern Kenya: Origin, migrations
and settlements in the 1 9 century.
~ ~ BA Thesis, the University of
Nairobi, 1972. Incidentally, the government of Ethiopia gave
initial funding for NPUA. The representative of NPUA met with
Haile Sellassie in 1962 and were given funds to set up offices
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

and buy a vehicle, which they called Korma NFD-the male of

NFD (Abba Jillo Araru and Haji Wario Guracha Personal
communication with Gufu Oba, Moyale in 1995). The support
the Booran received from the government of Emperor Haile
Sellasai was for two reasons. The Somali political movements of
the pre-independence was also posing problems in the region of
Ogadenia. Hence, the Ethiopian support was to counter the
agitation by the Somali political movements. This was important
for two other reasons: (a) the Booran made up a large population
in the southern part of the empire, and (b) by supporting the
Booran, in essence, the government of Ethiopia was emphasizing
the common security concern it had with Kenya. Interestingly
enough, Haile Sellasie, who met the Booran delegates, informed
them of his goal of defending his people, the Oromos in Kenya.
This author was informed by Abba Jillo Araru, who himself had
ancestry from Jima-in Ethiopia to claim that they discussed with
the king in afaan Oromo.
Aguilar, M. I. 1996. A Historical and cultural interaction, symbiosis and
clientage: Waso Booran and Somali in Eastern Oromia, The
Journal of Oromo Studies, 3: (18~2)1-17.
Baxter, P. T. W. 1966. Acceptance and rejection of Islam among the
Boran of the northern Kenya Frontier District. pp. 233-250. In: I.
M. Lewis (ed.). Islam in Tropical Afiica. IAI, London.
Baxter, P. T. W. 1954. The Social Organization ofthe Galla of Northern
Kenya. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis University of Oxford.
Butler, T. D. 1928. Handing over Provincial report NFD to R.W.
Hemsted Kenya National archives.
Butler, T. D. 1930. Handing over Provincial report NFD to R.W.
Hemsted. Kenya National Archives.
Dalleo, P. T. 1975. Trade and pastoralism: Economic factors in the
history of the Somali of Northeastern Kenya, 1892-1948. PhD
dissertation, Syracuse University, New York.
Dick, S.J. 1914. ANFD Annual Report.
Dick, S. J. 1918. ANFD Annual Report.
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transfer, complex emergencies and international aid. pp. 50-
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and hunger: Rethinking international responses to complex
emergencies. Zed Books. London.
Farson, N. 1950. Last chance in Africa. Hercourt, Brale & Co. New
Glenday, V. G. 1934. "Moyale District Handing over Report of 1934."
KenyaNational Archives.
Goto, P. 1972. The Boran of northern Kenya: Origin, migrations and
settlements 1 9 century
~ ~ BA Thesis, the University of Nairobi.
Hemsted, R.G. 1930. "Handing over Provincial report of NFD to V.G.
Glenday," Kenya National archives.
Hickey, D. 1986. Frontier banditry and legitimate trade: the Moyale
cattle market, 19 13-1923. Northeast African Studies, 8: 169-173.
Hogg, R. 1985. The politics of drought: The pauperization of Isiolo
Boran. Disasters, 9:39-43, 1985.
Legesse, A. 1973. Gada: Three approaches to study African society,
The Free Press, New York.
Lewis, I. M. 1965. The modern history of Somaliland. New York:
Frederick, A. Praeger.
Lewis, I. M. 1963. The problems of northern Frontier District of Kenya.
Race, 5:48-60.
Lewis, 1. M. 1961. Apastoral democracy. Oxford: University of Oxford,
Kelly, M. 1955. Northern Frontier Province Annual Report, PCNFD
Border Administration and Drought-Coping Strategies of Obbu Booran

Kelly, M. 1957. Northern Frontier Province Annual Report, PC/NFD

1/1/1 1.
Kelly, W. F. P. 1958. Northern Province Annual Report. PCMFD 11/12.
Kennaway, N. F. 1953. Northern Frontier Province Annual Report,
PC/NFD 111.
Kenya Human Rights Commission, 1996. The forgotten people. Human
rights violations in Moyale and Marsabit districts. KHRC,
Kenya Colony, 1962. Report of the Northern Frontier District
Commission, London Cmnd. Report # 900.
Kittermaster, H. B. 1917. "A Provincial Annual Report of Northern
Frontier District". Kenya National archives.
Kittermaster, H. B. 1918-1919. "A Provincial Annual Report of Northern
Frontier District." Kenya National archives.
Kotile, D. G. 1997. A Cross-border terror between Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Oromo Commentary, 7: 8- 13.
Mackenzie-Smith, M. 1948. "Moyale District handing over Report,
1948. " PCMFD 111.
Chistie-Mitler, D. G. 1949. "Moyale District Handing over Report from
D. G. Chistie-Mitler to Mckenzie-Smith." PC/NFD 111.
Markakis, J. 1966. Resource conflicts in the Horn ofAj?ica. International
Peace Research Institute, Oslo. London: SAGE, publishers,.
Marcus, Harold, 1995. Hailes Sellassie I: The Formative Years (1892-
1936), Red Sea Press.
Maud, Philip. 1904. Exploration of the southern Borderland of
Abyssinia. The Geographical Journal, 23: 552-579.
Muirhead, Maj. 1939-1942. "Provincial annual Report of NFD," Kenya
National Archives. Northern Frontier district Annual Report for
1939-1942. PCINFDlIlI8.
Oba, G. 1996. Shifting identities along resource borders: becoming and
continuing to be Boorana Oromo. pp.117-131. In: P.T.W.
Baxter, J.Hultin and A.Triulzi (eds.). Being and becoming
Oromo, Historical and Anthropological inquiries. Nordiska
Afrikainstititute, Uppsala.
Oba, G. 1990. Changing property rights among settling pastoralists: an
adaptive strategy to declining pastoral resources. pp. 38-44. In:
P.T.W. Baxter & R. Hogg (eds.). Property, poverty andpeople:
changing rights in property and problems of pastoral
development. Manchester, UK Department of Social
anthropology and International Development Centre, University
of Manchester.
Pinney, J. 1946. "Northern Frontier District (NFD) Annual Report for
1946." PCiNFD 1/1/8.
Reece, G. 1942. "NFD Annual Report from 1942," PCINFD 11118.
Sagar, A. F. 1947. A Northern Frontier, Annual Report, PCNFD 11119.
Schlee, G. 1989. Identities on the move. Clerhhip and Pastoralism in
Northern Kenya. Manchester, Manchester University Press, IAI.
Schlee, G. & Shongollo, M. 1995. "A Local war and its impact on ethnic
and religious identification in southern Ethiopia." GeoJourna!,
36:7-17, 1995.
Symes-Thornson, R. H. 1945. "NFD Annual Report, 1945." PC/NFD
Turnbull, R. G. 1949. "Annual Report, Northern Frontier Province,
1949," PCiNFD 11119.
Turnbull, R. G. 1948. "Annual Report Northern Province," PCiNFD
Turnbull, R. G. 1951. "Northern Frontier Province, Annual Report,
1951." PCiNFD 1/1/10.
Walters, P. E. 1960. "Northern Province Annual Report, 1960." PC/NFD

Mohammed Hassen

In the previous issue of The Journal of Oromo .Studiest I traced the

Oromo colonial experience from 1870 to 1935. Four major arguments were
made in part one. First, until the 1830s and 1840s, the Amhara peasant-
soldiers of the kingdom of Shawa did not successfully penetrate Oromia.
This situation began to change during the second half of the nineteenth
century as the result of the steady flow of European guns, and artillery and
ammunition into Abyssinia, particularly into Shaw. The virtual absence of
European weapons from Oromia altered fundamentally the balance of power
between Abyssinia and Oromia. The power of European weapons not only
destroyed the once-mighty Oromo cavalry, but also heightened the
Abyssinian princes' ambition of conquest and permanent occupation of
Oromia. Thus began the battle for colonization of Oromia. Never in the
history of the Horn of Africa did so many changes occur and with such
speed as they did between 1875 and 1896. The pace of this drama was truly
astonishing for it was in 1875 that Menilek, the Amhara king of Shawa
(1 865-1 889) and later the Emperor of Ethiopia (1 889-1913), started creating
a new army trained by Europeans and provided with European weapons of
destruction (Lytton 1966: 160). Although the Oromo put up heroic
resistance, Menilek one after the other defeated them because they utterly
lacked firearms. Menilek was even able to defeat the Italians at the battle of
Adwa in 1896.
Second, it was with the resources plundered from Oromia, including
gold, ivory, coffee, hide and skins and slaves, that Menilek paid for the
European weapons with which he defeated both the Oromo and the Italians.
"These commodities were initially obtained through raiding, property
confiscation, enslavement, control of trade routes and market places, and
tribute collection and exported to European market" (Jalata 1993: 52). Third,
untold cruelty and brutality accompanied Menilek's conquest, plunder of
property, burning of houses, indiscriminate killings and selling into slavery
tens ofthousands of war captives (Trimingham 1952: 128). As the result of
Menilek's conquest and the calamities that accompanied it, the population of

Journal ofororno Studies, Volume 7, Numbers 1 & 2, July 2000, pp. 109-198.

Oromia is estimated have been reduced by half, while that of Kaffa "is
estimated to have been reduced by two thirds. Those who succeeded in
escaping the slaughter were sold into slavery or reduced to the status of
gabars" (Trimingham 1952: 128-129).
Fourth, with the conquest and colonization of Oromia, the Oromo
lost their sovereignty and independence. This meant that the Oromo were
no longer in control oftheir destiny. " Under the Ethiopian colonial system,
the Oromo have lost their autonomous historical and cultural development,
and they have been denied institutional power"(Jalata 1998: 2). What is
more, the Oromo lost the right to control their own affairs, to protect their
political and religious institutions, to plan their own development, and to
manage their relations with their neighbors. With the loss of power the
Oromo were removed from history. "The power to act independently is the
guarantee to participate actively and consciously in history. To be colonized
is to be removed from history, except in the most passive sense"(Rodney
1982: 225).
After the conquest and occupation of Oromia, Menilek gave two-
thirds of the Oromo land to his colonial state, his armed settlers known as
nafianya, and the Orthodox church, "while he allowed one third of the land
to be used by the indigenous people on condition they supplied forced labor
for the settlers and various taxes, dues and tithes for his court and the
church" (Delibo 1974: 198-199). In other words, in the sacred land oftheir
birth, the Oromo became landless gabars (serfs) who were exploited
economically, oppressed and alienated politically, dehumanized
psychologically and subjugated culturally. Since Menilek's armed settlers
were neither salaried nor engaged in productive economic activities, they
were given Oromo gabars in lieu of salary. This means the nafianya owned
the Oromo people as they owned cattle and slaves. In fact, Menilek's empire
was built upon twin pillars: the gabar system(serfdom) and slavery, both of
which were abolished during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia to which we
now turn.
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Oromo Colonial Experience 1935-1941

Benuto Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy (1922-1945) decided

to invade Ethiopia in 1935 mainly for two reasons: First, for revenge of the
Italian defeat at the battle of Adwa, in 1896 and second, to turn Ethiopia into
a source of raw materials for Italy, a haven for surplus Italian population and
a market for Italian products (Larebo 1994:1, Sbacchi 1997: 105-106). Italy
invaded Ethiopia with"200,OOO white soldiers and 100,000 black African
colonial troops from Eritrea, Somalia and Libya" (Ta'a 1997: 265). With
superiority in weapons, troops, tanks, airplanes, and with the extensive use
of poisonous gas, the Italians defeated the poorly- armed and badly- led
Ethiopian forces. Emperor Haile Selassie (1930-1974) lost the war, not only
because of Italian military superiority, but also because Ethiopia lacked
internal unity. According to Marcus Gawey, the brilliant pan- Africanist
leader of the 1920s and 1930, Haile Selassie lost the war because he kept his
subjects "under the bondage of slavery." Garvey argued that "Ethiopia was
the last African country where slavery was practiced and that people were
kept in bondage without the most basic human rights" (Sbacchi 1997: 11-
12). Gawey is right in stressing the lack of basic human rights in the
Ethiopia of the 1920s and 1930s. By then slavery was widely practiced.
The estimate for the slave population in the 1920s ranged from ten percent
to twenty-five percent of the population of Ethiopia. "According to some
newspaper reports of 1932 '[ilt is estimated that 2,000,000 people were still
living in slavery in Abyssinia( the name Ethiopia was still more commonly
known by [at] the time) during the past year'. Seen against the estimated
total population of 8 millions, that the slave population in the 1920s could
have been as high as 25% appears credible" (Lata 1999: 157).
Even though the Ethiopian government issued a number of
proclamations (1923, 1924, and 1931) that were never enforced (Sbacchi
1997: 11). Let alone enforcing proclamations, Haile Selassie is reported to
have "suggested that American capitalists invest in the exploitation of
Ethiopia's natural resources by engaging slave labor" (Sbacchi 1997: 12).
The Emperor, who is praised as radical and a reformer early in his reign,
"estimated that perhaps slavery would be eradicated by the 1950s" (Sbacchi
1997: 11). The Italians abolished slavery in 1936 and "liberated about
500,000" (Sbacchi 1997: 13) men, women, and children.


Besides slavery, there were deep-seated contradictions between

masters and slaves, conquerors and the conquered, rulers and subjects,
Muslims and Christians, which account for lack of unity on the eve of the
Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The Oromo, like other peoples of Ethiopia,
either collaborated or resisted Italian invasion. Since ltalians followed a pro-
Oromo and pro- Muslim policy, more than thirty thousand Muslim Oromos
fought for and contributed to the Italian victory in 1936 (Sbacchi 1985: 162).
Muslim Oromo collaborated with the Italians not because they wanted to
change Ethiopian colonialism for Italian fascism, but because of their hatred
for Ethiopian colonialism. The Italians abolished both slavery and the gabar
system, which gave many Oromo the right to own their own land.
Even non-Muslim Oromo submitted to 1talians"in order to avenge
Amhara domination and to attack the Amhara" (Sbacchi 1997: 176). Like
Amharas, Tigreans, Eritreans, Somalis and Libyans, some Oromo fought for
the 1talians"not because they felt an attachment for the ltalian cause, but
because they needed the good wage they received to buy food and clothing"
(Sbacchi 1997: 177).
After his defeat in 1936, Haile Selassie fled to England where he
refused to meet with Marcus Garvey, who preached that Africans should
have confidence in themselves and pride in their noble past. In those days
Haile Selassie and the ruling class he headed did not consider themselves
Africans. They regarded themselves as Caucasians rather than blacks, which
infuriated Garvey who accused Haile Selassie of keeping" . . . the majority
of his countrymen in bondage" (Sbacchi, 1997, 12). "Infuriated, Garvey
called Haile Selassie a coward . . . Haile Selassie made it known that he
wanted nothing to do with Negroes. The astonished Marcus Garvey accused
Haile Selassie of being the ruler of a country where black men were chained
and flogged and that he was a great coward who had fled his country"
(Sbacchi 1997: 25). It was not only Haile Selassie who betrayed his people,
but also the Abyssinian ruling class that put its interest "before national
interest" (Sbacchi, 1997, 10). For instance, while Ras Hailu, the traditional
ruler of Gojjam and the most powerful Amhara chief and Ras Seyoum, the
powerful Tigrean chief submitted to and facilitated the establishment of
Italian Fascism in Ethiopia, Dajamach Habte Mariam, the Oromo governor
of Leka Nakamte was resisting fascist occupation (Ta'a 1997: 268). While
Colonial Cunsolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

resisting Italian occupation thirty-three Oromo chiefs initiated a policy of

forming Western Oromo Confederation. To that effect they made an
agreement stating that: "We the hereditary chiefs declared here that our
population is under control by our chiefs, our definite decision is that we
wish to be placed under British Mandate and we appoint Dejamach Habte
Mariam as our head chief, and we agree to accept the agreement which he
would make and sign with the British government; that the Mandate remain
until we achieve self government" (Gilkes 1975; 21 I).
Oromo chiefs succeeded in forming Western Oromo Confederacy
under the leadership of Dajamach Habte Mariam in June 1936. From the
1880s, when the Oromo were conquered, to 1936, when Italians occupied
Ethiopia, it was assumed that the Amhara ruling class's policy of divide and
rule hopelessly divided the Oromo. However, the Oromo showed unity
among themselves and solidarity with others by standing together for the
common goal of freedom. What brought about this condition was the
emergence of a leadership, which sought to liberate the Oromo both from the
defeated Ethiopian colonialism and the victorious Italian fascism. The
leadership of the Western Oromo government included traditional leaders
(i.e., chiefs) as well as young educated leaders. The reasons for the
formation of Western Oromo government and the course of action set in
motion by that government were expressed succinctly in a letter written to
Sir Anthony Eden, then British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

At this critical moment of its existence the people of

Western [Oromo] are faced with a problem of pulling itself
out of the unfortunate circumstance in which it finds itself
and for which it is in no way responsible. With this object
in view they have formed confederation under the
leadership of His Excellency Dejazmach Habte Mariam to
bring their cause before the bar of world public opinion and
they are confident to obtain justice with the help of your
government. Dejazmach Habte Mariam is now busy in
organizing civil administration, financial and commercial
departments, political and foreign relation departments,
army and police departments, and a communication
department. To run these departments, he has in his service

a good number of young men educated in Europe and

elsewhere. By establishing a model army under the
direction of young and trained officers and by taking a firm
action, he has already saved the provinces of Western
[Oromo] from chaos, which has infested the rest of
Ethiopia, as the result of Italian invasion. His Excellency
has already started the work of facilitating communications
for commerce by constructing roads and bridges under the
direction of young engineers educated in England. He has
also policed the commercial roads from Kurmuk to
Nakamte. Merchants travel along this route unmolested by
shiftas (brigands), F0371/20207/20208)

The western Oromo government not only launched an impressive

program for economic growth and development, but also requested "the
British government to act as a mandatory power over the Western Oromo
Confederation under the umbrella of the League of Nations" (Ta'a 1997:
267). The life of the Western Oromo government was cut short with Italian
occupation of the region and the mysterious death of Dejazamach Habte
Mariam, who was apparently poisoned by the Italians (Ta'a 1997: 277).
Before the end of 1936 all of Oromo became part of the Italian East African
Empire, which was divided into six governments or autonomous regions:
These were: "Somalia, Eritrea, Oromo, Sidama, Amhara, and Harar"
(Sbacchi 1997: 137). Of the six regions, Oromia was targeted as an ideal
area for agricultural colonization and Italian resettlement, the process that
would have altered the demographic and economic landscape of Oromia had
it continued much longer than five years.
To weaken Oromo resistance, Italians followed pro-Oromo
policy."Oromo oppression under Amhara domination became the central
theme of Italian propaganda and de-Ahmarization campaigns. Amharic was
replaced as the legal language" (Sbacchi 1985: 160). The Italians introduced
an Oromo language radio program and that language was also used in the
school and in the court system all over Oromo territory. However, these
measures did not weaken resistance. Although there were many Oromo
collaborators as there were Amhara and Tigrean collaborators, there were
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

also Oromos who registered a period of heritage of resistance against Italian

fascism. For instance, while Ras Hailu and Ras Seyoum, the two most
powerful Amhara and Tigrean chiefs, were favored guests at fascist
banquets, Oromo resistance leaders "were bone in the throat of Mussolini's
army" (Nega & Tibebu 1989: 127). Two of the most celebrated patriotic
resistance leaders, namely Ras Abebe Aregay, the grandson ofRas Gobana,
and Dejazmach Geresu Dukki were Oromo. In 1941, while Emperor Haile
Selassie was returning from exile through Gojam, Ras Hailu, on whom
thenItalians conferred extensive honors," who was decorated with the stars
of Italy, whose family members received titles and decorations from the
Italians and who"finally was awarded the title of negus [king] of Gojjam
(Sbacchi 1997: 144-147)," had the nerve to welcome the [Emperor] wearing
a full Italian military uniform" (Nega & Tibebu 1989: 127).
In 1941, British forces together with patriotic resistance forces
defeated and destroyed Italian fascism ejecting it from Ethiopia. Although
the Oromo, especially those of Hararghe, petitioned the British military
administration not to place them under Ethiopian government, Amhara
administration was once again imposed on the Oromo. Within five short
years, the Italians had built an extensive communication infrastructure,
especially roads, in Ethiopia. They introduced a cash economy, abolished
slavery, the Gabar system, took measures that "resulted in a social revolution
reducing the dominant class overnight, taking away their authority and
concomitant financial resources" (Sbacchi 1997: 127). It has been said that
"the Italians introduced modem agricultural techniques and offered technical
advice to stimulate indigenous agricultural production" (Larebo 1994: 291).
Compare this with the previous fifty years of Ethiopian administration in
Oromia (i.e., from 1880s to 1930s) that contributed nothing to Oromo
welfare. As Evelyn Waugh observed in the early 1930s:

The Abyssinians had nothing to give their subject people,

and nothing to teach them. They brought no crafts or
knowledge, no new system of agricultural, drainage, or road
making, no medicine, or hygiene, no higher political
organization, no superiority except in their magazine rifles
and belts of cartridges. They built nothing. . . dirty, idle,
domineering, burning timber, devouring crops, taxing the

meager stream of commerce that seeped in from outside,

enslaving the people (Waugh 1984: 25-26).

It is no surprise that many Oromo opposed the restoration of

Amhara administration, while others" expressed their appreciation to the
Italians in songs" in comparison with the previous Amhara administration
as follows:

Ha addaatu Shashi gaabii wayyaa

Even if it is white, to wear cotton
cloth is better,
Ha Hammaatu Xaaliiyaanii wayya
Even if it is harsh, Italian rule was
better (Ta'a , 1997,278).

Once Emperor Haile Selassie was returned to power, he

immediately restored Shawan Amhara colonial administrators including the
ones who had shamelessly sewed the Italian colonial government. It was
opportunism and not pahiotism that was the deciding forces behind Emperor
Haile Selassie's long reign. It is by glorifying Amhara resistance against
Italian fascism, taking personal credit for the resistance and undermining
Oromo role in that struggle that Haile Selassie sought to legitimize his return
to power after he had abandoned his people and fled to exile. Undermining
Oromo patriotism was a necessary condition for the re- establishment of the
Ethiopian colonial order in Oromia.

Emperor Haile Selassie and the Oromo: 1941-1974

Against the expressed will of many Oromo, Emperor Haile Selassie

imposed his tyrannical rule on the Oromo. Instead of at least recognizing
their role in the resistance movement, the Emperor punished the Oromo in
three ways: First, he stopped the Oromo language program of the Italian
period and banned the use of that language in the court system. He went
further and forbade production of even religious literature in the Oromo
language. As Paul Baxter, the leading authority on Oromo studies observed
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

in 1967 while he was conducting field research among the Oromo in Arsi

Oromo was denied any official status and it was not

permissible to publish, preach, teach or broadcast in
Oromo. In court or before an official an Oromo had to
speak Amharic or use an interpreter. Even a case between
two Oromos, before an Oromo- speaking magistrate, had to
be heard in Amharic. I sat through a mission service at
which the preacher and all the congregation were Oromo
but at which the sermon as well as the service was given
first in Amharic, which few members of the congregation
understood at all, and then translated into Oromo. The farce
had to be played out in case a judas informed the district
officer ... fined or imprisoned the preacher" (Baxter 1978:

Second, although Emperor Haile Selassie could not restore slavery

and the gabar system after 1941 since both were irreparably destroyed
during the short-lived period of Italian occupation, he devised a new system
to further dispossess the Oromo of their land and the product of their labor.
This was the tenancy system, which flourished between 1941 and 1975.
"During Haile Selassie's rule the physical labor services of the gabbar system
were transferred to equally exorbitant monetary rent payments and
exploitation, where peasants were required to give up to 75 percent of their
produce to the landowners until the land reform of 1975 abolished it"
(Baissa 199836). Even Haile Selassie's limited development policies
contributed to the destruction of some Oromo communities. In many places,
thousands of Oromo peasants and pastoralists were driven away from their
ancestral lands by the introduction of commercial farming. For instance, the
land concession given to a Dutch company (HVA) led to very disastrous
consequences for two groups of Oromo communities. The HVA sugar
plantations at Wanji and Matahara in the Upper Awash River Valley
displaced the Jile and Karrayyu Oromo communities. While the Jile
community, after losing its traditional grazing land, disintegrated and
virtually disappeared, the Karrayyu were reduced from more than 200,000

to less than 10,000 today (Markakis & Ayella 1989: 55-60). What happened
to the remaining 190,000? After they lost their traditional grazing grounds
the Karrayyu were forced to malaria infested areas where the deadly disease,
combined with attacks by Ethiopian government forces and plundering of
their cattle by other nomadic groups, hastened their destruction.
Third, Haile Selassie's government embarked on an extensive
program of centralization, Christianization and Amharanization. For the
purpose of centralization, the Emperor created the modern standing army,
police force and modem civilian bureaucracy, all of which consolidated his
absolute power. The Emperor encouraged the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
clergy to intensify the spread of Christianity among the conquered people of
southern Ethiopia in general and Oromia in particular. However, the clergy
failed to carry out this ambitious spiritual undertaking for several simple
reasons. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church clergy had cultural prejudice
towards the Oromo. The clergy hated the Oromo, who in turn hated the
Amhara clergy. According to Asma Giyorgis, a Liberal Amhara Catholic
missionary: "The [Oromo] prefer to be Muslim rather than Christian because
they hate the Amara [Amhara]. The Amhara priests, the bishops and the
clergy do not like the [Oromo]. They believe that those cannot understand
Christianity whose ancestors were not Christians. Therefore, they do not
teach them" (Tafla 1987: 134-135). Even when they did teach, the Amhara
clergy taught the Oromo in the Geez language, which is a totally unknown
language and a heavy joke to the Oromo (Krapf 1968: 100). In other words,
the Amhara clergy failed to capture the hearts and minds of the Oromo by
their total failure to use the Oromo language for their missionary work. In
fact, up to 1993," the Oromo language was considered too profane to be used
by the church" (Djote 1993: 21). According to Mekuria Bulcha, the
Abyssinian clergy: "Shared with the Emperor [Menilek], his Generals, and
soldiers, booties plundered from the Oromo. The clergy were given land that
was confiscated from Oromo peasants and became landlords. They never
worked among the Oromo as missionaries to spread word of God. They used
military force to baptize them en mass" (Bulcha 1994b: 11).
The Amhara clergy were not sensitive to Oromo food habits in
which milk, butter and meat were central. The Oromo (Krapf 1968: 100)
saw prohibition on milk, butter and meat, which was imposed during fasting
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

seasons, as a joke. "The clergy were . . . surprised to learn that all the
converts had abandoned their new-found Christian faith soon after the mass
baptism" (Haji 1995: 11; Tolessa 1999: 135). The humiliating mass baptism
was followed by equally degrading collective names that were imposed on
the Oromo converts. " From here and beyond your name shall be Wolde-
Mariam; to the right, Gebre-Mariam; and to the left, Wolde-Gabriel" (
Tolessa 1999: 148).
In addition, the Amhara clergy not only failed to convert the Oromo
of Hararghe, Bale, Arsi and Sidamo, but also used the power of the state to
prevent or restrict the activities of other non-Orthodox missionaries. By so
doing, the Orthodox Church clergy inadvertently left the vast region for the
spread of Islam unhindered. Emperor Haile Selassie's government worked
with energy and determination to implement its policy of Amharization. Its
goal was to consolidate the power of the Amhara elite "...through the
establishment of the hegemony of the Amhara culture masked as 'Ethiopian'
culture" (Keller 1998: 121). "Amhara culture, language and religion were
imposed on the conquered peoples as well as Eritrea after its federation in
1952. The distinction between Amhara and Ethiopian nationalism was
blurred and everybody was compelled to learn the Amhara national
characteristic as if they were pan-Ethiopian traits" ( Baissa 1998:81). To
hasten the pace of Amharization, Amharic was declared as the official
language of government, and it was planned to make it the linguafranca of
the empire.

From 1942 onwards, Amaharic was promoted as the sole

national language of the Empire and all other national
languages were suppressed. The regime prohibited the use
of Oromo literature for educational or religious purposes.
The prohibition was further strengthened by the
empowerment of an Imperial Decree No. 3 of 1944, which
regulated the work of foreign missionaries and made
Amharic the medium of inshuction throughout the Empire
(Bulcha 1993: 5, l I).

The Oromo were not only denied the basic right of using their
language for educating their children, but also their children had very limited

access to education even in Amharic. The reason for this was very obvious
and the purpose very clear. It was to deny "the majority of the Oromo any
educational opportunity in order to keep them illiterate and submissive so
that [the colonizers] would exploit their human and economic resources"
(Jalata 1998: 3). In short, the ruling Amhara elites created one obstacle after
another which deprived Oromo children from being taught in any language.
"These obstacles had a negative impact on integrating the various ethnic
groups and on the national unity of the country" (Sbacchi 1997: 1 I).
According to Emmanuel Abraham, who served as a Director
General in the Ministry of Education from 1944 to 1947, he was accused of
educating "Only the m all as"^ [Oromo] (Abraham 1995: 64). Emmanuel
Abraham was one of the most Amharized Oromo, the most loyal servant of
the Emperor Haile Selassie, who was committed to and tirelessly worked for
the success of Amharization. He educated five times more Amhara than
Oromo. And yet, he was accused of teaching more Oromo than Amhara.

The Emperor realized this and was vexed. He therefore

went one day, without my knowledge, to a school which
had the largest number of students and directed the
headmaster to make a list of the pupils in ethnic groups and
present it to him. He did that and out of a total of 991
pupils, 701 said they were Amharas. The rest came from
the various ethnic groups. The Emperor showed me this
and, after telling me why he had asked for it, commanded
me to get him in ethnic groups a list of all the pupils in the
Addis Ababa schools. I presented a complete list in a few
days. In April 1947, 4, 795 students attended the Addis
Ababa schools. Of those, 3, 055 said they were Amharas
and the remaining 1, 740 were from the other ethnic
groups. Of these, 583 said they [Oromo]. On the basis of
this, it was obvious that the great majority of students of the
period were not [Oromo] but Amharas (Abraham 1995:
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

From the above it is clear that the Amhara ruling elite were not
interested in creating an educational system in which all children had equal
access to the benefit of modern education. On the contrary, they wanted an
educational system that advanced mainly the educational interests of Amhara
children. Such a policy might have worked before 1935, when the Amhara
elite's hegemonic power was supreme and at the same time when Oromo
national consciousness was either rudimentary or nonexistent. However, it
could not work effectively after the dramatic changes which the short period
of Italian occupation ushered in. On the contrary, the policy of teaching
mainly the Amhara children was a self-defeating policy which failed to
produce an Ethiopian nation. Instead, it produced few Amharized non-
Amhara individuals, who were despised, ridiculed and looked down upon
with contempt by the members of the Amhara ruling class.
The period from 1942 to 1990 was time when the program of
Amharization and de-Oromization was intensified, through the limited
educational system, cultural institutions and governmental bureaucracy. In
the school nothing positive was taught about the Oromo, their history,
culture, and way of life.' On the contrary, Oromo children were made to feel
that "their mother tongue was inferior and too 'uncultivated' to be used in a
civilized environment such as the school" (Bulcha 1993: 9).

In the school, the Oromo child was not only mobbed, but
was 'fed' negative biases against everything that was
Oromo. Mixed in with the Amhara language and
Abyssinian history, helshe was taught many of the Amhara
prejudices against the Oromo. The Oromo people were
depicted as subjects and dependent in relation to the
Empire's rulers whereas the Amhara and Tigreans were
presented as citizens. The Oromo were (are) described as a
people without culture, history and heroes .... The Oromo
were characterized not only as uncivilized, but as
uncivilizable. The Oromo language and culture were
reduced to marks of illiteracy, shame and backwardness as
the school pressed Oromo children to conform to Amhara
culture . . . Those who were completely overwhelmed by
the unmitigated assault on Oromo culture and history,

dropped (or tried to drop) their Oromo identity. Among

these, were some who tried to get rid of every sign of what
the Oromo themselves call Oromummaa ('Oromoness'). In
a desperate move to assimilate they 'forgot' the Oromo
language (Bulcha 1993: 9-1 0).

In short, the Ethiopian educational system fostered Amharization,

which stripped Oromo children of their language, culture and identity. This
was meant to destroy Oromo youth's pride in their cultural heritage and to
keep them chained with no faith in themselves, their history, and their
national identity (Hassen 1990:3). It remains the belief of the Amhara ruling
class and elites that to be an Ethiopian, one has to cease to be an Oromo. The
two things werelare seen as incompatible" (Bulcha 1991: 101). In other

Haile Selassie's regime followed a policy of assimilation as

the mode of integration into the Ethiopian System. Those
who were assimilated or Amharized ceased to be
themselves. It did not dawn on Emperor Haile Selassie and
his ruling elite that one could be an Oromo, Somali or
Walayeta but still remain a loyal Ethiopian. I write all these
not to exaggerate the failure of Haile Selassie's regime but
just to show that during his long reign, Ethiopia lost a good
opportunity of creating an Ethiopian nation, Ethiopian
culture, Ethiopian languages and Ethiopian history that
generates a common feeling and reflects both the past
achievements and future aspirations. What is projected as
the identity of the Ethiopian nation- National culture,
National language, National religion, National dress,
National symbols (the monarchy, the church, the flag,
national anthem). is simply that of the Amhara-Tigrai
nations (Hassen 1999A: 236).

As I indicated in Part One of this article the modem Ethiopian State

was not brought about by the natural growth of unity of peoples but on the
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Par1 2

contrary, through brutal conquest (Hassen 1999: 128-146). The relation

between the Amhara-Tigrean and the Oromo and other oppressed peoples
of southern Ethiopian has been that of conqueror and conquered, colonizer
and colonized. Neither common values, nor history, nor the will to live
together bind the colonizers and the colonized. The annexed and colonized
peoples were " treated as second class subjects" ( Baissa 1998: 81). The
Oromo have always struggled to free themselves from colonial subjugation
and continue to do so. Though this long struggle has not yet resulted in
Oromo self-determination, it has changed Oromo perception of themselves
and how others receive them. The following discussion attempts to show that
the Oromo will never accept colonial status quo based on violence and lack
of human dignity. It concludes that the sooner the ruling Tigrean elite
realizes this simple fact and accepts the inevitability of Oromo self-
determination, the better it will be for the future of all the peoples of
Between 1941, when Emperor Haile Selassie was restored to power,
and 1974 when he was overthrown, there had never been a decade which
was not characterized by Oromo resistance and revolt somewhere in Oromia.
There can be no doubt about the reasons behind the spontaneous and
uncoordinated uprisings. It was economic exploitation, political subjugation,
cultural domination, psychological dehumanization, lack of rule of law and
the absence ofjustice that impelled each section ofthe Oromo society to lead
an isolated uprising against Haile Sellassie's regime. Owing to the lack of
educated central leadership, absence of communication, the distance
involved and the lack of Oromo political consciousness, even neighboring
groups failed to coordinate their resistance. And yet, each group neither
could nor would continue to live under such conditions. Many were prepared
to die resisting with arms in their hands although they did not have any
realistic chance of success. By resisting, they left an invaluable legacy for the
future generation. Let me give three examples.
First, in 1943, the Oromo in some parts of Hararghe rose up in arms
against Haile Selassie's regime. Second, in 1948, the Oromo of Hararghe
joined an uprising that was led by Mohammed ~ i l oa, man ~ of peasant origin.
Mohammed Jilo, whose land was expropriated by an Amhara landlord, did
everything to regain his land through recourse in the legal system. However,
he lost not only his land, but everything that he had to the unjust and corrupt

legal system. He rebelled and his movement attracted many followers, who
scored a number of victories, and for a short while in 1948, Mohammed Jilo
established his own administration in one sub-district in the Chercher area
of Hararghe, though his movement was crushed and Mohammed Jilo himself
was hanged. However his movement not only left the Oromo in Chercher a
wealth of experience in resisting domination, but it also created a
revolutionary tradition in Chercher. The roots of this tradition were planted
deep in the soil of Chercher, giving birth to the first guerrilla army of the
Oromo Liberation Front in 1974. That guerrilla army, the first to be formed
in the name of liberating the Oromo nation, was started and led by Ellemo
Qilixxu, a wealthy merchant, who sacrificed his family, his property and his
life, for the Oromo cause. The unrivaled heroism of the small guerrilla army
and the martyrdom of the gallant Ellemo Qilixxu, aroused the enthusiasm of
the Oromo to struggle for their freedom and human dignity (see below).
Today Ellemo Qilixxu is a national hero, whose name symbolizes
continuation of Oromo resistance. A beautiful Oromo song, which glorifies
his name and the names of fallen heroes moves Oromo youth to tears ofjoy.
Third, in 1958, a major rebellion broke out in Dawe, Wallo region.
Dawe has been the center of Islamic learning, famous throughout Oromia.
The leader of this revolt was Hassen Amme, a young man of peasant
background. His successful resistance was only broken by Haile Selassie's
bodyguards, who were famous for their combat experience in the Korean
War of the early 1950s. In modem Oromo history, two interconnected
resistance movements dominated the 1960s: the Macha and Tulama
Association, and the Bale Oromo-armed struggle. Both movements marked
the beginning of a coordinated Oromo resistance against Haile Selassie's
regime. It was out of this resistance that Oromo Nationalism developed
during and after the 1960s.
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

The Macha - Tulama Association (1963- 1967)'

The Macha and Tulama Association (hereafter the Association) was

formed in Addis Ababa (Finfinne) on January 24, 1963. However, it
received legal recognition from the government only in May 1964, a year
and four months after it was formed. It was grudging recognition which
Haile Selassie's officials later regretted (Zoga 1993: 21). Who formed the
Association and why? What did it achieve? The following discussion
attempts to answer these and similar questions.
It was Colonel Alemu Qitessa and Haile Mariam Gamada together
with high- ranking Oromo officers in the Ethiopian military and Oromo
lawyers who formed the association. Colonel Alemu Qitessa was a
distinguished military officer who endured pain and sorrow for the Oromo
cause (Zoga 1993: 387-392). Haile Mariam Gamada was a man with an
encyclopedic knowledge of Oromo history, a lawyer and greatly respected
leader. Colonel Alemu Qitessa was the president of the Association and the
Chairman of its Board of Directors. Baqala Nadhi was Vice President,
Colonel Qadida Gurmessa, the second Vice President, and Haile Mariam
Gamada was the Association's General Secretary. It was he who chaired the
committee that drafted the bylaws of the Association, coined the name ofthe
Association and produced its logo: the Odaa (Sycamore tree), the symbol of
freedom and self-determination (Hassen 1997: 207, Zoga 1993: 19). The
name of the association symbolized the unity of two major Oromo groups,
that of Macha - Tulama, while its logo, the Odaa symbolized the unity of all
Oromo and their return to Gada democracy. This was because the Oromo
assembly (parliament) held its meeting under the life-giving shade of the
odaa ("the holy sycamore tree") which traditionally was believed to be the
most "respected" and the most"sacredUof trees, the shade of which was the
source of peace, the center of religion and the office of the government and
the meeting place for the democratically elected Gada leaders (Hassen 1990:
The Macha -Tulama Association was formed by the most privileged
and the best educated elements of the Oromo society, who felt a humiliating
sense of exclusion from important "decision-making processes" within the
Ethiopian political establishment. The founders wanted the Association to

be the agent of social change and the Oromo voice for exercising influence
within the larger arena of Ethiopian politics.

[Tlhe desire to be recognized as responsible agents whose

wishes, acts, hopes, and opinions matter and the desire to
build an efficient dynamic modern state. The one aim is to
be noticed. It is a search for identity, and a demand that
identity be politically acknowledged as having import, a
social association of the self as 'being some body in the
world.' The other aim is political: it is a demand for
progress for a rising standard of living, more effective
political order, great social justice, and beyond that of
'playing a part in the larger arena of world politics,' of
exercising influence among the nations (Geertz 1996: 30).

The founders the Macba-Tulama Association articulated Ororno

cultural rather than political nationalism and their goal was the search for
and recognition of Oromo identity within the larger Ethiopian identity itself.
Consequently, they did not reject Ethiopian identity, the state and its
institutions while the Oromo nationalists of the 1970s and after, who
articulated Oromo political nationalism, did reject Ethiopian identity and its
institutions (Hassen 1998: 190). The leaders of the Macha and Tulama
Association promoted Oromo national renaissance and cultivated an Oromo
national consciousness that challenged the legitimacy of the Ethiopian
political establishment claiming that it ignored or excluded Oromo national
identity. The Association was formed in accordance with Article 45 of his
Imperial Majesty's 1955 Revised Constitution and Article 14, Number 505
of the Civil Code of the Ethiopian Empire as a civilian self- help association.
According to Article 5 of the Association's statute, its aims and objectives,
among others, were to build schools, clinics, road, churches, mosques, to
help the weak and disabled, to organize Ethiopian civilian and national
rights, and to spread literacy and basic knowledge about health care. The
framers of the statute were highly educated, well-informed, politically-
conscious individuals, who knew how to organize the people and mobilize
their resources for solving their own problems. Article 20 of the statute
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

provided that all Ethiopians would be accepted as members without regard

to ethnic, tribal, regional, religious affiliation or sex of the applicant, in
accordance with the internal regulations of the Association (Hassen 1998:
195, Zoga 1993: 5-36).
The leaders of the Association challenged and defied the established
Ethiopian political order in two major ways. First, they created a country-
wide pan-Oromo movement that launched multifaceted activities, nourishing
Oromo self- respect and self-confidence, inspiring them with a renewed
vigor and determination to be united and become the agents of their own
freedom and equality. Before the Ethiopian government officials realized,
the leaders of the Association had done something-unthinkable even in 1963.
They brought the Oromo together from east and West, North and South,
Muslims and Christians and believers of traditional Oromo religion and
demolished the myth of Oromo disunity. The leaders of the association
exploded the myth of Oromo disunity and embarked on coordinated and
united activities, which alarmed the government. They even went beyond
religious taboo when Muslims ate meat slaughtered by Christians and the
Christians ate Muslim meat.
This was an unheard-of-event in Ethiopia, and outraged the Amhara
ruling elites (Hassen 1998: 206). The leaders of the Association went
beyond religious taboo in order to demonstrate the depth of Oromo unity. At
every mass gathering, the leaders of the Association stressed that, despite
regional and religious differences, the Oromo are one people who share a
common language, culture, manners, common political idioms underpinned
by the Gada system, common pride in their democratic heritage and
common historical experience under an oppressive Ethiopian system which
robbed them of their land, their rights, and their human dignity. The leaders
of the Association made the Oromo conscious of their unity as a people and
also conscious of their deprivation and their treatment as second class
subjects and urged them to be agents of their own freedom and equality.
Secondly, the leaders of the Association not only united the Oromo
themselves but also sought to unite them with other oppressed peoples of
Ethiopia. Thus the Association:

Provided an organizational framework, not only to unite the

oppressed nationalities, but also to end national oppression

in Ethiopia. Consequently, membership within the

Association was open to all. This was both a strength and
a weakness ofthe Association. It was a strength because the
Association became the first organization to unite the
oppressed nationalities of Ethiopia who like the Oromo,
were subjected to economic exploitation, political
oppression and cultural domination. It was a weakness
because open membership provided a [good opportunity]
for the security agents of Haile Selassie's regime to infiltrate
the ~ssociation-andto expose it to destruction (Hassen
1997: 217).

The Association, with its main office in Addis Ababa, had branch
offices all over the Oromo region of Ethiopia. Within two short years its
membership expanded from a few thousand to over a million. Its members
included people from all walks of life, all social and economic classes,
Christians, Muslims, and believers in original Oromo religion, and from
every corner of Oromia. They included farmers, students, teachers, men and
women, civil servants, lawyers, soldiers from the rank of private to general,
community and religious leaders, and top government officials. Let me use
the Wallaga branch as an example to show how the Association attracted the
most privileged elements of the Oromo society.
Astede Habte Mariam, the only woman in the highest policy making
Board of the Association, formed the Wallaga branch office in 1966. She
was a member of the Oromo royal family of Nakamtee and the sister of
Oromo governor of Wallaga province. On the day when the Wallaga branch
office was opened, high ranking government officials and key members of
the Association were present. Present were Colonel Alemu Qitessa, the
President of the Association, General Taddesse Birru, the most influential
member of the Association, General Jagama Kello, General Dawit Abdi,
Dajazmach Kebede Buzunesh, Dajazmach Fiqere Selassie Habte Mariam
(the Governor of Wallaga), his sister, princess Mahestena Habte Mariam (the
wife of the deceased son of Emperor Haile Selassie), Haile Mariam Gamada,
and many other government officials. This means that the Wallaga branch,
chaired by Mrs. Astede Habte Mariam, included even a member of Emperor
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Haile Selassie's royal family. There was not a single general of Oromo origin
in Haile Selassie's military or police force who was not a member of the
Association. There were many high- ranking civilian officials of Haile
Selassie's regime who joined the Macha - Tulama Association.
Through these high- ranking government officials the Association
penetrated Emperor Haile Selassie's bureaucracy. After all they were the
most privileged members of the Oromo elite. Likely, they had much more in
common with the Amhara ruling class, into which they were assimilated,
than with the ordinary Oromo. In fact, some of the individuals spoke only
Amharic and did not know the Oromo language. And yet they joined an
Oromo organization and spoke to the Oromo audience through interpreters.
The question is why did they join the Association? "They joined it for
various reasons, but by joining it, they elevated the status and transformed
the image of the Association. Most of all they provided the Association with
their skills, knowledge, organizational capacities and leadership qualities
[important connections and information] and in the process they transformed
what started as self help organization into a pan-Oromo movement with huge
membership and branch offices all over Oromia (Hassen 1996: 75).
It is my assessment that the Oromo elite tumed to their roots mainly
as a result of their disillusionment with the Ethiopian political establishment.
They had all the necessary criteria to be integrated into the heart and the soul
of the Ethiopian system (Giorgis 1989: 117). They were mainly Christians,
culturally Amharized and spoke Amharic. They were ardent Ethiopian
nationalists and loyal to the Emperor. And yet they were "never treated with
respect or accorded equality of statusH(Baissa 1998: 81). "The life of
assimilated Oromos was often peripheral. In spite of their total submission
to 'preserve for their cultural suicide' and to the dominance of the Amhara
over non-Amhara people in all aspects of life, the Amhara seldom treated
them as equals. The Amharization of the Oromo and other groups was
attempted without integrating them as equals" (Bulcha 1994: 104).
From what has transpired thus far, it is clear that it was the conflict
between the ruling Amhara elites and Amharized educated Oromo that
turned the latter towards the Oromo issue. It has been said and rightly that:

When the educated professionals find themselves unable to

gain admission to posts commensurate with their degree

and talents; they tend to turn away also from the

metropolitan culture of the dominant ethnic group and
return to their own culture, the culture of the once despised
subject ethnic group. Exclusion breeds failed assimilation,
and reawakens an ethnic consciousness among the
professional elites, at exactly the moment when the
intellectuals are beginning to explore the historic roots of
the community (Smith 1982: 3 I).

After the 1960-failed coup, Emperor Haile Selassie's regime followed a

secret policy of limiting the number of high- ranking military officers of
Oromo origin and controlling their promotion. Ironically, not a single high-
ranking officer of Oromo origin supported the 1960-failed coup; on the
contrary, they opposed it. Colonels (later Brigadier generals) Taddesse Birru,
Jagama Kello, Waqjira Serda, Dawit Abdi, and Major Qadida Gurmeysa
supported the Emperor and they were instrumental in aborting the 1960 coup
(Zoga 1993: 349, 352). And yet, they were suspected of disloyalty and
subjected to discrimination. This policy not only angered Oromo officers but
also encouraged them to be involved in political activities (Zoga 1993: 12).
Colonel Alemu Qitessa was among the high- ranking officers who
were angered by the discriminatory policy of Emperor Haile Selassie and
formed the Macha and Tulama Association to oppose that policy. Among the
first of these officers that Colonel Alemu Qitessa invited to join the
Association was General Taddesse Birru, the most influential officer of the
Oromo origin, and a rising star within the Ethiopian political establishment.
General Taddesse Birru was a deeply religious man who was Amharized,
spoke Amharic and married an Amhara woman. He passed as an Amhara.
It was he who established the Rapid Force, the elite riot battalion. He was
famous for his mastery of military science and trained many of the best
Ethiopian officers. Taddesse Biru was loyal to the Emperor, who entrusted
to him the training of a number of leaders of liberation movements in Africa,
including Nelson Mandela of South Africa. In his 1994 famous book, Long
Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Mandela
acknowledges Taddessee Birru as the man under whose guidance he
received his first military training in 1962. In President Nelson Mandela's
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

own words, "I was lectured on military science by Colonel Tadessee who
was also Assistant Commissioner of Police .... In my study sessions, Colonel
Tadessee discussed matters such as how to create a guerilla force, how to
command an army, and how to enforce discipline" (Mandela 1994: 265).
It was probably in 1963 when Taddesse Birru was promoted to
Brigadier General and entrusted with many responsibilities. In addition to
being the Commander of the Rapid Force, he was Deputy Commissioner of
the National Police Force, Commander of the Territorial Army and the
Chairman of the National Literacy Campaign. In his latter capacity he
enthusiastically conducted the literacy program which was conducted only
in Amharic, thus facilitating the Amharization policy of the Emperor. When
Colonel Alemu Qitessa invited General Taddesse Birru to join the Macha
and Tulama Association in 1963, his answer was "1 cannot participate in
tribal politics" (Zoga 1993: 24). For him the Association was involved in
tribal politics and as an ardent Ethiopian Nationalist, he felt he was above
tribal politics. However, General Taddesse Birru's energetic support for the
spread of literacy among the Oromo alarmed the Ethiopian Prime Minister
Aklilu Habte Wold. The prime Minister assumed General Taddesse B i m to
be an Amhara and confided in him the educational policy of Haile Selassie's
regime in the following words: "Taddesse! Afier you have started leading the
literacy campaign, you talk a lot about learning. It is good to say learn.
However, you must know whom we have to teach. We are leading the
country by leaving behind the Oromo at least by a century. If you think you
can educate them, they are an ocean [whose wave] can engulf you" (Zoga
1993: 25)
General Taddesse Birru, who wanted to create an Ethiopian nation
based on the equality of all Ethiopians, could not believe what he heard from
the mouth of the Ethiopian Prime Minister. He was shocked and awakened
by the policy designed to keep the Oromo beyond the reach of modern
education. It was the realization of this policy which inspired him to return
to his roots. He joined the Macha-Tulama Association on June 23, 1964.
When the Ethiopian Prime Minister heard the news about Taddesse Birru
joining the Association, he realized that Taddesse was not an Amhara and
had mistakenly confided in him about the government's policy. To ensure
damage control, the Ethiopian Prime Minister targeted General Taddesse
Birru for destruction (Zoga 1993: 26-27).

Ironically, the leaders of the Association wanted to use general

Taddesse Birru's fame, his charismatic personality and his loyalty for and
closeness to the Emperor for the purpose of protecting and expanding the
activities of the Association. The leaders of the Association did not realize
that they inadvertently traded the calm activities of their organization for
high stake publicity, which intensified the fear of the Amhara ruling elites
who were eager and ready to destroy both the Association and its leaders
(Hassen 1997: 21 1). That, for the moment, lay in the future. After General
Taddesse Birru joined the Association, he became the leading personality
and one of its dynamic and energetic leaders who radicalized the
The radicalized Association attracted Oromo students from Addis
Ababa University, including Baro Tumsa (the Chairman of the University
Students' Union), Lieutenant Mamo Mazamir, Ibssa Gutama, Yohannes
Lata, Mekonnen Gallan, Taha Ali Abdi, and many others. With the
exception of Mamo Mazamir, who was martyred in 1969 (see below) the rest
were founding members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 1974. This
establishes a direct link between the transition from the Macha and Tulama
Association to the OLF(Hassen 1996: 75). The university students not only
energized the movement but also raised the famous slogan of "Land to the
Tiller" which became the binding revolutionary slogan for the Ethiopian
student movements both at home and abroad. In his recently published
book, Leenco Lata, the former Deputy General Secretary of the OLF,
mentions a very interesting point in connection with how the slogan o f '
Land to the Tiller" was first raised. According to Leenco, it was two Oromo
personalities who first organized public demonstration at which the famous
slogan was raised. What Leenco did not mention is that the hvo Oromo
personalities who were instrumental in popularizing the slogan were
members of the Macha and Tulama Association.
Hence, the first public demonstration at which the slogan "Land to
the Tiller" was hoisted took place in February 1965 mainly as a result of a
secret coordination between two Oromo personalities. The Emperor's rubber
stamp parliament, whose President was Tesema Negeri, was at the time
debating a land reform bill that was tabled mostly under pressure from
Western governments and financial institutions, like the World Bank.
Colonial Consolidation & Resislance 1935-2000, Part 2

Effecting the kind of changes suggested by these pressure groups and desired
by the tenant farmers was opposed by most of the deputies who were mostly
absentee landlords themselves. It was to circumvent this opposition that the
President of the Parliament and his fellow Oromo Chairman of the
University Students' Union, Baro Tumsa, secretly arranged for the staging
of the first ever "Land to the Tiller" demonstration. From that day until the
unseating of the imperial government, this slogan was never missing from
the almost annual event of student anti-government demonstrations (Lata
1999: 191-192).
Besides Baro Tumsa, Lieutenant Marno Mazamir was among the
university students who contributed to the radicalization of the Association.
He was a graduate of, and instructor, at the prestigious Harar Military
Academy. Later, he joined Addis Ababa University Law School, where he
completed his legal education.

He was a very intelligent, hardworking and highly

motivated and immensely dedicated to the cause of the
Oromo. He widely read socialist literature and knew a
great deal about the Third World revolutions. He was
angered with the grotesque distortion of Oromo history in
the Ethiopian historiography and outraged with the
Ethiopian government's policy of banning the writing of the
Oromo language. He made writing Oromo history and
production of literature in the Oromo language the
ideological battleground for the movement (Hassen 1998:

It did not take long before the radicalization of the Association

excited the ambition of militant Oromo nationals and aroused the anxieties
of Amhara ruling elites. General Taddesse Birru and other leaders of the
Association organized huge mass meetings at which through fierce oratory,
dramas, poems and prayers in the Oromo language, which was proscribed
in public (Markakis 1987: 260), moved the Oromo into tears of anger against
the Ethiopian oppressive system. This was a landmark in the history of the
Oromo people since colonization, leading as it did to a country- wide
political awakening. For the first time, peaceful Oromo resistance was co-

ordinated under single leadership. This came as a severe blow to the Amhara
ruling class who had never lost the feeling of sitting on top of a volcano
(Hassen & Greenfield 1992: 580)
The developing Oromo political consciousness posed a long- term
challenge to the Amhara elites' domination of the Ethiopian political
landscape. The link that the leadership of the Association established with
the leaders of the Oromo armed struggle in the region of Bale posed an
immediate danger to the stability of the Ethiopian Empire State, to which we
now turn.

The Bale Oromo Armed Struggle 1963-1970

Land alienation, heavy taxation, maladministration and Oromo

hostility to Amhara political, economic and cultural domination caused the
armed struggle in the province of Bale. To get support from neighboring
Somalia, the leaders of the Bale Oromo rebellion used Islam as a resistance
ideology. Hence, it was in the name of Islam that the leaders of the Bale
Oromo Movement mobilized their people and united the Oromo with the
Somalis to fight against their common oppressors. In the following
statement, General Waqo Gutu, the leader of the Bale Oromo Movement,
connects Oromo historical grievances with religious discrimination,
economic exploitation and psychological dehumanization.

Notice that when the Amhara occupied our country with the
help of European imperialists in 1885-1891, many of our
people were massacred. Then the survivors were allotted
like slaves to the settlers, who also partitioned our lands
amongst themselves .... Remember that they plundered and
distorted our historical legacy that is widely known, that
they have violated our dignity, calling us the filthy Galla.
Do you realize how many times you have been denied
justice in their court of law? You Muslims, your religion
has been denigrated and you do not share equality with
Christians (Tareke 1991: 13 1).
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Par1 2

According to Tareke, who has written extensively on peasant protest

in Ethiopia, the Bale rebellion is the longest peasant struggle in
contemporary Ethiopian history, and its longevity was as much due to the
resolve and competence of the insurgent [as to Islam] that served as the
ideological matrix of organization and mobilization" (Tareke 199 1 : 149).
Besides using Islam as a resistance ideology, the leaders of the armed
struggle in Bale established secret links with the leadership of the Macha and
Tulama Association. Both movements influenced each other and
contributed to the cultivation of Oromo political consciousness.
By 1966, the armed struggle in Bale not only pinned down one
highly trained division backed by air power, but also repeatedly defeated
units ofthe Ethiopian army. By 1967, the armed struggle in Bale had already
liberated about seventy five percent of the vast region of Bale and encircled
Goba, the capital. Oromo fighters cut the road between Addis Ababa and
Goba and forced Ethiopian soldiers to abandon a number of garrison towns.
The armed struggle in Bale spread to Sidamo, Western Hararghe and Arsi
regions and served as a rallying for Oromo nationalist elements (Hassen
1998: 208).
Some members of the Macha and Tulama Association participated
in the armed struggle in Bale itself. The best example for this was
Abdulkarim Haji Ibrahim (popularly known as Sheikk Jarra) who fought in
Bale in 1967. Together with Mulis Abba Gada, (who was assassinated in
Mogadishu in February 2000, by agents of the TPLFIEPRDF regime)
Abdulkarim created from scratch the Oromo Liberation Front guerrilla army
in 1976 in Hararghe. His contribution to the Oromo national struggle
deserves in depth study by itself. Here it should suffice to say that Sheikk
Jarra, who started fighting against Ethiopian colonialism in 1967 is still
struggling against the same system thirty-three years later! General Waqo
Gutu and Adam Warriyo, who started the Bale armed struggle almost forty
years ago are still in the struggle. Be that as it may, what particularly worried
the Ethiopian regime in 1967 was not only the military setback it suffered in
the province of Bale, but also the link that developed between armed
resistance in Bale and the leadership of the Macha - Tulama Association.
The man who established that link was Ahmed Buna, a schoolteacher and
a member of the Association itself. He was one ofthe founders of the Oromo
Liberation Front in 1974. Ahmed ~ u n devoteda ~ twenty- six years of his life

to the Oromo liberation struggle. It was he who in 1965 smuggled the

leaders of the armed resistance to Addis Ababa, where they conducted
extensive discussions with the top leaders of the Macha and Tulama
Association as to how best coordinate their activities (Hassen 1998: 208). A
letter that was written by Lieutenant Mamo Mazamir, one of the most
militant leaders of the Association, conclusively establishes the link that
developed between the two movements.
The history of mankind shows that a people who rise in the struggle
for freedom and independence, in defiance of death, are always victorious.
The life and death struggle of the oppressed masses in the Ethiopian Empire
against the hegemony of the Amhara and their allies headed by American
imperialism is a sacred liberation struggle of millions of oppressed and
humiliated people. That struggle will surely intensify in the course of time,
as the oppressed people's organizational means and consciousness become
deeply rooted. As learnt in discussions, the Macha and Tulama democratic
movement, which was created to raise the consciousness of the Oromo
people is in the present situation working day and night to put in hand
coordination activities that are within our reach. In fact, the militant
members are working now on the means of organizing a nationwide people's
movement which is based on realizing the aspirations of Oromo people.
"Please, keep up your heroic armed struggle, defending every inch of the
Oromo nation to the last drop of your blood. The decisive war of resistance
you are conducting in Bale will, despite the maneuvers of imperialism,
Zionism and local reaction, be victorious. We shall continue doing
everything we can to keep in touch with you" (Quoted in Tullu, 1980, 25-
This letter is interesting for four reasons. First, it was written on
September 10, 1965, and it expresses the thinking of the militant leaders of
the Association at that point in time. Second, it shows clearly the meeting of
minds between the leaders of the two organizations. Third, it shows that
while the Association struggled peacefully for recognition of Oromo identity
and their equality with the rest of the Ethiopian population, the militant
leaders of the Association did not exclude the possibility of conducting
armed struggle if peaceful resistance failed to produce the desired results
(Hassen, 1998,209). Finally, the language of the letter demonstrates Mamo
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Mazamir's revolutionary orientation, which is also supported by another

source (Zoga, 167,241).
The leaders of the Macha and Tulama Association not only
established secret contact with the armed resistance in Bale, but also they
tried to unite the Oromo and other oppressed peoples of Ethiopia. Their goal
was to create a democratic counhy in which all the peoples of Ethiopia could
live together on the basis of equality. What the leaders of the Association
were opposed to was the identity of Ethiopia that excluded the Oromo. What
they hated was the political and cultural hegemony of the Amhara ruling
elite. What they wanted was a creation of a democratic Ethiopia that would
be beneficial to all the peoples of Ethiopia. At huge mass meetings in many
places from 1964 to 1966, the leaders of the Macha and Tulama Association,
through fierce oratory, dramas, poems and prayers in the Oromo language,
channeled Oromo anger against the oppressive regime of Emperor Haile
Selassie. The Oromo became conscious of their deprivation and their
treatment as second class subjects, and expressed their determination to be
free and equal with other peoples of Ethiopia. In other words, the leaders of
the Association fired the imagination of the Oromo, created political
consciousness, and penetrated Emperor Haile Selassie's bureaucracy. It was
this success which probably raised false expectations in the minds of militant
leaders that the moment was ripe for capturing state power. This was the
major weakness of the leadership. A weakness because the leaders failed to
realize that in Ethiopian State power is always captured through victory on
the battlefield. The leaders of the Association did not make sufficient
military preparation to confront the regime of Haile Sellassie, which was
ready to destroy both the leadership and the Association itself. The new
Oromo political consciousness and the anned struggle in Bale dominated the
Amhara ruling elites' policy towards the Oromo and the thought of the two
in combination became their nightmare. The destruction of the Macha -
Tulama Association was part of the strategy for dealing with that nightmare.

The Destruction of Macha -Tulama Association 1967

It was Prime Minister Aklilu Habte Wold who spearheaded and

coordinated the destruction of General Taddesse Birru and the Macha and
Tulama Association. Up until 1966, the leaders ofthe Association, including

General Taddesse Birru, remained loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie. For

them, the Emperor was not part of the conspiracy to destroy the Association
and its leaders. However, when the Emperor refused to heed their plea for
justice, the leaders of the Association, under the influence and guidance of
General Taddesse Birru, decided to assassinate the Emperor and capture
state power. For that purpose, a hastily called meeting was held at General
Taddesse's residence on the evening ofNovember 2, 1966. The objective of
the meeting was to plan the physical elimination of the Emperor on
November 3, 1966. Never was a plot to assassinate the Emperor so poorly
and hastily planned as this one.
This, more than anything else, demonstrates the major weakness of
Taddesse Birru who was a brave soldier but a poor strategist. He was
impatient, lacked foresight and preparation and rushed into action without
considering its consequences. To complete the tragedy, General Taddesse
wanted to assassinate the Emperor, who knew all about it through his
planted agents within the movement itself. Worse still, the general had no
contingency plan, if the planned assassination failed to materialize as it did.
Those who planned the destruction of General Taddesse Birru and the
Association were delighted with the speed with which he fell into their trap
(Hassen, 1998, 2 10).
While Haile Selassie knew all about the plot, General Taddesse
Birru did not know what the Emperor had in store for him and those who
participated in the hastily-called meeting to assassinate the Emperor, among
others including Ketema Y i h , the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, who was not
even a member of the Macha and Tulama Association. It is impossible to
understand why General Taddesse Birru included Ketema Yifru, the godson
of the Emperor, in that plot. Either the general was too trusting, or naive, or
both. Ketema Yifiu, a leading member of the Amhara elites was probably a
planted agent at the highest level of the Association. Ketema Yifru, had
nothing to gain by participating in the plot to assassinate the Emperor. He
had everything to gain by betraying the trust which Taddesse Birru placed
in him (Hassen, 1997, 220).
That fateful meeting at the house of General Taddesse Birru lasted
only for a few hours. Weapons were distributed and the meeting ended. The
government security men who knew about this sad episode detained those
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

who were returning home with weapons in their hands. According to Olana
Zoga, the author of the History of Macha and Tulama Association, it was the
key planted agent within the top leadership of the Association that enabled
the government to foil the plot (Zoga 1993: 122-123). Who was this high
level planted agent within the movement? Olana Zoga does not directly
mention that agent by name but he drops many hints, all of which point to
Ketema Yifru. Of more than ten individuals who participated in the plot to
assassinate the Emperor, only Ketema Yifru escaped any punishment and
remained the most popular Ethiopian Foreign Minister until 1974!
For the purpose of imprisoning all the key leaders and dissolving the
Macha and Tulama Association, the government used an explosion at the
Cinema Hall in Addis Ababa. The government planted the explosive devices
security men, one of whom lost a hand while planting the device. Mamo
Mazamir, the most radical member of the Association was blamed for
causing the explosion (Zoga 1993: 138-148). The government imprisoned
the prominent members of the Association, all of whom were severely
tortured, brutalized, and dehumanized. For instance, Haile Mariam Gamada,
the Secretary of the Association was brought to court on a stretcher because
of the brutal beating from which he died shortly afterward (Hassen 1998:
21 1). Before his death, Haile Mariam Gamada spoke these words: "Neither
the imprisonment and killing of the leaders nor banning of the Association
will deter the[ Oromo] nation's struggle. What we did is like a snake that
entered a stomach. Whether it is pulled out or left there, the result is one and
the same. It has spread its poison" (quoted in Zoga, 297).
Haile Mariam Gamada stated that through the activities of the
Association the leaders of the Association have spread poison in the body
politic of the Ethiopian State. The said poison was a metaphor for Oromo
nationalism, which was challenging Ethiopian political establishment. He
went on to say that "whether we die or not, our ideas [about the freedom of
the Oromo] will be realized by our children or grandchildren"(Z0ga 1993:
402). In his defense, General Taddesse Birru argued that:

What makes the freedom of a people complete are many,

the most fundamental of which is their equality before the
law. I am denied equality before the law because of my
nationality. Officers, who were imprisoned before me were

paid their salary until their case was decided in court.

Because of my nationality, I am treated differently. What is
more, other officers were neither disgraced, nor tortured,
while in police custody. Why am I disgraced and severely
tortured? Spreading literacy among the Oromo, who are left
behind in terms of education became my crime. I have been
the victim of national oppression. I have been wrongly
accused of things I did not do( quoted in Zoga 1993: 257-

The court, which demonstrated the Ethiopian justice system as a

mockery, never considered General Taddesse Birru's argument in its
deliberation. The court sentenced General Taddesse and Lieutenant Mamo
Mazamir to death (Zoga 1993: 261). Although Emperor Haile Selassie
changed General Taddesse's death sentence into life imprisonment, Mamo
Mazamir was hung in Addis Ababa prison in 1969, thus becoming a great
martyr for the Oromo cause. His final words still resonate with the new
generation of nationalist Oromo: "I do not die in vain. My blood will water
the freedom struggle of the Oromo people. 1 am certain that those who
sentenced me to death for things I did not do, including the Emperor and his
off~cials,will receive their due punishment from the Ethiopian people. It
may be delayed, but the inalienable rights of the Oromo people will be
restored by the blood of their children" (quoted in Zoga 1993: 278).
Mamo Mazamir was hung for three reasons all of which make him
one of the most radical members of the Macha and Tulama Association.
First, he produced a draft of the "History of the Oromo" which was
confiscated and destroyed by the government security officers. In addition,
Mamo drafted a blue print for a new constitution that would abolish tenancy
(Zoga 1993: 249). Secondly, Mamo wrote short plays in the Oromo
language which were shown during the Association's gatherings, and also
produced poems that brought tears of joy to the audience. As an
exceptionally gifted individual who had tremendous organizational skills and
boundless energy, he was a moving spirit of Oromo consciousness that
challenged Ethiopian political establishment. Third, as probably the only
communist member of the Association (Zoga 1993: 428) he was feared as
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

a radical who posed real danger to the Ethiopian establishment. His hanging
represents the attempt by Haile Selassie's regime to suppress the Oromo
political awakening and to stop the spread of communist ideology among
young military officers, though without success.
In 1967, by imprisoning its leaders and dissolving the Association,
the government of Emperor Haile Selassie won a pyrrhic, short-term victory.
However, within seven short years, by 1974, its policy unwittingly
transformed Oromo politics beyond recognition. The Association's demand
for equality within Ethiopia was transformed into the OLF's commitment to
self-determination in Oromia. The Association's efforts to spread literacy in
the Amharic language and [Geez] script were transformed into literacy in
Afaan Oromoo [the Oromo language] using the Latin alphabet. What was
unthinkable in 1967 became feasible by 1974. In short, the Ethiopian
government's unwarranted cruelty and brutality produced the Oromo elite's
rejection of Ethiopian identity itself As a consequence, after 1974 Oromo
politics was never the same again. What the Ethiopian government wanted
in 1967 by destroying the Association was the destruction of Oromo political
consciousness. What it got in 1974 was a mature form of Oromo
nationalism which challenged Ethiopian nationalism itself (Hassen 1998:
The leaders of the Macha and Tulama Association, who accepted
sacrifice for the cause of their people, set a pattern for the new generation of
Oromo, who were reared and brought up on stories of their lives. They were
heroes, the symbols of courage that have propelled millions of Oromo into
organized resistance. Through their struggle and sacrifices, they won a
lasting place in the hearts of the Oromo nation. "They died physically, but
the cause for which they died, will never die and they will remain in our
hearts through the history of the Oromo struggle which is written with their
blood. Their names will live forever, lighting the torch of freedom for the
Oromo nation" (Bulletin of UOSE 1985: 8-9).

The Formation of the OLF

After the Association was banned in 1967, the movement was

forced to go underground. Some members of the Macha and Tulama
Association went to Bale and joined the armed struggle there. Other
members went to Somalia to the Middle East and formed two separate
organizations; one based in Beruit and the other in Aden. Others went to the
Sudan, where they formed a branch of the Macha and Tulama Association
(Zoga 1993: 298-99). Those who remained behind in Addis Ababa
transformed the banned Association into an underground movement that
organized members into study groups and cultural committees. For political
agitation, the leaders of the underground movement produced literature in
the Oromo language, Amharic and English. Among the agitation under
ground papers, The Oromo:VoiceAgainst Tyranny and Kana Beekta (in the
Oromo language), played a crucial role in raising political awareness of the
Oromo youth and in exposing the cruelty and brutality of Haile Selassie's
regime. Voice in particular, was a publication with a strong political
message. It called on the Oromo and other oppressed people of Ethiopia to
form a united front against their common oppressors. In its May 1971 issue,
Voice had the following message on the question of a united front.

For an Oromo worthy of the name, there is one and only

one way to dignity, security, liberty and freedom. That
single and sure way is to hold a common front against his
oppressors and their instruments of subjugation. In this, he
is ready and willing to join hands in the spirit of
brotherhood, equality and mutual respect, with oppressed
nationalities and all persons and institutions of good will,
he is equally ready and prepared to pay any sacrifice and
oppose any person or groups that in any way hinder his
mission for liberation from all forms of oppression and
subjugation. An Oromo has no empire to build but a
mission to break an imperial yoke, that makes this mission
sacred and his sacrifices never too dear (Voice 1980: 23).
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Among the Addis Ababa based underground movement, the

brothers Rev. Gudina Tumsa and Baro Tumsa played a very crucial role in
keeping alive the spirit of resistance (Zoga 1993: 300-301). They both gave
their lives for the Oromo cause. In fact, Baro Tumsa was instrumental in the
formation of the Oromo Liberation Front. It was he who organized a secret
conference in Addis Ababa in December 1973. Among the participants,
Hussein Sura (Sheik Hussen), the leader of Beruit based organization, Elemo
Qilixxu, the leader of Aden based Oromo National Liberation, and Baker
Yusuf, came from the Middle East. Several individuals from different
regions of Oromia also participated in that conference, out of which the OLF
was formed in early 1974. According to Olana Zoga, the author of History
of Macha and Tulama Association, under the leadership of Baro Tumsa,
underground members of the Association which gave rise to the OLF took
advantage of the Febmary 1974 Revolution and contributed to the overthrow
of Haile Sellassie's regime in four ways: First, its members effectively used
the limited freedom of the press, which flourished in Ethiopia from March
to June 1974 for the purpose of exposing Oromo colonial experience.
Second, its parliamentary members regularly challenged many of the
regime's policies. Third, its members conducted agitation among the
university and high school students. Fourth and most important, the
underground members of the military police forces were instrumental in
organizing the committee of the men in uniform (Derg or Dergue in
Amharic) that overthrew the Emperor in September 1974 ( Zoga 1993: 301-
302). From this aspect it is very clear that the OLF grew out of the
underground Macha and Tulama Association, and it is firmly rooted in
Oromo national consciousness and it bases its ideological fire on Oromo
nationalism. "Consequently, it can be said that the emergence of a national
movement indicates that a population or social group has reached a new
stage on the road to nationhood: the transition to political action. The
nation, or the sections of a population that consider themselves to be a
nation, attempt to create their own state" (Alter 1989: 22-23).
The 1974 OLF political program, which was amended in 1976,
traces the historical background of the Oromo national liberation struggle;
it briefly mentions the supporters and opponents of that struggle and states
the ultimate goal of that struggle in the following words: "The fundamental
objective of the struggle is the realization of national self-determination for

the Oromo people and their liberation from oppression and exploitation it1
all their forms. This can only be realized through the successful
consummation of the new democratic revolution ... and by the establishment
of the people's democratic republic of Oromia" (OLF Program 1976: 15-16).
The OLF Political Program stresses not only the establishment of a
democratic republic of Oromia but also the importance of voluntary unity of
the peoples of Ethiopia. This reflects political maturity of the Oromo
national movement (Hassen 1996: 77). In Ethiopia, 1974 saw not only the
formation ofthe OLF but also the end of Haile Selassie's regime. In February
1974 Ethiopia heard the death-knell of Emperor Haile Selassie's regime. The
Emperor, who dominated the Ethiopian political landscape since 1916, was
too old to grasp the magnitude of the 1973 catastrophic famine which
resulted in the death of over two hundred thousand people-the majority of
whom were either Oromos from Wallo, or Afars and Tigreans. Following the
1973 Arab-Israeli War, the closure of the Suez Canal, and the dramatic
increase in the price of oil, spiraling inflation in the urban centers of Ethiopia
galvanized the people, and particularly taxi drivers, industrial workers,
teachers and students, into taking spontaneous action. Strikes and
demonstrations in Addis Ababa reverberated throughout the country and the
military which has always been the pillar of tyranny, turned against Haile
Selassie's regime.

The Prime Minister and his entire cabinet resigned, and a

new government, with an educated aristocrat at its head,
tried to salvage something of the wreckage. For the next
few months, a limited freedom of the press, which Ethiopia
had never known before, created a lively atmosphere in
which a barrage of criticism about the inequalities of
Ethiopian peoples was written and openly discussed
(Hassen & Greenfield 1992: 584).

The Oromo Under the Military Regime, 1974-1991

The 1974 revolution offered Ethiopia an opportunity not only to

democratize itself, to heal the old wounds, to redress old injustice, to right
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

the old wrongs, but also to decentralize power in the country. In 1974, the
Oromo wanted to regain their land, political rights, human dignity and the
right to administer themselves. The formation of the OLF and the 1974
revolution stirred Oromo aspirations for freedom and equality. It aroused
their pride in their national culture. This Oromo consciousness was a shock
to the military officers, who replaced the Emperor. Thus, the military officers
who managed to oust a tyrant from power left colonial tyranny intact. They
were not only poorly equipped to transform Ethiopia, but also they had
vested interests in maintaining the colonial status quo in Oromia. For that
purpose they adopted a philosophy of "Ethiopia First," which was based on
the primacy of Ethiopian nationalism and the idea of one indivisible
Ethiopia. This was a new aggressive ideology which was aimed at all
national liberation movements. By adopting this philosophy they hoped to
guarantee that Ethiopia was to remain an Amhara-dominated state.

After all, the Derg, composed ofN.C.0.'~and junior oficers

below the rank of major, included only about twenty-five
men of Tigrayan, Eritrean, Oromo, and other non-Amhara
nationalities, the rest-about one hundred being of Amhara
origin. Within the Derg, the Amhara not only constituted
the overwhelming majority but also held all the key and
sensitive posts where hardcore Amhara officers dictated
every policy (Hassen & Greenfield 1992: 586).

It was these hardcore oficers who suddenly declared "Ethiopian Socialism"

to solve the economic, political and social problems of Ethiopia in general and
national questions in particular. In the event, it failed to solve anything. In many
areas, Oromo peasants started taking independent action by chasing away Amhara
landlords.' After 1974, land reform of some kind was a foregone conclusion.
"Without it, it would have been impossible to take impetus out of the flood of
spontaneous Oromo peasant uprisings which were threatening the very survival of
the empire state" (Hassen & Greenfield 1992: 590; Lata 1999: 192-193). According
to Rene Lefort, it was the fear of Oromo uprising and the desire to prevent it from
happening that forced the Dergue to take radical measures including the land reform
of 1975(Lefort 1981: 110). Asafa Jalata also states that the Dergue regime took
some radical measures not only to address Oromo grievances, but also to get their

support and consolidate itself. "Most Oromos had assumed that the revolution of
1974 would lead to decolonization and equality of all peoples in Ethiopia" (Jalata
1998: 10-1 1, Lefort 1981: 110). Thus, the Dergue's nationalization of all rural lands
in March 1975 was a legal recognition of a fair accomplis, especially in Oromia,
designed to arrest the tempo of peasant uprisings. Instead of devolving power to the
peasantry, the land reform of 1975 centralized the power of the state in Ethiopia
(Clapham, 1988,6).

What was achieved in effect was not ending landlordism but

transferring the right previously enjoyed by individual
landlords to the state. The state became a vehicle that
centrally appropriated the labor and produce of peasants to
the descendants of the original landlords, as primarily people
of such a background manned the new regime's state
structures. The poverty of peasant farmers in the process
rose to new heights while that of the descendants of the
conquerors did not suffer a similar fate (Lata 1999: 195-

In April 1976, the Dergue declared the National Democratic

Revolution Program (NDRP). This program, which became the blueprint for
the transformation "Ethiopian socialism" into "scientific socialism" was "...
the first official policy that recognized Ethiopia's national diversity" (Lata
1999: 200). The NDRP stated: "The right to self-determination of all
nationalities will be recognized and fully respected. No nationality will
dominate another one since the history, culture, language and religion of
each nationality will have equal recognition in accordance with the spirit of
socialism" (Clapham 1988: 199).
However, the NDRP was never implemented and it remained on
paper, an empty gesture. In fact, the Dergue used the NDRP not only as a
showpiece of its radicalism to impress the Soviet Union, but also for waging
war against "narrow nationalism" a new euphemism for Oromo nationalism.
The Dergue used the NDRP as an ideological cover for destroying Oromo
nationalism. Narrow nationalism was proclaimed as the main enemy of the
unity of the country and the Dergue began a policy of physically destroying
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

the best elements of the Oromo society, especially the intelligentsia. As a

result, under the pretcxt of liquidating" narrow nationalists" or "anti-unity
elements,"anyone concerned with the self-determination ofthe Oromo and
the development of their language, culture and history and anyone who
showed pride in the Oromo democratic heritage or possessed a strong sense
of Oromo national identity and dignity became subject to"revolutionary
measures," a euphemism for instant extrajudicial executions. The Amhara
military officers, who dominated the Dergue, abandoned their pretensions
about self-determination, having reached the peaks of hypocrisy and
cynicism with their declaration of the National Democratic Revolution
Program in April 1976, embarked on the massacre of peasants and the
killings and detentions of educated Oromos. The purpose was to deprive the
Oromo of educated leadership.
For years the military regime was engaged in the systematic
destruction of the Oromo. This could be a topic for another article by itself.
Here it should suffice to say that the destruction of the Oromo and their
resources was carried out on three levels. First and most obvious was the
destruction and displacement of the Oromo. Through the regime's warfare,
especially through the campaign of "search and destroy," thousands of
Oromo people were killed and several hundred thousand driven into refugee
camps in the neighboring countries of Somalia, Djoubti, the Sudan and
Kenya. Internally, the Dergue regime massively displaced the Oromo.
Following the Ethio-Somali War of 1977-78, the regime claimed that there
were six million internally displaced people in the southern and eastern parts
of Ethiopia, of which over half were Oromo. To control their movements
and prevent them from supporting the OLF, the Ororno in the regions of
Bale, Arsi and Sidamo were herded like cattle into 506 "protected hamlets."
Second, while herding the Oromo into protected hamlets, the regime started
a program of resettling three million northerners in the south, mainly in
Oromia. This was done behind the facade of rehabilitating drought and
famine victims from northern Ethiopia. The political motive behind such
massive transfer of population was to alter the demography of Oromia.
Third, the regime embarked on massive villagization and collectivization
programs that were different from the resettlement program mentioned
above. The goal of the resettlement program was to deprive support for
guerrilla movements in northern Ethiopia by moving the people to the south,

thus altering the demography of Oromia, while the goal of villagization and
collectivization was to totally control the labor, produce, and resources of
Oromo peasants. The massive villagization and collectivization programs
impoverished millions of Oromo peasants adding to their misery and
suffering (Clay and Holcomb 1985: 70-1 89; Clay & et al., 1988: 103-228,
247-295; Kaplan 1988: 1-8). Within a few years, the Dergue "uprooted and
regrouped over 8 million Oromo peasants into the so-called 'new villagest-
a euphemism for [Dergue's] version of concentration camps where Oromo
labor and resources[were] totally controlled and dominated by the military
regimeU(Hassen 1990: 98, Clay et al., 1988: 115-224).
For seventeen years the peoples of Ethiopia suffered under brutal
military dictatorship, whose historic mission was nothing but destruction.
It is believed that no less than two million peasants lost their lives between
1974 and 1991, not to mention millions of Oromo who were internally
displaced and thousands who were scattered as refugees to many parts ofthe
world. When the authors of sorrow and destruction were overthrown in May
1991, it was a sigh of relief, a time of joy and a moment of hope for the
peoples of Ethiopia in general and the Oromo in particular.

The Oromo under the TPLF Regime 1991-2000

The OLF, which was formed in early 1974, articulated Oromo

nationalism and also became its primary organizational expression (Jalata
1998: 11). For seventeen years the OLF struggled against the Ethiopian
military regime and made a significant contribution to the combined effort
which defeated the regime in May 1991. It was in recognition of this fact
that the OLF was invited to participate in the London Conference of May
1991 and Addis Ababa Conference of July 1991. Thirty-one parties,
including five Oromo organizations, also participated in the Addis Ababa
Conference, where the parties met to discuss the future of Ethiopia and
agreed upon a Transitional Charter that laid down the principles as well as
the program of transition towards a new democratic order. The OLF co-
authored, with the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Forces (EPRDF), the
Transitional Charter and then joined the Transitional Government of
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Ethiopia (1991-1992). The Transitional Government was "billed as a

coalition government representing three main interests: the Oromo interest,
the Amhara interest and the Tigrean interest, with others ... being considered
important but secondary"(Hagos 1995: 97). According to Leenco Lata, the
former Deputy General Secretary of the OLF: "The Charter envisaged four
elements that fundamentally departed from the autocratic and imperial
tradition of Ethiopia to transform the relationships between the colonizers
and the colonized nations. These four components were, the supremacy of
the law, power sharing, the construction of a multinational democratic state
and the establishment of a just peace" (Lata 1998: 56).
While OLF leadership naively placed its trust in the implementation
of the Charter, in the promises of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
(EPLF) and in the assurance of the government of the United States, the
TPLF leaders adopted four interrelated policies with which they have
managed to maintain colonial status-quo in Oromia. These are the creation
of the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO), the TPLF leaders
abortion of democratization process, the destruction of all independent
Oromo organizations, especially OLF army, and the TPLF's establishment
of a sham federal arrangement. First, the TPLF formed the OPDO in 1990,
only after it tried and failed to bring the OLF under its control from 1984 to
1990. The TPLF formed the OPDO from"former Dergue soldiers captured
by the TPLF and were subsequently given a rudimentary political education
in order to turn them into its messengers to the Oromos living in their home
areasU(Lata1999: 59). The TPLF leaders planned to replace the OLF with
their Oromo prisoners-of- war. By creating the OPDO, the TPLF leadership
capitalized on the fundamental weakness of the Oromo elite which is
discussed below. Secondly, while all independent Oromo organizations,
especially the OLF, placed the hope of their people in the promise of
democratic election, the TPLF leaders systematically sabotaged the
democratization process in Ethiopia. In any free and fair election the TPLF
leaders knew and still know that they would lose. They would lose because,
the TPLF, which established Tigrean hegemony in Ethiopia, represents only
seven percent of the population of Ethiopia, while the Oromo represent
around half the population of Ethiopia (Keller 1998: 110, 114). In 1992,
while all independent Oromo organizations and the Oromo people were
prepared to play by the democratic rules of politics in any free and fair

elections, the TPLF- dominated government closed more than 200 OLF
campaign offices, imprisoned hundreds and killed several OLF cadres and
supporters, in an effort to politically weaken or destroy all independent
Oromo organizations and frighten the Oromo people before any elections
were held (OLF Bulletin 1992: 1-10). For its grand design of imposing and
perpetuating one-party domination of the Ethiopian political landscape, the
TPLF-dominated regime made free and fair election impossible in 1992. In
fact, the TPLF- dominated regime was interested in election for one and only
purpose." Through election of its card-carrying members and supporters to
positions of leadership, it hoped to legitimize its illegitimate, vicious,
undemocratic and brutal misrule" (OLF Bulletin 1992: 3-4). Consequently,
through the TPLF- controlled National Election Commission, the regime
hijacked the democratic process and embarked on massive electoral fraud
and deception for the sole purpose of putting" all legislative, executive and
judicial powers under its total control" (OLF Bulletin 1992: 4-10). It was the
well- documented widespread irregularities in the electoral processes, the
harassment, imprisonment, and even killings of supporters of independent
organizations, which forced the OLF and several other independent
organizations to pull out of the June 21, 1992 election. The election
according to many independent international observers was neither free nor
fair (McDonald 1992: 2-9). On June 24, 1992 the OLF was forced to
withdraw from the transitional government of Ethiopia. Consequently:

Ethiopia's leaders blow a golden opportunity to set their

country on a new course . . .. The promise of a chance to
choose their leaders and manage their own affairs had
aroused great popular excitement for this thing called
democracy. Millions of Ethiopians registered to vote, often
despite huge obstacles because they believed that this time
it was going to be different. What they got was more of the
same, broken promises, betrayed hopes and yet another
permutation of age-old imperial intrigue (Kulick 1992: 41-
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

No words can aptly describe the bitterness of the Oromo whose

hope for peaceful devolution of power was shattered by the TPLF, which
wanted and still wants total elimination of all independent Oromo
organizations and to control the resources of Oromia. Thus, what was
promised to be the dawn of a democratic beginning turned out to be a new
chapter for the rise of Tigrean hegemony in Ethiopia. In short, what was
billed to be the first multi-party elections in June 1992 "were turned into a
single party exercise" (Ottaway 1995: 238-239). The TPLF leaders learned
an important lesson from the election that they openly and deliberately
rigged. That lesson is that they can manipulate any election as they did in
1994, 1995 (Hassen 1999: 252) and May 2000, without provoking an
outrage and condemnation from the Western powers that support them
politically, financially and morally. The TPLF leaders also learned another
lesson from the unfolding drama of 1992, which is that they can use their
formidable military muscle for abusing power, dominating the Oromo,
destroying all independent Oromo organizations, and waging war in Oromia,
all in the name of democracy.
The TPLF quickly assimilated itself into the embodiment of the
Ethiopian state, transformed its army into the national army, created its
police force and huge security apparatus. "Worst of all, it has rehired the
assassin squad used by the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam for the purpose
of eliminating those suspected of opposing the regime" (Hassen 1999: 245).

The Ethiopian government is being transformed into a

fascist type administration picking up the pieces where the
government of Mengistu left. . .. From his actions it is clear
that Meles is not a democrat, he is a despot and the ultimate
nightmare of all democratic minded Ethiopians everywhere.
He has decimated opposition political organizations, and
non-political as well as non-profit organizations that are not
affiliated with EPRDF. The capital outlay and expenditure
for the security of the current Ethiopian government and the
leadership is almost double that of the previous
government. He had created a security force, even larger
and pervasive than the one that was protecting Mengistu
(Hagos 1999: 50).

From what has transpired thus far, it is clear that the Oromo and
other peoples of Ethiopia have never been given an opportunity to enjoy the
blessing of a truly democratic government in more than a century. The
TPLF leaders are not interested in democracy as a form of government
(Sorenson 1993: 3) or as a political system (Sorenson 1993: 12). They are
interested in democracy only as an instrument for perpetuating their
monopoly of state power in Ethiopia.

What is very important to consider is the significance of the

fact that the people who control TPLF and the Government
are very parochial minded and appallingly arrogant
charlatans. They are extremely violent, insanely suspicious
. . . with twin character flaws of excessive love of consumer
goods and obsession with status and hierarchy . . .. Fear,
blackmail, intrigue, deception, suspicion, and brutality are
its defining characteristics. It is absolutely insane for
anyone to expect democracy from a secretive and tyrannical
organization such as the TPLF and its spawn (Hagos 1999:

The TPLF leaders, who quickly learned the importance of playing

the politics of human rights for public relations exercises, not only ignored
the human rights8 and democratic rights enshrined in the National Charter
but illegally expelled members of the Transitional Government. According
to Tecola Hagos, a former supporter of the TPLF leadership and now its
bitter critic, "what remained in power since 1991 is an illegitimate power
structure, a reestablishment of feudalism and autocracy dressed in new
symbols with the descendants of yesterday's feudal warlords as the main
actors in this sickening Ethiopian political tragedy" (Hagos 1995: 5).
Tecola Hagos is indignant about the transformation of the TPLF
army from being "fighters for freedom" to an instrument of state terrorism.
It was through the weapon of state terrorism that the TPLF leaders aborted
the democratization process in Ethiopia. The TPLF leaders who have been
presiding over the destruction of our people and their resources were the
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

products of feudal culture. "Ethiopia's feudal structure represents one of the

worst structures of oppression in the world, and it wadis a system that gave
birth to some of the most degenerate leaders who obstructed very much
needed social, economic and political changes" (Hagos 1995: 5). It is these
leaders, turned fascistic, who have so far managed to maintain the colonial
status quo in Oromia

What is tragic in all ofthis is the fact that Ethiopians have lost some
of their greatest heroes to the gargantuan appetite of Leviathan-the
monster of power. It is particularly painful for me to witness people
like Meles Zenawi, who I once admired and wished a great future
and creative leadership, someone who could have been a great
statesman, becoming a despot and sellout, leader of degenerate
liberation movement and collaborating with some of the worst
opportunists and turncoats from the brutal government of Mengistu
(Hagos 1995: 234).

Third, the OLF leadership busting EPLF's promise and the U.S.
Government's assurance about democratic election, made two major political
blunders, whose combined outcome hastened the destruction of the OLF
organizational and military capacity. First, the OLF leadership agreed to:

[Tlhe adoption of the TPLF army as the defense force for

the transitional period-[which] was entered into after the
EPLF leaders clearly promised that they would go to the
extent of fighting on the OLF side if this arrangement was
abused. Unfortunately, the EPLF failed to stem rising
TPLFEPRDF aggression against the OLF and the feeling
that EPLF troops were a party on the other side in the
fighting that broke out after June 1992 emerged among the
Oromo (Lata 1998: 66).

In 1992 the OLF leadership, trusting an empty EPLF promise,

agreed to the transformation of the TPLF army into a legitimate national
defense force with which the TPLF established its dominant position on the
Ethiopian political landscape. Though the TPLF have a formidable military

machinery, which enjoys monopoly over the arsenal of destruction, the OLF
leaders inadvertently provided the TPLF leadership with legal cover for
destroying any organization including the OLF that challenged its authority.
It is one of the ironies in the history of the Horn of Africa, that the EPLF,
which directly collaborated with the TPLF against the OLF in 1992, is itself
the victim of TPLF aggression at this very moment, casting a dark shadow
over the future of the EPLF and independent Eritrea.
Second and most surprising of all, it was the OLF leadership that
facilitated rapid destruction of the OLF army itself. How did it happen?
Leenco Lata explains the background to that tragedy in the following terms.

The OLF demonstrated its willingness to abide by the

decision of the people at a fair and free election.
Consequently, the OLF came up with the policy decisions
considered necessary to create a conducive legal and
political atmosphere for the people to express their choice
freely. The Electoral Law for the June 1992 district and
regional elections was drafted by the OLF. In addition, the
OLF recommended in good faith the encampment of all
former guerrilla troops with the simple hope of removing
armies and the use of force from the political process (Lata
1998: 69).

The OLF encamped its guerrilla troops, while the TPLF leaders,
who had at their disposal the resources of the Ethiopian state, enjoyed
overwhelming military superiority and controlled huge security apparatus
and police force, refused to encamp their guerrilla troops. The encampment
ofthe OLF soldiers made the task of their destruction faster and much easier
than it would have been otherwise. Militarily, the Oromo struggle has never
recovered from the debacle of 1992.
In defeating the OLF and destroying all independent Oromo
organizations, the TPLF capitalized on the fundamental weakness of the
Oromo elite. Did the Oromo learn any lesson from their tragic history? I
doubt it. Unless the Oromo learn from their tragic past, successive Ethiopian
ruling elites will always abuse them. We should always remember what the
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000. Purl 2

famous Russian historian, Vassily Kluchevsky once said. "History . . .

punishes us severely for not learning its lessons." Since the conquest and
occupation of Oromia, the Oromo have been punished severely for not
learning the lessons of their history. These lessons could be summarized in
the following four ways.
First, Oromo enemies have always easily manipulated and turned
the Oromo not only against each other, but also penetrated their
organizations and exposed them to destruction. The classic examples for
enemy penetration and destruction of Oromo organizations are that of the
Macha and Tulama Association and the OLF. Unless the Oromo overcome
this tendency, they will always be their own worst enemies. People who are
easily manipulated and allow themselves to be abused and turned against
each other have no one to blame but themselves. Second, the ball set rolling
in Oromo history by Gobana - the policy of working against the interest of
his people - is still alive and well. During the 1870s and 1880s Ras Gobana
worked tirelessly against the interest of his people in exchange for the title
of negus (king), power and material resources -title and power which were
taken away from him as soon as he fulfilled his mission--the conquest and
colonization of the Oromo of Shawa, the Gibe Region and Wallaga. Ras
Gobana was the great Trojan horse that was planted at the heart of Oromia
and destroyed the unity of the nation from within. Without the crucial role
that Gobana played, the conquest of the richest parts of Oromia would not
have been as swift and as complete as it was in the 1880s.
Third, during the 1970s, the regime of General Siad Barre (1969-
1991) of Somalia appealed to Oromo Islamic sentiment and created the
movement known as the Somali Abo Liberation Front, the instrument with
which the Somali regime planned to create Greater Somalia. This would
have included all Oromo of Hararghe, Bale, Arsi and Sidamo. Tens of
thousands of Muslim Oromo fought and died unconsciously for the
realization of the dream of Greater Somalia. The realization of that dream
would have been a great tragedy for the Oromos among others for two
reasons: First, thousands of Muslim Oromo unconsciously fought to change
one form oftyranny for another. This was because the regime of Siad Baree,
for which so many Oromo fought and died, was as harsh, cruel, and crude
as the Ethiopian military regime from which the Oromo wanted to liberate
themselves. Second and even worse, that liberation would have transformed

millions of Oromo into Somalis. This was because the regime of Siad
Barre" hoped to Somalize the Oromo of Hararghe, Arsi, Bale and Sidamo
through a crash program" (Hassen 1996: 67). This means the failure of the
realization of the dream of Greater Somalia saved millions of Oromos from
becoming "a pre-ethnic raw material waiting to be turned into Somalis"
(Gellner 1983: 84). For petty material rewards, the leaders of the Somali
Abo Liberation Front wanted to separate millions of the Oromo from the
nation. Through their ill-conceived and misguided policies the leaders ofthe
Somali Abo Liberation Front would have seriously damaged Oromo unity.
Fourth, the TPLF regime has been using the OPDO for the purpose
of destroying all independent Oromo organizations and for controlling the
resources of Oromia. Instead of collaborating with independent Oromo
organizations, the TPLF created its own subsidiary, and told the Oromo that
the OPDO represent them in the ruling party. It was in the name of the
OPDO that the TPLF destroyed all independent Oromo organizations.
Without the collaboration of the OPDO, the TPLF would not have been able
to create an indirect colonial rule in Oromia. It must be stated clearly that
the creation of an OPDO administration did not end colonial status quo in
Oromia. It masked and transformed it from direct rule into indirect colonial
rule. The emerging Tigrayan colonial policy resembles the British policy
of [indirect] rule to the same extent that the one pursued by its predecessors
used to approximate to the French [direct rule based on] policy of
assimilation. The manners in which resources are siphoned off from the
colonial southern regions for the speedy development of Tigray makes the
new relation even more glaringly colonial than what used to prevail (Lata

Afier he sought political asylum in the United States in 1998,

Hassen Ali, the first President of Oromia (1992-1995), Central
Committee Member of the ruling party and the Vice President of
OPDO, succinctly expressed the mechanism through which the
TPLF leaders siphon off resources from Oromia for speedy
development of Tigray. Nothing demonstrates this more blatantly
than the extremely disproportionate imbalance in the annual budget
allocation for Tigray and Oromia. Tigray has a population one sixth
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

that of Oromia and yet, for the past eight years, the annual budget
allocation for Tigray is twice that of Oromia . . .. Tigray
development companies have invested 1.5 billion birr in Tigray,
while the Oromia development companies were limited to investing
only 125 million birr, through government control over the amount
of bank credit available (quoted in Sagalee Haaraa 1999: 1-2).

Just like the Dergue was dominated by the Amhara elites, the
EPRDF is dominated by the Tigrean ones. "For example, 43 of the 53
members of the supreme Council ofthe EPRDF belong to the predominantly
Tigrayan TPLF"(Keller 1998: 114). In reality the change that took place in
Ethiopia in 1991 was the transfer of power from the Amhara ruling elite to
the Tigrean one. Both elites want to rule united Ethiopia. "Both oppose
Oromo and other national groups wanting complete democratic rights and
genuine power-sharing" ( Baissa 1998: 82).
According to John Young, a well-known supporter of the TPLF, the
1994 Ethiopian constitution "grants extensive rights to the regions. In
practice, the EPRDF appears to be generally true to its stated commitment
to national self-determination, and gives local decision-makers a free hand
in most spheres and in most regions" (Young 1999: 342). However, the
reality in Oromia totally contradicts John Young's conclusion. Though the
constitution recognizes Oromia as an autonomous federal state, the Oromo
national self-determination is far from being realized. In the words of the
first President of Oromia:

The TPLF soldiers and its members are a law unto

themselves. Only what they say and what they want is
implemented in Oromia to the general exclusion of Oromo
interests or wishes. . .. Although Oromia is autonomous in
name, the government soldiers and secret service agents
have total power to do whatever they want in Oromia.
They imprison, torture or kill anyone, including OPDO
members and our government employees without any due
process of law. They have established several secret
detention centers, where thousands of innocent people are
kept for years without trial or charge . . .. Most of the

detainees are Oromo peasants accused of supporting or

feeding the OLF soldiers .... Federal Government soldiers,
more appropriately the TPLF soldiers, are in practice above
the law in Oromia (quoted in Sagalee Haaraa 1999: 1-2).

From the short history of the past nine years, it is clear that the
OPDO leaders are playing a shameful role in the history of their people.
They are performing for the TPLF regime exactly the function that Ras
Gobana performed for Emperor Menilek. Oromo scholars have expended
considerable effort analyzing the history of the" ~ o b a n i s t "phenomenon
~ and
the many false promises that constitute its psychological foundation. This
body of research reveals that the strategy worked well for Menilek in the
1870s and 1880s, when people were first exposed to its seductive message
and were not aware of its far-reaching consequences. Today, the strategy is
fully exposed and it cannot be expected to be as effective as it once was.
It is interesting to note in passing that while he was an active
member of the Union of Oromo Students in Europe, Nagaso Gidada, the
current powerless President of Ethiopia, was a strong opponent of the
"Gobanist" phenomenon. Ironically, the role Nagaso is currently playing is
not different from that of Ras Gobana. According to Kuwee Kumsa:

Nagaso Gidada and Kuma Damakisa are currently the

presidents of Ethiopia and Oromia respectively. However,
they do not have power since the Tigrayan-dominated
government that attempts to use these two individuals and
their followers who speak the Oromo language to create the
illusion that the Oromo people have political power put
them there. Since Gidada and Damakisa are there to serve
the interests of the Tigrayan regime and not the interests of
the Oromo people, the Oromo sees them as the enemy of
the Oromo nation.

What the learned Nagaso Gidada and the former prisoner of war,
Kumsa Damakisa, probably failed to realize is that today the Oromo people
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

are more politically conscious than they were in the 1880s, when they lacked
an educated class and political awareness. According to Paul Baxter:

For most Oromo their nationality had become 'a powerful

source of personal identity'. The Oromo demonstrated all
the components that are considered to be essential for a
nationality: an active and developing 'common public
culture', articulate intellectuals, a common language, a
history, a set of myths & symbols which denote their
cultural distinctiveness, martyrs, heroes, lively political and
cultural organizations and the maturity to recognize
existence and importance of localized cultural variations
(Baxter 1998: 53).

Today, the old strategy of dividing and turning the Oromo against
each other is fully exposed and cannot be expected to be as effective as it
once was, for the simple reason that the Oromo have become aware of the
instruments by which they were subjugated and have the presence of mind
and commitment of spirit to confront these strategies when they are
employed by the TPLF regime. Those who think that they can perpetuate
the hoax again and again and that the victims of the hoax are incapable of
learning from their history are very much mistaken. The failure of the
OPDO to win the hearts and minds of the Oromo should disarm the TPLF
leaders of any such illusion they might entertain.
The TPLF leaders are not the first ruling elite to establish an
autocracy in Ethiopia. Since the creation of the modern Ethiopian Empire
during and after the 1880s, successive Ethiopian ruling elites have failed to
produce a single government that treated its subjects with respect as citizens
(Hagos 1995:vii). In over a century, Ethiopian ruling elites distinguished
themselves by impoverishing their country and oppressing their subjects.
"The Ethiopian elite is one of the least democratically-minded interest
groups inside or outside of Ethiopia; it does not respect nor have faith in the
abilities of ordinary Ethiopians to make wise political decisions" (Hagos
1995: 48). The elites proved incapable of devising a system that would
better the lot of Ethiopian peoples. "1 know of no society in Africa where the
dignity and humanity of individuals have been so thoroughly squashed or

obliterated to the same extent as is the case with Ethiopian peasants and
poor, uneducated men, women and children" (Hagos 1995: 4).
Of all the Ethiopian ruling elites, it is the TPLF leaders who staked
their claim to legitimacy on their ability to facilitate the transition to
democracy and commitment to the establishment of a democratic federal
system in Ethiopia. So the early period ofthe TPLF rule started with a fine
promise of democracy. However, within a year it quickly lost its way through
the arrogance of power (Hassen 1999A: 249). What went wrong? Several
answers could be given, but four are crucial. First, it is the TPLF leaders'
failure to realize that the measure of a democratic government is the extent
to which it allows opposition groups to organize and contend for power.
Instead the TPLF regime prevented independent organizations from freely
organizing and contending for power since 1992. By so doing, the regime
deliberately marginalized and effectively suppressed independent
organizations, preventing them from emerging as political forces, which
was" an affront to the development of democracy in Ethiopia" (Hagos 1995:
85). Second, the TPLF leaders' failed to realize that democracy cannot be
established by destroying independent organizations. In fact, democracy
"cannot be imposed by force. Rather, it is based on largely voluntary
compliance with a set of rules of the political game" (Ottaway 1995: 235).
Third, it is the TPLF leaders' failure to realize that democracy as a form of
government, is responsive to the preferences of its citizens, which are
dependent on the following institutional guarantees:

Freedom to form and join organizations

freedom of expression
right to vote
eligibility for public office
right of political leaders to compete for
support [and]...for votes
alternative sources of information
free and fair elections
institutions for making government policies depend
on votes and other expressions of preference
(Sorenson 1993: 12).
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

These conditions "cover three main dimensions of political

democracy, namely competition, participation, and civil and political
liberties" (Sorenson 1993:12) none of which exist in the TPLF-dominated
Ethiopia. Fourth, it is the TPLF leaders' failure to realize that their version
of federalism is a new form of tyranny. The federal structures that have been
introduced by the TPLF do not function; they are essentially window
dressing. The efforts to introduce federal solutions have failed miserably.
This is because federalism cannot work if it is designed and imposed by the
leadership of a single party. The TPLF leaders not only lack legitimacy to
design and implement federalism in Ethiopia but also risk misapplication of
the concept of federalism itself (Hagos 1995: 27). In the name of
establishing a democratic federal republic of Ethiopia, the TPLF leadership
appointed the Constitution Drafting Commission, which was "simply the
alter ego of the ruling Power" (Hagos 1995: 34). The constitution that was
ratified in December 1994 was "solely designed to keep in power the current
leaders through an indirect voting system of a primitive parliamentary
election process" (Hagos 1995: 39).
The drafting of the TPLF constitution and its ratification was
"boycotted by all opposition political groups rendering the entire... exercise
meaningless" (Hagos 1995:38). It was a Constitution single-handedly
produced by the TPLF and the organizations it created and controls. All
Oromo and non-Oromo independent organizations, which represent the
overwhelming majority of the population of Ethiopia, were not party to the
drafting of this Constitution, which lost legitimacy before it was even
ratified. According to Ottaway: "a constitution drafted only by the parties
allied with the government, while opposition movements remain outside the
process, cannot lead to democracy .... Unless the great majority of
organizations participate in the process and accept the results, adopting a
constitution and holding elections will remain a useless exercise" (Ottawaya
1993: 4).
The constitutional drafting exercise was meant to perpetuate the
TPLF power structure permanently. Like all the previous Ethiopian
constitutions the TPLF one will last only as long as the TPLF leadership is
in power. "The most striking feature of the Constitution is... the absence of
separation of power and minimal checks and balances between the

legislative, the executive and the judiciary" (Hagos 1995: 47). The whole
exercise of Constitution drafting, election, and ratification was designed:
"For the sole purpose of legitimizing the predetermined ascendance of Meles
Zenawi as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of government,
Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Commander-in-Chief of the
armed forces.... This means a single political organization could stay in
power for twenty-thirty years or even until the Second Coming" (Hagos
This means the TPLF leadership inadvertently proved that a
constitutional drafting exercise by itself cannot create a democratic
government or end authoritarian rule. This is because "a government that
cannot be voted out of office is not accountable, thus not democratic"
(Ottaway 1995: 248). The federal structures that were supposed to have
been established in Ethiopia in 1995, "are not federal in practice - the
structures mask a centralized concentration of power that stands in direct
contradiction to the federal principle" (Elazar 1987: 21). It has been said
and rightly that "the central interest of true federalism liberty" a genuine
federal government "must be grounded in a framework of maximum human
liberty" (Elazar 1987: 91). However, under the TPLF- dominated regime in
Ethiopia the only sort of liberty that exists is the liberty of the TPLF forces
to destroy the liberty of others.
Although the TPLF leaders talk loudly about their sham federalism,
they have failed to understand the core principles of federalism itself.
"Federal principles grow out of the idea that free people can freely enter into
lasting yet limited political associations to achieve common ends and protect
certain rights while preserving their respective integrities" (Elazar 1987: 33).
Today, the Oromo people are not free, and therefore cannot freely enter into
political associations to establish a democratic Federal Republic of Ethiopia.
To do that Oromia, must be decolonized and the Oromo people must achieve
their self-determination. Below I will address how this might be done. Only
a profound democratization will stop the process of the disintegration of
Democratization has become all the more indispensable for state
building and institutional sources of its legitimacy in Africa and the rest of
the world during the twenty-first century. Democratization means "a highly
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

complex process involving successive stages of transition, endurance and

consolidation. This process ultimately leads to both institutionalization and
consolidation of structures and conditions conducive to structural
transformation" (Monshipouri 1995: 16) and could change the Ethiopian
state from being dominated by the TPLF into the state of all its citizens.
Only such a profound transformation will reconstitute the Ethiopian state
into a legitimate sovereign authority, "[tlhe accepted source of identity and
the arena of politics, ...the decision-making center of government," (Zartman
1995: 5) and the institution that maintains law and order and enhances
societal cohesion.
How could such a process take place in Ethiopia in light of the
preceding accounts of TPLF hostility to it? It is difficult to answer this
question. In the TPLF-dominated Ethiopia, where the promotion of the
common good is lacking, it is naive to expect that such profound
transformation will take place in Ethiopia in the short-term. In the long-
term, a possibility may be created for such hansformation. I say this for two
simple reasons. First, it is in the long-term interest of the Tigrean population
to realize the danger ahead. "All Tigreans are now considered as agents and
beneficiaries of the present power structure than even the Amharas did in
their day. And the TPLF appears bent on implicating Tigrean society in its
conflicts within Ethiopian and with the peoples of neighboring states. A
similar situation to the one existing in Rwanda and Burundi seems to be in
the making" (Lata 1999: 216).
Second, the Tigrean society must realize that all governments have
limited life spans. This is the logic of history from which there is no escape
for the TPLF-dominated regime. However, the relation between the
Tigreans and the rest of the population of Ethiopia is for all time. This
means it is in the long-term interest of the Tigrean society to put pressure on
the TPLF leadership to change course. Third, I believe that if the oppressed
peoples of Ethiopia are united and determined they will be able to force the
TPLF leadership to change course. Be that as it may, what is certain for
Oromo nationalists is that until profound transformation takes place in
Ethiopia, the Ethiopian state will remain an alien imposition in Oromia, and
the new generation of Oromo nationalists will never feel loyalty to its
institutions. The sooner the TPLF leaders face this reality, the better it will
be for the future of all the peoples of Ethiopia including the Tigreans. Now

let me return to the discussion of the TPLF attack on the OLF from which
I digressed to show what went wrong with the democratization process in
Ethiopia since 1992.
With its abandonment of the encampment agreement, the TPLF
defeated the OLF army in 1992. Though the OLF was defeated militarily,
dismantled organizationally and disabled politically, the TPLF leaders have
tried and failed to eliminate the OLF. This is for two obvious reasons. First,
for the overwhelming majority of Oromos, the OLF is much more than an
organization, it is an idea that has captured the imagination of the Oromo
people. After a quarter century of shuggle, the OLF has earned the
leadership of the Oromo nation. The OLF is an idea and an organization that
stands for freedom, and human dignity for the Oromo nation. To me, all
independent Oromo organizations that are not controlled by the TPLF (such
as the OLF, the Islamic Front for Liberation of Oromia, IFLO, United
Oromo People's Liberation Front, UOPLF, the Oromo Abo Liberation Front,
OALF and others) are part ofthe great idea that unites the nation of Oromia
in the name and for the noble cause of freedom. Even if the TPLF leaders
manage to destroy the OLF as an organization, they will never be able to
destroy Oromo nationalism as an idea that is deeply planted in the hearts of
the freedom-loving Oromo nation. Secondly, the TPLF leaders have failed
to destroy the OLF simply because that organization grew out of Oromo
nationalism and has become its organizational expression (Jalata 1998: 11).
Today, the OLF and Oromo nationalism are inseparable. Oromo nationalism
grew out of shared common heritage and is also a response Ethiopian
As I have attempted to show in this article, as well as the previous
one, Ethiopian colonialism has proved itself to be efficient at hyo things --
destruction of life and property and the impoverishment of its victims. The
destruction which started during the second half of the nineteenth century
still continues. Ethiopian colonialism combines brutality with unique lack
of any redeeming social features. "The oppressive Ethiopian system robbed
the Oromo of their land, their history, their human dignity and in short, of
their past, present and future. It was the struggle against this colonialism
which gave birth to ... Oromo nationalism. As a collective sentiment ofthe
people who have been oppressed for [over] a century, Oromo nationalism
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000. Part 2

constitutes one of the progressive, revolutionary and democratic forces in

Ethiopia" (Hassen 1998: 21 5).
Since 1992 the TPLFEPRDF forces have been busy destroying the
military, organizational and political capacity of the OLF and other
independent Oromo organizations. Starting in 1997 the ruling TPLF has
declared war on Oromo nationalism itself. This was clearly expressed in
Hizbaawi Adera (Vol. 4 , No 7, December 1996 - February 1997). This
publication, "The People's Trust" is the official quarterly of the ruling party.
It is used to disseminate its policies to its party members for implementation
at the local levels of government. In this publication, the TPLF dominated-
regime has articulated its fear of "narrow nationalism," which it says is
stronger in Oromia than anywhere else in Ethiopia. The publication is
written in rather dated Marxist-Leninist terms which closely match the style
of the internal dialogue between the TPLF and the organizations it created
and still controls. References to intellectuals and businessmen in Oromia as
part of the problem permeate the document.
Higher echelon intellectuals and big business people (narrow
nationalists) have endangered the process of peace, democracy,
development, and the interests ofthe masses in Oromia. Unfortunately, these
individuals have not been isolated and exposed as much as required ....So it
is necessary to crush narrow nationalism before it has a chance to gather
momentum at a counhy level (emphasis added, not in the original, Hizbaawi
Adera, 9). Narrow nationalism is a code name for Oromo nationalism. In
order to destroy Oromo nationalism, TPLF's position is that it is necessary
to isolate, expose and crush Oromo intellectuals and wealth merchants, who
are accused of nurturing it. In short, Hizbaawi Adera: "[Alrgnes that only
by eliminating the Oromo educated elite and capitalist class will the Oromo
people be freed from narrow nationalism. Recent murders and
disappearances of Oromo and the detention of members of the
MatchaTulama Association and the Human Rights League are part of the
implementation of policies put forward in this document" (Truman 1998: 6).
Just as the former brutal Dergue regime singled out for destruction
Oromo nationalist elements, the TPLF-dominated regime is doing its level
best to eliminate the brightest and the best elements of Oromo society. Such
a policy is not only abdicating proper governmental responsibility for its
citizens but also will have an incalculable impact on the human rights

situation in Ethiopia. If the TPLF leaders have any concern for the future
relationship between the Oromo and the Tigreans, they have to abandon the
policy put forward in Hizbaawi Adera.
In his four-part criticism ofHizbaawi Adera, which appeared in the
Urji newspaper, Moti ~iyya," powerfully argued against the attack on
Oromo nationalism.

Who are narrow nationalists? Those who rule by force of

arms? Those who plunder others property? Those who
imprison, torture and kill for the purpose of consolidating
their ethnic hegemony? The real narrow nationalists are the
TPLF leaders, who believe that they deserve to rule, they
are entitled to rule, they have the right to rule and others
have obligation to be ruled. Those who combine capitalist
greed with Stalinist cruelty, Machiavellian intrigue with
Marx's sharp tongue, American diplomacy with Emperor
Yohannes's desire for revenge are appearing in their true
color. In the past they hid their true plan behind the facade
of democracy. They no longer need to hide their plan for
the future of Ethiopia and especially for the Oromo. They
are speaking loud and clear about their plan for destroying
Oromo intellectuals and rich merchants. The planned
destruction will be undertaken in the name of building
capitalism. Such an experiment has never been tried
before. Capitalism cannot be built by destroying those who
have skills, knowledge and capital, unless it is Albanian
style capitalism, which is another name for backward, crude
and anachronistic communism. Those whose ideological
development was shaped by Albanian communism have not
yet abandoned it (Biyya, in Urji, 7/16, 7/22, 7/29, 815,

In some ways the TPLF regime is becoming like the previous

military regime. As the military regime did, the TPLF regime is using
communist tactics of destroying rival organizations. The military established
Colonial Consolida~ion& Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE), in whose name it legalized its

dictatorship. For Tecola Hagos, The TPLF "... is not much different from
W P E as its "goal is neither democratic nor inclusive" (Hagos 1999:29).
While the leaders of the military regime claimed to have been avowed
communists, TPLF leaders have claimed to have dissolved the Marxist-
Leninist League of Tigray and abandoned their Albanian style communism
in favor of "democracy". However, according to Tecola Hagos, they are not
only an "opportunistic predatory group," but also "...authoritarian and closet
communists" who have "recreated past nightmares of the Mengistu era by
making all rural land to be state owned, where farmers and others have only
user rights" (Hagos 1995: 197 and 219). The TPLF version of boardroom
democracy is nothing but autocracy. This is because the TPLF leaders" ...
have no democratic tradition, since each of them grew up and matured in
despotic and often oppressive social circumstance, even worse some grew
up in feudal households" (Hagos 1995: 234). It is these leaders, who in the
name of "democracy" have been systematically destroying all independent
Oromo organizations.
From this perspective the attack on an independent Oromo
organization that does not receive its marching orders from the
TPLFEPRDF is not only an attack on Oromo nationalism but also a clear
assault on the right of the Oromo people to have their own independent
organizations. The attempt to destroy the OLF is a cruel revenge of history.
The TPLF, which attempted and failed to bring the OLF under its wing
from 1984 to 1990, is now using the cover of the EPRDF and the
governmental resources at its disposal to militarily destroy the organization
that has the support of the overwhelming majority of the Oromo. The
attempt to destroy the OLF angers not only the Oromo but all who have
concern for the future of democracy in that country. The attack on an
independent organization is the greatest setback to the hopes and ideals of
peaceful democratic change in Ethiopia since the overthrow of the military
dictatorship in May 1991. Democracy cannot be built by militarily
destroying an organization that expresses the profound aspirations of a given
national group. Trust cannot be built between the rulers and the people,
whose leadership is destroyed, whose property is confiscated, and who are
treated as if they were under foreign military occupation (Hassen 1999A:
25 1).

In many ways the TPLF policy towards independent Oromo

organizations is no different from the policy of the previous military regime.
As the military regime destroyed all independent Oromo leadership, the
TPLF, which claims to be the single leadership ofthe people of Tigray, has
been systematically destroying all independent Oromo leadership. This is
because an independent Oromo leadership is an obstacle for the control of
the resources of Oromia. The objectives of the TPLF leaders in Oromia
could be summed up in two phases: the first is the control of the resources
of Oromia in the name of democracy which recognizes only one relationship,
that of domination and exploitation, and only one argument, that of force.
The second is the attempt to eliminate militarily all independent Oromo
leadership and organizations and to place the remnants under the cover of
Like the previous military regime, the TPLF is not only plundering
the resources of Oromia, but through the use of terror it has forced tens of
thousands of Oromo into refugee camps in the neighboring countries. Sadly,
TPLF agents assassinate Oromo refugees in Djibouti (Fossati et al., 1997:
4-52), Somalia, Kenya (OSG May-June 1997: 14), the Sudan and even
South Africa (OSG February, 2000: 1-3). With its victory over Eritrea, it
will not be a great surprise if the TPLF launches its own version of a
resettlement program behind the facade of rehabilitating famine victims from
the north. According to all available information, the TPLF is developing
Tigray at the expense of the rest of Ethiopia in general and Oromia in
particular. "The economy is being fused with the ruling party in a much
more partisan and obvious manner. TPLF-owned corporations are
increasingly taking control of the commanding heights of the country's
economy. The speedy development of Tigray region and the wealth of
individual Tigreans is perceived to be achieved at the expense of other
regions and members of other communities (Lata 1999: 224-25).
The TPLF leaders and its key members have transformed
themselves into a wealthy capitalist class. It is through corruption, bribes
and "embezzlement of public funds as an act of'liberating' enemy assets: the
spoils of war" that the TPLF leaders made themselves over-night
millionaires. It was with embezzled public money that Woizero Lemlem, the
wife of Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, was able to build an
Colonial Consolidation &Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

apartment complex in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) at an estimated cost of 200

million birr (Ethiopian Register February 2000: 2 -3).

It is now public knowledge that the TPLF leaders have

been systematically stealing the collective assets of the
Ethiopian people, accumulating personal wealth, hiding
money in foreign bank accounts, and creating companies.
All of the TPLF-owned companies have been created with
physical and financial resources plundered from the state-
owned enterprises and the various ministries. The TPLF
seized vehicles, machinery, and heavy equipment from the
Highway authority and the now defunct agency for the
construction of public housing to launch its construction
companies, Mesfin Industrial Engineering, Sur
Construction, and Messob Building and Construction. It
confiscated buses from Abnessa Bus Company, trucks and
other vehicles from the Ethiopian Diskibution Corporation
and the Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Commission
to establish its transport Company, Trans-Ethiopia. It
expropriated a building and broadcasting equipment
belonging to the Ministry of Information to start Radio
Fana. It looted the tractors and combines of the state farms
to set up Hiwot Agricultural Mechanization. It transferred
the financial assets of The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to
establish its own bank, Wegagen. The list is long.
Through these and other 'exemplary' acts of expropriation,
or rather theft, the regime has sanctioned theft of public
assets as morally unobjectionable (Ethiopian Register
2000: 2).

The TPLF leaders believe that if they control the security

machinery, the military establishment and the commanding height of the
Ethiopian economy, they will be able to remain in power indefinitely. It was
for this reason that the TPLF leaders transformed their organization "into a
business syndicate corrupting the economic life of a nation. Dressed in a

governmental mantel, it is canying out both economic and political havoc

in Ethiopia" (Hagos 1999: 149-150). As the examples of the Macha and
Tulama Association, the OLF and other independent Oromo organizations
indicate that too often the Oromo develop their own independent leadership
not to harm and dominate others but to run their own affairs and administer
themselves, only to see their aspirations shattered and their independent
leadership destroyed by those who have unquenchable thirst to dominate the
Oromo and control their resources(Hassen 1994: 105). The Oromo want, and
it is their right, to be their own masters and assume for themselves as they
have the right to do, the responsibility of their own existence and the
exercise of their power, without harming the rights and interests of others.
The TPLF assault on all independent organizations and its tight control of
Oromia brought to the Oromo the painful realization that the archaic
Ethiopian political culture has not changed at all. It is an oppressive political
culture in which the minority dictates the fate of the majority. Such brutal
politics and naked domination took place in South in the past as it has
continued up to now in Ethiopia. While South Africa transformed itself into
a democratic state, the TPLF has consolidated its domination of the
Ethiopian political landscape.

One Possible scenario for Decolonization of Oromia and Self-

determination of the Oromo

According to Hammed Tuso, in the past three decades,

governments, leaders, and their ideologies have changed three times in

The Ethiopian Empire has gone through earth-shaking

political changes three times in a span of about three
decades. During these decades three radically different
regimes have occupied the pinnacles of power, each one of
them dominated by a particular ethnic group, each
proclaiming radically variant ideologies all three promising
unity, social justice and economic development and
progress for all campaigning relentlessly for legitimacy
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000. Part 2

amongst the populace inside Ethiopia, as well a posturing

and soliciting for recognition and support from the outside
world (Tuso 1997: 343).

Despite change of regimes, the Oromo lack of power, their

exploitation, domination and subjugation remain constant. For the Oromo
the "Democratic Federal Republic of Ethiopia" is as oppressive as the
military regime's of "Socialist Ethiopia" and Haile Selassie's Imperial
Ethiopia. This means Ethiopia has failed to produce a single government
that did not destroy Oromo organizations, a single government that respected
the human and democratic rights of the Oromo, a single government that did
not divide and turn the Oromo against each other, a single government that
did not make the Oromo cannon fodder, while plundering their resources
and, above all, a single government that did not perpetuate the colonial status
quo in Oromia (Hassen 1997: 236).
As I tried to document in this article and the previous one, the
Oromo question is essentially a colonial one. One may quibble about the
distinguishing features of Ethiopian colonialism, but its victims know it for
what it is. It is an oppressive, crude, brutal and inherently corrupt system
that has condemned the Oromo to live in abject poverty. It is a system based
on violence and lack of human dignity. It is a system that is thoroughly
incapable of bettering the lot of the Oromo. No amount of brutality and
naked aggression by successive Ethiopian regimes will keep the Oromo
under this system permanently. Through their long resistance the Oromo
have demonstrated that they have decided to break out of long imprisonment
in colonial darkness and no force will keep them under this darkness
without hope. For more than a century, the Oromo have been and still are
subjected to powerlessness, tyranny, oppression and denial of all forms of
political expression. The Oromo have as much right to self-determination
and independence as other Africans who were colonized by European
To end their colonial experience, the Oromo have several options,
two of which are very crucial. The first is the establishment of an
independent republic of Oromia, separate from Ethiopia, while the second
is self-determination for Oromia within a democratic federal republic of
Ethiopia. Basing their argument on long and bitter Oromo colonial

experience, several scholars argue forcefully, that self-determination of the

Oromo requires the construction of a self-organized Oromia, independent
from Ethiopia, as a necessary part of decolonization. This is one possible
scenario for finding a lasting political solution to the Oromo quest for self-
determination. After all, it is for the cause of independent Oromia that tens
of thousands of Oromo nationals, men and women, young and old have
already lost their lives. It is for the same cause that tens of thousands of
Oromo nationals have been forced into refugee camps in neighboring
countries or scattered around the world. It is for the same cause that behveen
thirty to sixty thousand Oromo political prisoners suffer physical torture and
psychological abuses in the secret detention centers all over Oromia.
"Oromia shall be free" is a powerful slogan that has captured the imagination
of the Oromo. It is in the name of an independent Oromia that a number of
political organizations have mobilized the Oromo. From my readings of
current Oromo literature, participation in numerous Oromo conferences held
in North America, Europe and Africa and extensive discussion with Oromo
intellectuals and professionals, it appears to me that the option of
independent Oromia, separate from Ethiopia, resonates more with the new
generation of Oromo youth than the option of self-determination for Oromia
within Ethiopia. The option of independent Oromia, separate from Ethiopia,
will be realized only through military victory on the battlefield.

I believe that the conflict in Oromia should end not on the

battlefield but on the negotiating table. To me battlefield
victory deepens the wound of defeat and shame, thus
fueling future conflict, while resolution of conflict at a
negotiating table heals the old wounds and redresses the old
injustices .. . It is precisely for this reason that I maintain
that the decolonization of Oromia and self-determination of
the Oromo are compatible within a democratic federal
republic of Ethiopia. This is my personal position. I do not
represent the position of any organization. I know many of
my Oromo friends are opposed to my stand. I respect their
opinion. However, I have to express my position clearly,
openly, frankly and honestly on this crucial issue. I believe
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

only a genuine federal arrangement will save the peoples of

Ethiopia including the Oromo from vicious cycle of misery
and destruction. To me it is only a genuine federal
arrangement that will enable the Oromo, the Amhara, the
Sidama, the Somali, the Tigreans and other peoples of
Ethiopia to live in peace with each other instead of
destroying their future. The nations and nationalities that
constitute the peoples of Ethiopia are all conscious of their
identities and they are struggling to preserve their identities
and cultures. Of all the political systems that have been
invented by human ingenuity only "federalism has proved
useful in accommodating diversity" (Elazar 1987: 248).

Federalism is politically sound because of its compound features, that

is, because it establishes polities that are compounded from entities, which
maintain their respective integrities and thus work to preserve the liberties of
their citizens. More over, by providing for a constitutional diffusion of
power, federalism enables, 'ambition to counteract ambition' .... In short,
federalism is designed to prevent tyranny without preventing governance. In
this sense it seeks to provide a political remedy for political diseases (Elazar
1987: 29). In the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious country, the
ideology of Ethiopian ruling elites, which opposes diversity and embraces a
single nation state has proved failure. The accepted theory of the Ethiopian
state, which holds "sovereignty to be indivisible" and the state power to be
monopolized either by the Amhara or Tigrean elites has proved a failure. In
other situations such as the United States, Canada, Germany, India and
Nigeria (Everett 1997: 28- 148) Federalism has proved useful not only in
accommodating diversity, hut also in providing for power- sharing, creating
joint or cutting around the issue of sovereignty and strengthening "prior
organic ties where they exist" (Elazar 1987: 12).

Federalism in its most limited form is usually defined as

having to do with the distribution and sharing of power, but
even in that limited form there is an implicit commitment
to a conception of justice that holds, among other things,
that a distribution of power is necessary and desirable. On

the other hand, federalism in its broadest sense is presented

as a form of justice-emphasizing liberty and citizen
participation in governance, but one which is inevitably
linked to political reality because it must be concerned with
the distribution of powers. One of the primary attributes of
federalism is that it cannot, by its very nature, abandon the
concern for either power or justice but must consider both
in relationship to each other, thus forcing people to
consider the hard realities of political life while at the same
time maintaining their aspirations for the best policy (Elazar
1987: 84).

How could this ideal be implemented in the TPLF-dominated

Ethiopia? 1 cannot give an adequate answer to this important question. Let
me suggest four unsatisfactory points. First, if such a system is to be
established in Ethiopia, the TPLF leaders must change their attitude towards
federalism. "The second important change that the TPLF " leaders have "to
institute, to pave the way for peaceful political work" (Lata 1999: 230) is to
practice democracy within the organizations that they control. Third,
Western powers, especially the government of the United States, that has
supported the TPLF regime financially and politically, must realize that the
power structure in Ethiopia is unstable.

At present, this unstable power edifice is being propped up

by TPLF security and military machinery as well as by the
support and endorsement of foreign powers. These factor
are clearly inadequate to sustain the stability of the present
power structure. Thus, its sudden collapse appears very
likely. This should worry all those who are interested in
averting another round of tumultuous change in Ethiopia
(Lata 1999: 227).

Finally if the peoples of Ethiopia, including the Oromo, are to avoid

the tragedies of Somalia, Rwanda, the "Democratic Republic of Congo",
Liberia, Sierra Leone, and several African states that have already collapsed
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

or collapsing, they have to establish a federal system grounded in maximum

human liberty. Such a system facilitates citizens participation in governance
and above all enables them "(1) to institute workable political arrangements,
(2) to create a workable polity, (3) to establish a just polity, and (4) to achieve
a just moral order" (Elazar 1987: 104). Only a workable federal arrangement
allows people to achieve all these and much more (Everett 1997: 4-9).

In essence, a federal arrangement is one of partnership,

established and regulated by a covenant [consent], whose
internal relationships reflect the special kind of sharing that
must prevail among partners, based on a mutual recognition
of the integrity of each partner and the attempt to foster a
special unity among them. Federal principles are concerned
with the combination of self-rule and shared rule. In the
broadest sense, federalism involves the linking of
individuals, groups, and polities in lasting but limited union
in such a way as to provide for the energetic pursuit of
common ends while maintaining the respective integrities
of all parties. As a political principle, federalism has to do
with constitutional diffusion of power so that the
constituting elements in a federal arrangement share in the
processes of common policy making and administration by
right, while the activities of the common government are
conducted in such a way as to maintain their respective
integrities. Federal systems do this by constitutionally
distributing power among general and constituent
governing bodies in a manner designed to protect the
existence and authority of all. In a federal system, basic
policies are made and implemented through negotiation in
some form so that all can share in the system's decision-
making and executing processes (Elazar 1987: 5-6).

The strength of federal arrangement is that it combines self-rule,

which satisfies the aspiration of the Ororno and other oppressed peoples of
Ethiopia, and shared rule, which takes into consideration the geography,
demography, culture, history, and above all, economic interdependence of

the peoples of Ethiopia. As the experience of the last five years

demonstrates, the TPLF federal arrangement does not work. This is what the
TPLF claims now exists in Ethiopia and says that the system works fine.
However, in reality the TPLF federalism does not work simply because it
was designed by the leadership of a single party and its partners, and above
all, the TPLF lacks legitimacy and support of the overwhelming majority of
the peoples of Ethiopia. The failure of the TPLF imposed federal
arrangement in Ethiopia does not reflect on federalism itself. It reflects only
on the TPLF leadership that aborted the democratization process in Ethiopia
and abused federal principles as discussed below. What is needed is to
eliminate TPLF abuses and create necessary conditions (to be mentioned
shortly) for implementation of federal principles. This could be done in two
ways. First, the realization that a federal arrangement works when it
designed by all the peoples of Ethiopia and their representatives and
implemented with their freely and democratically expressed consent for its
purpose and framework. The new federal arrangement will, in effect, be a
universally designed agreement for power sharing and to maintain a just
order "in such a way that all reaffirm their fundamental equality and retain
their basic rights" (Elazar 1987: 4).

Federalism involves a commitment to partnership and to

active cooperation on the part of individuals and
institutions that also take pride in preserving their own
respective integrities. Successful federal systems are
characterized not only by their constitutional arrangements
in the narrow sense of the word but by their permeation
with the spirit of federalism as manifested in sharing
through negotiation, mutual forbearance and self-restraint
in the pursuit of goals, and a consideration of the system as
well as the substantive consequences of one's acts (Elazar
1987: 154).

When and where will these conditions emerge? It is only after

decolonization of Oromia and democratization of Ethiopia that these
conditions will emerge. Spirit of federalism is absent from the Ethiopian
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

political culture, genuine power-sharing through negotiation is unknown

and, above all, forbearance and self-restraint on the part of the leadership in
the pursuit of goals is utterly lacking. It is only a decolonized Oromia, with
its democratically elected government and its own national guard and police
force that can enter into federal partnership with other states in Ethiopia. The
second is the realization that federal relationships are established only
through a written constitution endowed with legitimacy and based on
consent of the people. So far, Ethiopia has not produced a constitution
endowed with legitimacy based on the consent of the people. Like "every
political and economic idea that was tried by the Ethiopian governments
over the last fifty years did not solve Ethiopia's political and economic
problems" (Hagos 1995: 4) the four Ethiopian constitutions that were
produced since 1931 have failed to solve the question of power-sharing in
Ethiopia simply because none of the constitution was a genuine federal

First, the federal relationship must be established or

confirmed through a perpetual compact of union, ...
embodied in a written constitution that outlines, among
other things, the terms by which power is divided or shared
in the political system which can be altered only by
extraordinary procedures .... Juridically, federal
constitutions are distinctive in that they are not simply
compacts between the rulers and the ruled but involve the
people, the general government, and the polities
constituting the federal union. Moreover, the constituent
polities often retain constitution-making rights of their own
(Elazar 1987: 157).

In 1994 the TPLF drafted and ratified its constitution at the cost of
more than 50 million Ethiopian birr. That constitution failed to bring about
a democratic form of government and social change in Ethiopia because of
the absence of popular support for its drafting (Hassen, 1999, 153) and
because the TPLF itself disregards its own constitution with reckless

The Constitution crafted for and by the TPLF has many

short-comings, but one can live with many of these if one
condition is made possible: that the authorities which
granted this constitution to the Ethiopian peoples be the
first ones to start treating it with respect. Freedom of
assembly and of expression are guaranteed -on paper.
International humanitarian and human right conventions are
declared as part of the law of the land on paper. Hence,
torture, extra-judicial killing, disappearance, and unlawful
detention are proscribed on paper. But the regime,
according to local and foreign observers, has routinely
violated these same principles that it has written into its
constitution. It is extremely hypocritical for the regime to
insist that others accept its constitution as a precondition for
dialogue when it is the first to treat its own constitution
with total contempt (Lata 1999: 232).

Like Emperor Haile Selassie's constitutions of 1931 and 1955 and

the military regime's constitution of 1987, the TPLF constitution of 1994
will remain on paper. To have their own constitution is good politics and
useful propaganda for the TPLF leaders, but their failure to abide by it, is the
worst form of deception and hypocrisy. The TPLF leaders artfully drafted
their constitution. However, they conveniently forgot to realize the basic
principle of federal constitutions.

It is an even greater art to bring the constituency to endow

the constitution with legitimacy. Constitutional legitimacy
involves consent. It is certainly not a commitment that can
be coerced-however much people can be coerced into
obedience to a particular regime. Consensual legitimacy is
utterly necessary for a constitution to have real meaning
and to last. The very fact that, although rule can be
imposed by force, constitutions can exist as meaningful
instruments only by consent, means that constitutional
documents cannot be treated in the abstract, divorced from
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

the power systems of which they are a part and the political
cultures from which they grow and to which they must
respond (Elazar 1987: 164).

I know there is nothing in the Ethiopian political culture that

supports the establishment of a democratic federal system. Then how will it
be born? It is very difficult to give a simple and precise answer to this
question. Some of the points mentioned above, in combination with other
points to be mentioned below, may answer the question. Here, let me
continue with the rest of what 1 want to stress in this section. Ethiopia not
only lacks tolerant political culture, but has been cursed by a tradition of
misuse and abuse of power. If there is one thing that is constant in the
Ethiopian political culture, it is the abuse of power. The former military
regime not only abused power but also bequeathed to the TPLF leadership
the authoritarian inheritance of Ethiopian politics. Thus, the TPLF rule grew
out of tyranny and was grafted on to it. The authoritarian aspect of the
TPLF leaders was initially hidden from view, because they displayed
considerable capacity for producing promising rhetoric about democracy.
Ironically, it was in the name of democracy that the TPLF consolidated its
tyranny. "Tyranny is tyranny in whatever guise: Irrespective of the fact
whether it speaks the language of liberal democracy as long as its actions
demonstrate callous disregard of individual human rights, tyranny remains
the worst government structure" (Hagos 1999:36).
Since the creation ofthe modem Ethiopian empire, power was never
based on the will of the people; it was obtained through, and maintained by
force. Thus, the culture ofthe Ethiopian ruling elites, which grew out ofthe
conquest of the Oromo and other peoples of southern Ethiopia, emphasizes
hierarchy, authority, and centralization of power. " Since federal
arrangements rest upon the constitutional dispersion of power, they must
necessarily conflict" (Elazar 1987: 241) with the culture of the Ethiopian
ruling elites' that lacks a federalist orientation. To open Ethiopian ruling elite
culture "to the absorption of federal principles" and to establish a workable
federal arrangement in Ethiopia, Oromia must be decolonized and the
Oromo people granted self-determination.
My position on self-determination of the Oromo within a
democratic federal republic of Ethiopia will please neither Ethiopian elites,

who deny the Oromo colonial experience, nor Oromo nationalists, who will
not accept anything short of an independent Oromia, separate from Ethiopia.
From what has transpired thus far, there is nothing that gives hope that the
decolonization of Oromia and the self-determination of the Oromo will be
realized within a democratic federal republic of Ethiopia. Still as an optimist
who believes in the unity of free people in a free country, I have an undying
dream that one day the Oromo, the Amhara, the Sidama, the Somali, the
Tigreans and other peoples, will be able to establish a democratic federal
system( Hassen 1999A: 233). It is such a dream that encourages me to hope
that decolonization will free Oromia from colonial heritage and
democratization will transform Ethiopia into a free country owned by all its
Can such a dream be realized? It is not possible to predict future
developments in Ethiopia, but what is certain is that a discussion of history
in progress is by nature, a risky undertaking. This is because the present is
the emotionally charged psychological moment both for the Ethiopian elites
and Oromo nationalists. No matter how hard one tries to examine
dispassionately and with an open-mind the Oromo colonial experience and
how to end it, one tends to displease both the Ethiopian elites and Oromo
nationalists. On the one hand, Ethiopian nationalists deny the Oromo
colonial experience and they reduce it to the experience of national and
cultural domination. This is generated by the Ethiopian nationalists' fear that
if the Oromo colonial experience is acknowledged, it will lead to the
breakaway of Oromia from Ethiopia. Such prospects frighten and haunt
Ethiopian nationalists with the specter and nightmare of the disintegration
of Ethiopia. On the other hand, Oromo nationalists do not appear to have
seriously considered the consequences of the breakaway of Oromia from
Ethiopia for the future of the Oromo as well as other peoples of Ethiopia and
the Horn of Africa. 1 believe, what is needed is the decolonization of
Oromia through the devolution of real power to the Oromo. What will bring
this to happen? The withdrawal of the TPLF security, military and police
forces from, and the establishment of a democratically elected government
within Oromia. Monopolization of power by the TPLF leadership has
prevented genuine devolution of power in Oromia. At one level, what is
happening today in Oromia, is the shocking manifestation of the TPLF
Colonial Consolidarion & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

leaders inability to abandon the anachronistic goal of maintaining the

colonial status quo in Oromia. Either the TPLF leaders implement their
federal structures, which are on paper, or face the collective anger and
determination of the Oromo people.
For this to happen, first and foremost, all independent Oromo
organizations must form a united front to mobilize the human, material and
spiritual resources of Oromia and challenge the TPLF-dominated regime by
all means necessary. If all Oromo organizations are united for the purpose
of decolonizing Oromia within democratic Ethiopia, they will win support
for their cause and gain moral and material support from the international
community. More importantly, they will be able to make Oromia
ungovernable for the TPLF. Secondly, if the Westem powers, especially the
government of the United States, are serious to bring about democratic
change in Ethiopia, they must stop their financial and diplomatic support for
the TPLF- dominated regime in Ethiopia. Without such support, the TPLF
leaders will not be able to remain in power for a long time. Third, Oromo
organizations must be able to cooperate with other forces tbat are struggling
for the establishment of a genuine federal system in Ethiopia.
At this juncture let me state the reasons why I favor a democratic
federal system that guarantees a better future for all the peoples of Ethiopia.
First, I believe that the establishment of a truly federated Ethiopia can only
help to improve the position ofthe Oromo. The fact tbat they are the largest
nation in the country is likely to give them a much bigger role in the
government both at the local and federal level than was the case under the
TPLF- engineered sham federal system. Secondly, I sincerely believe in the
freedom, liberty, fraternity, and unity of free people in a free country.
Today, the Oromo are not free people as their country is under the TPLF
occupation. That is why I argue for the decolonization of Oromia. However,
in my mind the decolonization of Oromia is linked organically with the
freedom of other oppressed peoples of Ethiopia. This means the Oromo and
other oppressed peoples of Ethiopia must stand together against their
common oppressors. To me, without unity the future of the peoples of
Ethiopia will be bleak. It does not require a leap of imagination to state the
obvious. Before our own eyes the situation in many African countries,
including Ethiopia, is becoming "more precarious and the prospects for the
future bleaker by the minute" (Keller 1996: 17). Only those societies that

are able to pull together their human, intellectual, spiritual, scientific

knowledge and technical skills and material resources will be able to survive
in the twenty-first century. Several African countries that have been unable
to pull together their resources control and regulate societal conflicts, will
collapse within the next few years as five have already collapsed into
anarchy and chaos.
Thirdly, there are competing nationalisms in Ethiopia. "The danger
from competing nationalisms are real-endless war and its consequences,
disintegration into anarchy and chaos, collapse of the state and the death of
civil society" (Hassen 1999B: 11 1). Such disintegration is not in the interest
of any nation or nationality in Ethiopia or Oromoia. The Oromo and other
peoples of Ethiopia must figure out a system (as the people in South Africa,
India and other parts of the world did) that will enable them not only to tame
and overcome the danger of competing nationalisms, but also that will
establish mechanisms and institutions with which to manage and regulate
societal conflict. Such a system is federalism, which

[Hlas emerged as a major means of accommodating the

spreading desire of people to preserve or revive the
advantages of small societies with the growing necessity of
larger combinations to employ common resources or to
maintain or strengthen their cultural distinctiveness within
more extensive polities. Consequently, federal
arrangements have been widely applied, on one hand, to
integrate new polities while preserving legitimate internal
diversities and, on the other, to link established polities for
economic advantage and greater security (Elazar 1987:6).

Today the TPLF tyranny is the most formidable obstacle to the

decolonization of Oromia and self-determination of the Oromo. This is
because the history of the past nine years clearly demonstrates that the TPLF
does not allow the existence of even moderately independent Oromo
organizations. In fact, the TPLF leaders do not trust even the OPDO, their
own instrument for the control of Oromia. Whenever the OPDO begins to
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000. Part 2

take on a life of its own as an autonomous Oromo organization, the TPLF

terrorizes even top OPDO off~cials. In the words of Hassen Ali, the first
president of Oromia:

We were all in grave danger of being killed on account of

our political views and actions as members of the Oromo
people ....As a result many prominent Oromo intellectuals
left our organization. The TPLF leaders feared that the
OPDO was attracting Oromo intellectuals, which the TPLF
saw as a threat to their domination and control over the
Oromos, their land, and their political agendas.
Consequently TPLF, through their control over the EPRDF,
expelled hundreds of OPDO cadres and 20, 000 ordinary
members from our organization in November 1997....The
pretext ...that they were 'reactionary Oromo nationalists'.
Two hundred fifty of the prominent members of the OPDO
who were expelled...are still in detention (quoted in Sagale
Haaraa 1999 : 3).

The TPLF purges undermine OPDO's viability as an organization

and destroys its appeal to the Oromo. That is why the OPDO which has a
huge bureaucracy and governmental resources at its disposal has failed in ten
years to win the cooperation, much less the trust and confidence of the
Oromo whose interest they are supposed to serve within the ruling EPRDF
party. Winning the minds and the hearts of the people is very difficult for
the OPDO, simply because the Oromo know that it is a puppet organization.
It lacks autonomous existence, as it is tightly controlled by the TPLF. It is
said that the OPDO members have power to imprison Oromo nationals, but
they do not have the power to have them released or brought to justice.

Of all the components of the EPRDF it is the members of

the OPDO who are subjected to most humiliating kind of
ridicule. They are routinely held up as inept, corrupt and
responsible for human rights violations. This is a case of
blaming the axe of the chain saw for deforestation, and not

the hand that operates them. Members of TPLF surrogate

organizations were designed and unleashed to suppress
their own people. It is in discharging this duty that they
commit human rights violations and not necessarily for
some pathological reasons (Lata 1999: 213).

The TPLF even succeeded in elevating its anti-OLF and anti-Oromo

prejudice and propaganda to the plane of state ideology, which is uncritically
or dutifully repeated in the name of scholarship. For instance, John Young,
a well known supporter of the TPLF, claims that the Gambella People's
Democratic Movement (GPDM), which was formed in 1979 "appealed to
the OLF which operated in the region for support, but the Front made
assistance dependent upon the GPDM acknowledging their followers to be
'black Oromos', something the movement was not prepared to do" (Young
1999: 326). This is nothing but the TPLF's anti-OLF propaganda of 1993
projected back to the late 1970s. In the first place the notion of a People's
Democratic Movement was invented by the TPLF only in 1989. Secondly,
I visited the OLF operational zone in western Wallaga in 1984. While in the
field, and since then, I never heard the notion of "black Oromos," which
was invented only in the 1990s to create the impression that the OLF is a
racist organization. John Young also claims that when Benishangul People
Liberation Movement appealed to the OLF "but again its demand that the
people of Benishangul declare themselves 'black Oromos' was not
acceptable" (Young 1999: 327). John Young goes on to claim that local
respondents in Gumuz "told me that Oromos were taking slaves until 1993
and that students had to carry weapons to school to defend themselves"
(Young 1999: 336). However, John Young never mentioned by name a
single local respondent who told him this outrageous story. As if his anti-
OLF propaganda is not enough, John Young characterizes the OPDO as
"arguably the weakest government in the highlands" (Young 1999: 345) of
Ethiopia. John Young never bothered to ask himself, why Oromia, which
has the largest territory and population and the richest resources in Ethiopia,
has the weakest government.
By now the TPLF leaders must realize the following simple facts:
First, by tightly controlling the OPDO, they have discredited their own
Colonial Consolidarion & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

creation in the eyes ofthe Oromo. Second, OPDO will not be able to replace
the OLF. Third, the TPLF leaders must realize that the Oromo question is
a political one. It cannot be solved through military victory. With their
formidable military power, the TPLF leaders can temporarily delay the
decolonization of Oromia and the self-determination of the Oromo.
However, only those with considerable capacity for self-deception assume
that through battlefield victory they will permanently perpetuate the colonial
status quo in Oromia. Those who think so are incapable of learning from the
history of other colonized peoples in the world. If Oromia is not decolonized
peacefully,"the disintegration of the last empire on the African continent"
(Tuso, 1997, 364) is inevitable. Eight years of futile attempts to crush
Oromo yearning for self-determination should disabuse the TPLF leaders of
any such illusion that they might entertain. The Oromo question will be
solved only when the Oromo right to self-determination is respected.
Fourth, the TPLF regime suppressed independent Oromo
organizations including the Oromo Relief Association, a humanitarian
organization, which was closed down and its property confiscated without
due process of law. There are two disturbing developments in Oromia. The
first is the attack on all-private Oromo newspapers and magazines. These
papers fostered the development of tolerant political culture which Ethiopia
desperately needs. Their disappearance was a fatal blow to the
democratization process in Ethiopia. The goal of the suppression of
independent Oromo organizations and the death of small private Oromo
newspapers is to deprive the Oromo of any leadership and any voice in the
affairs of their own country. Thus, the TPLF claims that Oromia has already
achieved self-determination is a cruel and nasty joke upon the Oromo. What
is self-determination, if the twenty-eight million Oromo are not allowed to
support an organization of their own choice and have newspapers that
express their legitimate voice? Today in Oromia, as in Sidama and other
areas in southern Ethiopia, the people " ...are not only oppressed but also
handcuffed to move and mindcuffed to think and speak by a system that best
thrives in darkness and misinformation" (Hameso 1997: 39).
Secondly, the TPLF government has been terrorizing the Oromo.
In fact, I do not remember any time even during the seventeen years of the
previous military regime when Oromo refugees are hunted down in
neighboring countries with so much zeal as they are today.

On February 5, 1998, 105 Oromo nationals, who were

accused of supporting the OLF were detained in Addis
Ababa and taken to Adma [Nazareth] where they were
interrogated and intimidated. They had their photographs
and fingerprints taken and were forced to sign forms issued
by the special investigation Center at Mackelawi in Addis
Ababa. They were warned to be loyal to the government
parties, not to attend meetings of the Matcha-Tulama
Association and were even warned against singing Oromo
songs. They were told that they would be legitimate targets
for extrajudicial killing if they supported the OLF in the
future (OSG, Press Release, No. 23, 1998: 2).

When the Oromo are told not to sing their own songs, when they are
told not to participate even in the meetings of the peaceful Macha and
Tulama Association, when they are warned that they would be killed if they
support the organization that they regard as their true voice, the abuses that
the TPLF have inflicted on the Oromo are truly reaching neurotic
proportions. Under this circumstance, to claim that Oromia has already
achieved self-determination is the worst form of cynicism and the ultimate
insult to the Oromo. Fifth, today Ethiopia is a long way from the situation
of 1991 when the TPLF leadership promised the democratization of
Ethiopia. Once again Ethiopia lost a golden opportunity to peacefully
democratize itself through the ballot box. History of the past nine years
confirms that the TPLF leaders trust their military might rather than the
verdict of the ballot box about which they talk so loudly. It is sad to
conclude that the elections of 1992, 1994, 1995 and 2000 have not been the
dawn of a democratic beginning but only one more chapter in the
consolidation of a new form of tyranny.
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

Sixth, part ofthe reason why the TPLF leaders have little inclination
to allow the decolonization of Oromia and the self-determination of the
Oromo is because Oromo territories are among the richest in the Horn of
Africa. Oromia is the principal source of key commodities such as coffee,
hides and skins oil seeds, cereals, fruits, vegetable as well as mineral
resources such as gold. Nearly seventy percent of the revenues of the
Ethiopian government comes from Oromia. This means Oromia is the
economic backbone of Ethiopia and has the potential of becoming the
breadbasket of the Horn of Africa. Hence, controlling Oromia becomes
useful for developing Tigray and prolonging the TPLF hegemony over
Ethiopia. Seventh, the history and ideological background of the TPLF
leaders does not prepare them well for their new role as leaders in the
democratization process. Until 1991, the TPLF leadership, the core of the
EPRDF, was openly (and then secretly) a Marxist-Leninist group that relied
(still relies) heavily on the party's central decision-making structure.
Because of their deep commitment to totalitarian state power, the party
leaders cannot tolerate truly adversarial politics. Nevertheless, the TPLF
leadership is not so unwise as to think that they alone can plan and shape the
destiny of over sixty million people. Only by collaborating with Oromo and
non-Oromo political organizations can they restore confidence in the
democratization process in Ethiopia.
Eighth, after it completed its transition from a guerrilla force to a
"civilian" government, the TPLF faced the problem of its entrenched military
background. Old habits die hard. When complex political problems arose,
the tendency of the TPLF leadership was to resort to military solutions.
When the Oromo, the Sidama, Somalis and other peoples of Ethiopia rose
to their feet and claimed what was legitimately theirs, political friction
surfaced for which there was no simple and efficient solution, the TPLF
tendency has been to find a military quick fix. Ninth, the TPLF leadership
must be forced to change direction from dependence on bullets for
governance to the use of the ballot box for self government in Oromia, at the
very minimum, instituting a new internationally supervised free and fair
election and establishing an administration based on that electoral process.
Only determined joint action of all Oromo organizations and the unity of the
Oromo and other oppressed peoples of Ethiopia will force the TPLF
leadership to change course. Non-interference in the internal affairs of

Oromia, respect for the capacity of the Oromo to run their administration,
negotiation with democratically elected leaders and respect for the rule of
law will be the necessary steps for the decolonization of Oromia and the self-
determination of the Oromo.
Tenth, righting the wrongs inflicted on the Oromo by the TPLF
dominated regime will be the first challenge facing the government of
autonomous Oromia. The basis of that autonomy should be the withdrawal
of TPLF security forces from Oromia. For the Oromo to be their own
masters in their own state, Oromia must have its own freely elected
assembly, autonomous government, independent judiciary, police force and
national guard. In short, Oromia must be as autonomous as Tigray itself.
That is the prerequisite for decolonization of Oromia, the self-determination
of the Oromo and the realization of the ideal of equality among the states
that constitute the Democratic Federal Republic of Ethiopia.
The prospect for a democratic Ethiopia will be greatly enhanced if
the Oromo and other oppressed peoples of Ethiopia are united in their
opposition to the TPLF-dominated regime. At the same time if the Western
powers, especially the Government of the United States, want to give a
chance for a new democratization process in Ethiopia, they must stop
financing tyranny in Ethiopia. Instead, they must support those who are
struggling to end that tyranny. Such support will enhance the process of
democratization in Ethiopia and create an environment of free expression,
tolerance of a diversity of cultures and opinions, respect for the dignity ofthe
human person, and, above all, the supremacy of the rule of law. Finally, let
me end this long article on an optimistic point that I stated in 1996. I
sincerely believe that in a truly democratic federated Ethiopia, the Oromo
will lose nothing but they will have a great deal to gain. What is needed is
to decolonize Oromia and democratize Ethiopia. 1 consider that the
decolonization of Oromia is fundamental to the self-determination of the
Oromo and one cannot be achieved without the other. In short, the
decolonization of Oromia will ensure self-determination for the Oromo,
while democratization will create a necessary political climate in the country
in which conflict will be resolved through dialogue, genuine searches for
mutual benefit characterized by the spirit of tolerance, consensus and
compromise. The creation of a self-governing Oromo state is a necessary
Colonial Consolidation & Resistance 1935-2000, Part 2

condition for the establishment of a federated democratic Ethiopia. Because

of their numbers, geographical position, and rich natural resources in
Oromia, the Oromo are destined to play an important role in the future of
Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Consequently, Ethiopians should make an
earnest effort to understand the reasons for, and come to terms with, the
Oromo quest for self-determination.

I. Mohammed Hassen, "A Short History of Oromo Colonial Experience
1870s-1990s: Part One, 1870s to 1935" Journal of Oromo Studies,
Volume 6, Numbers 1 & 2, (July 1999): 109-158.
2. Galla was an Amhara name for the Oromo. It is a term of insult and abuse.
The Oromo do not call themselves Galla and they resist being so called.

3. In this section I have drawn heavily on Dr. Mekuria Bulcha, whose

scholarly work has expanded and enriched our knowledge of the Oromo
4. 1 am indebted to my friend Taha Ali Abdi for providing me with
information about Mohammed Jilo's rebellion.

5. In this section I have drawn heavily on my " The Macha-Tulama

Association and the Development of Oromo Nationalism" Oromo
Nationalism and the Ethiopian Discourse The Search for Freedom &
Democracy, ed. by Asafa Jalata, (Lawenceville, NJ: The Red Sea Press,
1998): 183- 221, and my "Review Essay: Gezetena Gezot, Matcha And
Tulama SeFHelp Association by Olana Zoga," The Journal of Oromo
Studies, Volume 4 , Numbers 1 & 2, (July 1997): 203-238.

6. 1 am indebted to the late Ahmad Buna, who provided me with a lot of

information about the Macha-Tulama Association and the OLF. I
conducted an interview with him on March 67,1984 in Khartoum, Sudan.

Until 1974, more than eighty percent of extensive land owners in Oromia
were Amhara landlords.
Respected human rights organizations such as Amnesty International,
Human Rights WatchIAfrica, The Committee to Protect Journalists, The
International Commission of Jurors, Oromia Support Group, The Human
Rights League, and The Ethiopian Human Rights Council, and The
European Parliament, all stress that human rights violations are increasing
in Ethiopia.

I am indebted to Professor Asmarom Legesse for his comments and

suggestions, which I have included in this section of the paper.
Moti Biyya was detained in September 1997 and kept illegally in detention
until April 2000. According to the latest information Moti Biyya has
managed to escape from another attempt to detain him. He now lives
safely outside Ethiopia, the prison house of the Oromo nation.


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and Realities, eds., Kidane Mengisteab and Cyrie Daddieh, West
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& Democracy, ed. Asafa Jalata, Lawrenceville, NI: The Red Sea
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Narrative and Purpose. It is time for Oromo intellectuals,

religious and community leaders, businessmen, artists, and activists to
come together to critically look at the causes of our society's continued
suffering, to assess the impact on our own behavior and performance,
and honestly evaluate ourselves so that we can correctly identify
problems that hinder our progress toward finding and generating a clear
articulation of Oromo nationalism. If we honestly and courageously
recognize our strengths and weaknesses -- as individuals, groups,
organizations, and society -- and build on our strengths while reducing or
eliminating our weaknesses, we can emerge victorious from the cultural,
ideological, and political nightmares we are facing as a nation at the
beginning of the twenty-first century; without correctly identifying our
real problems, we cannot find correct solutions.
In Oromia, our people have been living under darkness and
political slavery since the last decades of the nineteenth century, and they
continue to be denied the freedom of assembly, association, organization,
the press, and expression. The only avenue Oromos have in their own
homeland is an underground movement that has been frustrated because
of Ethiopian state terrorism and political repression and the lack of
support from neighboring countries and international powers.
In the diaspora Oromo community, we are free to communicate
and to act together, but several obstacles prevent us from doing so. The
obstacles, which stem from the legacy of Ethiopian political slavery and
culture, include a lack of political and diplomatic experience, lack of
clear understanding of the complexity of the modern world system and
the intensity of danger that is facing the Oromo nation, and lack of
experience with the international community. More important, however,
the absence of a national forum for a constructive national dialogue to
establish a common denominator through consensus and democracy has
made most Oromo political and civic groups less effective.
Therefore, the main objective of this forum is to bring together
from the Oromo diaspora as a diverse group as possible to address

Journal of Oronro Studies, Volume 7 , Number 1 & 2, July 2000, pp. 199-202
central issues facing Oromos who seek national liberation and
democracy, to activate and mobilize them and to challenge them to
come forward in an independent setting to put their intellectual
resources at the service of the nation in a systematic fashion. This
dialogue is intended to initiate the first step that sets a stage to gradually
bring together all Oromo nationalists, democrats, and activists to design
and implement activities and policies that reflect mutual understanding.
Of course, these activities and policies also define how to live with
Oromo neighbors and others who would like to cooperate and live with
Oromos based on commonly agreed principles. This steps can help to
move beyond nationalism and formulate a political framework that can
assist in establishing a genuine multicultural democracy in Oromia and
the region.
Central Points. How can Oromos and their formal and informal
leaders establish a common denominator that brings them together, and
enables them to mobilize Oromo cultural, intellectual, and material
resources to consolidate Oromo nationalism into a united movement, and
decisively confront their enemies on multiple levels? To answer this
question, Oromo intellectuals, activists, opinion makers, and various
formal and informal leaders need to critically assess their own behavior
and performance and the internal conditions of Oromo society both in the
diaspora and Oromia.
We propose the following central questions that should be
addressed: 1) How do the strengths and weaknesses of every Oromo,
group, civic and political organizations, and society affect the Oromo
national struggle? 2) What are the global opportunities and obstacles for
the struggle of the Oromo for democracy and liberation? 3)What sort of
infrastructure would the Oromo movement need to develop in order to
achieve Oromian liberation and democracy? 4) What would be the role
of the Oromo diaspora in this?
Requirements and Procedures. The meeting is conceived as a
three-day seminar for which participants will prepare about a ten page
(double-spaced) paper each to directly address several posted questions
central to the current Oromo national dilemma. This paper can be
written in Afaan Oromoo or in English. Any Oromo who is willing to
submit a complete paper that answers the challenging questions put
Callfor Papers
forward will be welcome to do so. Those who are willing to take the
challenge must be quite thorough and critical, answering all questions;
they also need to spell out the process they envision for the Oromo
movement by directly tackling the following additional questions: 1)
What do you propose should be done to achieve Oromian liberation? 2)
What would Oromos need to do to accomplish your proposal? 3) How
could they organize themselves to effectively implement it? 4) How
would the new global conditions affect the Oromo ability to achieve
what you propose? 5) What has prevented the Oromo in the past from
canying out what you propose? 6) Why have the Oromo and their
organizations not acted in a unified fashion in their own behalf to achieve
national liberation and democracy?
Those individuals responding to the invitation to this national
dialogue would be required to send in their manuscripts before October
30, 2000, in order to be considered since only 20 of the papers will be
selected. The criteria for selection of the papers are quality, originality,
and representativeness of ideas to ensure excellence and diversity by
incorporating the papers of persons from as many of the religious,
regional, gender, age, and political sectors of Oromo society as possible.
An ad hoc committee of five members will decide which papers qualify.
This ad hoc committee will also facilitate the first meeting of this
national forum until the participants develop a new mechanism that will
guide the process in the forum.
At the meeting, those individuals whose papers are selected
would be given 20 minutes to present their ideas. The presentations of
the papers will take an entire day (nearly eight hours). As the papers are
presented, a consensus and debate will undoubtedly start to emerge. The
remaining time will be spent addressing points of consensus,
disagreement, and framing proposals that will be issued in a document
that may be called a kayyo paper, depending upon the results. Two
reporters will be needed to follow closely and record the points
presented, note similarities and differences among the ideas, and
formulate the proposals and the draft of the final document. The ad hoc
committee will select these persons before the meeting since it is
important that this task begin at the opening session and continue
throughout the seminar.
Expected Result. We expect that the intellectual work done at
this meeting will result in producing a publicly-distributed paper, a
manifesto, that is, a statement of commonly-agreed positions, points of
difference and suggestions or recommendations for what should be the
next specific steps taken through a mechanism that will be established by
the participants and that will move events toward Oromian freedom and
democracy. This paper would be issued publicly through channels that
would be decided upon by the participants. All Oromo individuals and
organizations would be then invited to continue the national dialogue to
amend or improve, endorse and sign this kayyo paper. The proceedings
of the meeting may be published and distributed.
Place and Time. The meeting will be held in the University
Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from December 15 to
17,2000. The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m.
To be inclusive and diverse we would like to invite prominent
Oromo individuals from Europe, Africa, and North America who may
not able to pay their expenses. Due to financial constraints, however, we
may be forced to limit participation to persons in North America. The
publication of the kayyo and the proceedings of the meeting will require
some money. Therefore, we are seeking funding from individuals and
institutions to cover costs of travel, hotel, food and publication.
Acknowledgment will be made in the final report. Anyone willing to
participate in the forum, contribute, sponsor or support this effort
financially should contact Dr. Asafa Jalata by the following address:
Department of Sociology, 901McClung Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-
7027; (865) 974 7027; (865) 974 7013 (Fax); e-mail:

The Ethiopian State at the Cross Roads: Decolonization and

Democratization or Disintegration? by Leenco Lata (Lawrenceville, NJ:
The Red Sea Press, 1999), 270 pp. $2 1.95.

In the past several years, I have read a number of books and

numerous articles on what happened in Ethiopia during the transitional
period from 1991 to 1995. None captured the expectation that was raised in
1991 for the democratization of Ethiopia and catalogued how that hope was
shattered within a year as The Ethiopian State at the Cross Roads:
Decolonization and Democratization or Disintegration?, by Leenco Lata.
This is a timely historical account of a very dramatic period in the modem
history of the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia, the period ushered in
by the sudden collapse of the Ethiopian state,' followed by a brief period of
flowering of Oromo nationalism, and that culminated in the consolidation
of TPLF tyranng in Ethiopia and unmitigated attacks on all independent
Oromo organizations and Oromo nationalism itself. It is timely because the
book systematically documents what went wrong with the democratization
process in Ethiopia between 1991 and 1995, and graphically depicts how
with the full knowledge, financial and political support of the United States
government and Western powers, the TPLF-dominated regime aborted the
democratization process, and embarked on massive violations of human
rights, and established sham Federalism in Ethiopia.
Leenco Lata, the author of the book under review, is a chemical
engineer by training and a politician by circumstance, whose commitment
to the cause of Oromo self determination and that of all the oppressed
peoples of Ethiopia is forcefully expressed in this book. He is one of the
most articulate Oromo politicians, who has excellent command of both oral
and written Oromo, English and Amharic languages. He is a very
perceptive man, a quick thinker and a fast learner. Most of all, he is an
intellectual and a productive politician (a rare quality of OLF leadership).
Of all the OLF leaders that I have known for over two decades, it is only
Leenco Lata, Dr. Taddesse Eba, Taha Ali Abdi and Dima Nago, who have
done some writings in the 1970s and 1980s. It is hoped that other OLF

Journal of OromoSludies, Volume 7, Number I & 2, July 2000, pp. 203-218

leaders will follow Leenco's example and write about their experience in
the Oromo National Liberation struggle.
Leenco Lata was one of the founders of the Oromo Liberation
Front (OLF) in 1974 and spent at least half of his life in the Oromo
National liberation struggle. As the former Deputy General Secretary of the
OLF, I know of no other Oromo politician who played such a pivotal role
in the dramatic developments of 1991 and 1992 in Oromia and Ethiopia. He
was involved in the drafting of the Charter that was supposed to be the
supreme law of Ethiopia during the transitional period. During the run up to
the 1992 regional and district elections, husking American assurance and
EPLF promise (under Leenco Lata's leadership), the OLF entered into risky
undertakings with the TPLF, whose combined result was the rapid
destruction of OLF military and political capacity. "That exercise
permanently damaged the image of the leading personalities who were
involved in its implementation".3 I know no other OLF leaders, whose
image was damaged for the events of 1992 as Leenco Lata's. Many Oromo
for the OLF debacle of 1992 condemned him. Anyone who reads carefully,
The Ethiopian State at the Cross Roads: Decolonization and
Democratization or Disintegration? clearly understands that it is not fair to
condemn Leenco Lata as an individual and even the OLF as an organization
for what went wrong in 1992. This is because in 1992, the ~ L was F
operating under two powerful and growing pressures to dismantle its
military capacity. In the first place, the US government saw the TPLF as a
stabilizing force in Ethiopia. This means the TPLF enjoyed the political and
financial support of the US-led Western governments. The TPLF had also
military support from Erihea. Secondly, the OLF lacked weapons and
foreign support, the two nemesis of the Oromo Liberation struggle. Without
weapons and powerful international friends, the forces of destruction were
too powerful for the OLF in 1992. However, one may fault the OLF
leadership for its blunders of 1991 and 1992, two of which were very
serious indeed.
First, the OLF leaders inadvertently fell into a legal hap when they
accepted the TPLF troops as Ethiopia's interim defense force. The TPLF
used that legal cover to disarm 'other groups' "while arrogating to itself the
exclusive right to employ armed means to impose its will" (p. 75) on others.
Secondly, "the OLF came up with the idea of garrisoning troops and of
Book Reviews

creating quasi-neutral administration in the run up to the district and

regional elections . . . . [Tlhis initiative was effectively foiled by the TPLF,
with the tacit 'understanding of the US.government that brokered that
agreement to implement it. . . . The TPLF used the opportunity afforded by
the garrisoning agreement to turn a proposal to bring about a mutual
demilitarization of the political process into a unilateral one" (p. 75).
According to Leenco Lata, the U S . government not only brokered
an agreement between the TPLF and the OLF for garrisoning of troops, but
also sent observers to witness the June 1992 regional and district elections.
"The OLF hoped that the U S . mediation would have repercussions on any
party that would renege on the bilateral agreement. And all participants in
the elections expected some form of international reaction if the observers
found the election not sufficiently fair and free. In the event, the TPLF
reneged on the US. mediated agreement with the OLF without any public
disapproval by the mediator" (p. 135).
Through calculated harassment, the TPLF forced the OLF to
withdraw from the 1992 election that was neither free nor fair. Instead of
pressuring the TPLF to put the democratization process on course, the
US.-led Western governments rewarded the TPLF regime by giving it "the
largest amount of economic assistance ever provided to an Ethiopian
government . . . . This went beyond tolerating TPLF reneging on its
democratization promise and bilateral agreements and served as a clear
signal of outright approval. One more nail was driven in the coffin of the
democratization pact "(p. 136). With such support and approval, the
TPLF aborted the democratization process, rapidly destroyed the military
and political capacity of the OLF and consolidated its occupation of
Oromia. In this the TPLF was helped by the EPLF in 1992. It is one of the
ironies of history of the Horn of Africa that the EPLF, that supported the
TPLF against the OLF in 1992, was itself defeated and humiliated by the
TPLF in MayIJune of 2000. It was Karl Marx who once wrote something
like, when history repeats itself the first time, it is a tragedy, and when it
repeats itself a second time, it is a farce. The conflict between the TPLF and
EPLF, which is briefly mentioned here and there in the book under review
is both a tragedy and a farce at the same time. A tragedy, because many
EPLF members participated in the formation of the TPLF in 1975. For over
a decade the EPLF had considerable influence on the growth of the TPLF.
"It trained thousands of TPLF troops. It continued to give technical and
military support even at a time when relations between the two fronts were
strained . . . . In addition, the TPLF was able to, and actually did, copy all
the knowledge and experience accumulated by the EPLF" (pp. 82-83). It
was with the EPLF military and technical support that the TPLF was able to
destroy OLF's military and political capacity in 1992. The episode was a
farce because it was the control of Oromo resources that enabled the TPLF
to administer the most humiliating and devastating defeat the EPLF has
suffered since 1978. The TPLF victory destroyed the invincibility of the
EPLF military machine and established the myth of TPLF
invincibility."Has the TPLF not defeated the superior forces of EDU an
EPRP while it was still in its infancy? Did it not go on to cow Black
Africa's largest and best-equipped armed force? Has it not succeeded in
subduing the larger and apparently more sophisticated Amhara elite? Has it
not contained resistance by the country's largest ethnic group, the Oromo?"
Leenco wrote the above words, more than a year and a half before
the recent TPLF victory over the EPLF in order to show the arrogance with
which the TPLF leaders started regarding their society as the bravest in the
region. Recent victory over the EPLF may heighten the TPLF leaders'
ambition to extend their hegemony within and beyond the Horn of Africa.
The Ethiopian State at the Cross Road: Decolonization and
Democratization or Disintegration? is a catalogue of hopes that were raised
and dashed, promise of democratization that was aborted, expectation of the
end of Amhara domination that was replaced by the Tigrean one, the dream
of a better future that ended with the nightmare of uncertainty, promise of
respect for human dignity, that ended in massive violations of human rights,
expectation of self-determination for the Oromo, that ended in Tigrayan
hegemony. As one of the participants in the drafting of the Charter of 1991,
Leenco Lata, saw "the following four concepts as the cornerstones of the
belief that was to guide the effort to implement a genuine democratic
transition in Ethiopia" (XVII). These were (I) The supremacy of the law,
that never existed in Ethiopia; (2) The formation of a joint government, that
was unknown in Ethiopia; (3) Democratically restructuring of the Ethiopian
state for the purpose of ending the era of subjugation and oppression and
Book Reviews

replacing it by a period of "freedom, of all peoples" and (4) the reign of the
just peace that was unknown in Ethiopia, (XVIII-XX). "Perhaps the one
area where a radical departure from Ethiopia's past was greatly needed was
in the area of respect for human rights. It appears that Ethiopian rulers
considered violation of human rights as their natural prerogative, signifying
the right to exercise unquestionable political authority" (p. 7).
The TPLF leaders, who condemned rightly the human rights
violations of the military regime, declared their commitment to basic
human rights (p. 9) in words, but never implemented it in reality. What is
surprising is not only "the speed with which the TPLF has come to sound
just like the regime that it unseated with heavy sacrifices" (p. 21) but also
the speed with which the TPLF surpassed the previous military regime by
taking human rights violations of Oromo refugees to Djibouti, Somalia,
Kenya, the Sudan and even South Africa, an aspect that is not discussed in
the book under review. Within a year an historic opportunity of righting the
wrongs of the Dergue regime was lost and a golden opportunity "to forge a
new and inclusive Ethiopian State" was abandoned by "the derailment of
the democratization undertaking" (p. 77). "TPLF members were
acquainted only with the Leninist variety of democracy. The leaders
drummed that it is scientific and foolproof into their minds. Thus,
practicing any other form of democracy was considered not only a
regression but also engaging in something that is both harmful and useless"
(pp. 99-100).
It is precisely for this reason that Telecola Hagos, a former
supporter of the TPLF leadership, now its bitterest critic, concludes that the
TPLF leaders used democracy only as an inshument for perpetuating their
tyrannical rule.

What is very, very important to consider is the significance

of the fact that the people who conhol TPLF and the
government are very parochial-minded and appallingly
arrogant charlatans. They are extremely violent, insanely
suspicious, . . . with twin character flaws of excessive love
of consumer goods and obsession with status and
hierarchy . . .. Fear, blackmail, intrigue, deception,
suspicion, and brutality are its defining characteristics. It is
absolutely insane for anyone to expect democracy from a
secretive and tyrannical organization such as the TPLF and
its spawn (Hagos 1999: 56).

According to Leenco Lata, it is the silence by the international

community, especially the government of the United States that has
encouraged the "TPLF government that it can act with impunity in matters
concerning Oromo" (p. 129). The independence of the OLF and that of
"almost all its members necessitated not only its liquidation but also that of
its followers" (p. 103).
Since 1992, the TPLF has tried and failed to replace the OLF by
the OPDO, its surrogate organization. The reason for this is quite obvious.
OPDO is an instrument of TPLF tyranny in Oromia.

Of all the components of the EPRDF, it is the members of

the OPDO who are subjected to the most humiliating kind
of ridicule. They are routinely held up as inept, corrupt and
responsible for human rights violations. This is the case of
blaming the axe or the chain saw for deforestation, and not
the hand that operates them. Members of TPLF surrogate
organizations were designed and unleashed to suppress
their own people. It is in discharging this duty that they
commit human rights violations and not necessarily for
some pathological reasons (p. 213).

The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization and

Democratization or Disintegration? is a very interesting book that deals
with the most dramatic period in modem Oromo as well as Ethiopian
history. It neither pleases the Amhara elites, nor the Tigrayan governing
class nor Oromo Nationalists. It is a book written not to please but to
inform and inform it does exceptionally well. The book establishes the
intellectual maturity of its author, his depth of understanding of the
complex nature of the Oromo struggle for liberation and his yearning for
the realization of Oromo self-determination within the context of the
situation in the Horn of Africa. "The resolution of the Oromo question, in
Book Reviews

one manner or another, will also play a pivotal role in affecting the future of
not only Ethiopia but all the other Horn states. For Oromia is to Ethiopia
what Ethiopia is to the Horn" (p. 244).
Finally, The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization
and Democratization or Disintegration? is a welcome addition to the
growing literature on the Oromo national liberation struggle that has created
a separate Oromo identity with its own space. "Oromo political voice is
distinctly being heard both at home and abroad. What their leaders plan to
do with this autonomous energy is what determines what constitutes the
mission's maximum and minimum goals" (pp. 242-243). Anyone who is
interested in understanding the extent to which the TPLF derailed the
democratization process in Ethiopia during the transitional period will find
rich food for thought in this thought-provoking book. Chapters ten and
eleven are must read for those who are interested in averting a great tragedy
for the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia in the future. The book is well-
written in a language that is easy to follow, and it is a joy to read and
captivating to the end. This is an exciting book that will be discussed and
debated about for years to come.


1. Edmond Keller, 1995. "Remaking the Ethiopian State" in Collapsed

States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authoriry, ed. by
I . William Zartman, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner: 125-139.

2. Tecola Hagos, 1999. Demystifying Political Thought, Power and

Economic Development, Washington D.C.: Khepera Publishers.

3. Leenco Lata, 1999. The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads:

Decolonization and Democratization or Disintegration?, Lawrenceville,
NJ: The Red Sea Press.

Mohammed Hassen
Georgia State University

Geerarsa Folksongs as the Oromo National Literature: A Study of

Ethnography, Folklore, and Folklife in the Context of the Ethiopian
Colonization of Oromia, by Addisu Tolesa, (Lewiston, New York: The
Edwin Mellen Press, 1999), pp. 208, $80.00.

The Oromo have a very rich oral literature, as documented by the

great Italian scholar in 1922.' However, unfortunately the Ethiopian
colonial establishment did everything possible to discourage Oromo oral
literature from being written down and published. As a result from 1922 to
the early 1990s, there were not many published books on Oromo oral
literature. In fact, "since Ethiopia was forged crudely as a n a t i ~ n , "it~was
only in 1991 when Oromo intellectuals, embarked aggressively not only on
the production of literature in their language, but also on the collection and
publication of Oromo oral literature, without fear of retribution from
Ethiopian government authorities. That condition was created by the
collapse of the Ethiopian state in 1991,' which galvanized Oromo
intellectuals to adopt the Latin alphabet for their language. The new Oromo
alphabet known as Qubee, not only became a testament to empowering the
production of literature in the Oromo language but also, for the preservation
of Oromo oral literature. Literature in both oral and written forms is the
ultimate beauty of the Oromo language, a measure of its richness and depth,
the mark of its development to meet the spiritual as well as the day-to-day
needs of its speakers. Oromo oral literature reflects the Oromo view of the
universe and their place in that universe. It is also the treasure house of
Oromo history that has been consigned to the margins by Ethiopians.
According to Professor Sumner, "the universe of Oromo songs" is
extensive and it covers "the totality of the physical world of man, animals,
plants, trees, material in organic things plus the world of artificial objects;
artifacts, food and beverage, c~othing.~ Love songs that express joy and
sadness and "the infinitely varied shades of emotions from desire and hope
to frustration and despairM5hold pride of place in the universe of Oromo
songs. Their beauty and elegance only match the variety of expressions of
love songs. Oromo songs express how love inflames and intoxicates the
human mind, glows and breaks the human heart. "Through its sincerity, its
Book Reviews

moving personal tone, its occasional hyperbolic character, it appeals

strongly to the human heart. Lovers cannot sleep at night, they admit their
utter failure, they cry, they even hiccup for pain. Love reduces a girl to
thinness; it is a sickness without medicine, an agony. It is compared to
wood burning in fire, to pangs of childbirth.... love is all leaves and no root.
Tears fill five or nine cups!"S
Besides love songs, Geerarsa, the traditional boasting songs of
heroes, has pride of place in the universe of Oromo of songs. This aspect is
well documented in Addisu Tolesa's Geerarsa Folksongs as the Oromo
National Literature: A Study of Ethnography, Folklore, and Folklife in the
Context of the Ethiopian Colonization of Oromia. Throughout the book
Addisu Tolesa shows how the Oromo use Geerarsa as a medium of artistic
expression in times ofjoy and happiness, sorrow and sadness, moments of
glory and times of defeat, humiliation and suffering. According to Addisu
Oromo use Geerarsa to express their social, political,
economic conditions under Ethiopian settler colonialism to
recall their past glory under the Gada System (Oromo
democracy) prior to their colonization) and to venerate
those heroes and heroines who have sacrificed their lives
to defend or liberate their people from subjugation.
Geerarsa is also performed during the celebration of
extraordinary activities (such as patriotic events and brave
deeds) cooperative work, feasts, holidays, marriage
ceremonies, and other activities .6

During the long night of colonial darkness, when the Oromo were
denied written artistic expression in their language, they used Geerarsa as a
medium of resistance not only to oppose colonial domination but also to
express their aspirations for freedom and independence. Geerarsa, as
boasting songs of individuals "consists of life experience stories about the
social positions of individuals [and] . . . their achievements. It is sung or
recited usually by men, often in a call-and-response manner." (p.2) Addis
Tolesa groups Geerarsa songs into three types: the first type includes songs
that express the "heroic world view" of the Oromo. These songs deal with
the pre-colonial period, celebrating the bravery of an individual that killed
dangerous animals or enemies and earned trophies. The second category
includes songs:

In which the imagery - the animal trophies - are

symbolically transformed into academic degrees. This
symbolism will depict a period in Oromo history in which
great value is attached to obtaining an education and
earning a degree the new 'trophies'. The third type of
Geerarsa expresses the colonial exploitation and cultural
domination from which the Oromo have been suffering. It
also expresses their aspiration for freedom as a highly
valued contemporary trophy (p. 14).

With the slow change of Oromo society, the Geerarsa, as a

medium of artistic expression, was transformed in two major ways. First,
until recently, Geerarsu was practiced mainly in rural Oromia where the
overwhelming majority of the Oromo lived. However, with the movement
of a significant number of Oromos from rural areas into urban centers,
Geerarsa emerged in urban centers as staged performances which "shows
its ability to adapt to the changing situation, the urbanization and the
increasing demand for official recognition of Oromo cultural identity" (p.
137). "Staged Geerarsa, recited during social gatherings, is not only the
medium through which the Oromo struggle for freedom from Ethiopian
colonial oppression is expressed, it is also an art form that manifests the
change and continuity in Oromo cultural traditions under difficult political
conditions" (p. 164).
In the struggle against Ethiopian colonialism, the call to unity
became the central focus of staged Geerarsa. "[lln the traditional
call-and-response" manner the singer emphasizes the importance of Oromo
unity in the following Geerarsa.

Ormummaan Being identified as Oromo people is good

Hinjigu Oromo progress will not be held back
Hindhangala 'u And never again will they be divided!
Inlalisa But they will prosper
Cogorssa Tae lafa Hadhoksu May the Oromo be like cogorsa [a kind of
Book Reviews

grass used for ritual purposes]

Duumessa Ta'e Waaga Hadhoksu May they cover Oromia like clouds
Aadaan Saba Balla'a Inguddata The Oromo cultural traditions will grow
Aadaafi Addunyaa Argata And it will be known
Dubhiin Guutuudhaa Our cause is just and for peace
Guutuu Ganamaati And it is the natural peace
Inhirra'tu It shall remain constant
Injigu It shall not be disturbed
Indhangal'u It shall not be tampered with
TokkummaafiWalqixumman And let Oromo unity and equality be
Halalisu strong
(p. 141).

The second area in which Geerarsa has been transformed within

the urban context is in the area of gender inequality. Traditional Geerarsa
songs were sung only by men and (not women) to praise themselves, their
fathers and mothers.

Accordingly, the mother is praised for the pains of

childbirth that she endured for the sake of the son, not the
daughter, and for accepting responsibility of raising the
son. The son praises the mother for the provisions that she
prepared for him when he went on the hunting expedition,
and for her blessings . . . the son who expresses gratitude
for his mother also praises and expresses gratitude for his
father. When praising his father's name, however, he
describes him as having special qualities, such as the 'man
of truth and justice.' These special features are not used in
the Geerarsa to praise the mother woman (p. 148).

Oromo women in urban areas not only started singing Geerarsa

songs, but also asserted that women have special qualities just like men,
establishing equality between men and women. In this, it was Elfinesh
Qanno, the famous Oromo singer, who first challenged both men and
women to free themselves from traditional norms in order to end gender
inequality (p. 153). In short, what emerges from the last chapter of the
book under review is the fact that Geerarsa has been able to transform itself
with changing times as a medium of artistic expression that keeps alive the
Oromo yearning for freedom (p. 188).
Geerarsa Folkrongs as the Oromo National Literature: A Study of
Ethnography. Folklore, and folk Life in the Context of the Ethiopian
Colonization ofOromia is the product of many years of labor by the author.
It is constructed from Geerarsa songs gathered partly from the diaspora
Oromo in North America. Facts long overlooked in Oromo studies are used
to show the importance of Geerarsa among the Oromo diaspora. What
those facts say are amazing in two respects. First, they demonstrate that
Geerarsa songs, performed in social gatherings, carry the diaspora Oromo
on the wings of joy back to Oromia. It maintains strong emotional bonds
between Oromia and the diaspora Oromo. Second, it keeps burning the fire
of Oromo nationalism among the Oromo in the diaspora. Addisu Tolesa,
the author of the book under review is one of the founders of the Oromo
Studies Association (OSA). His book reveals the coming of age of Oromo
studies. It is a very interesting book, which makes a very significant
contribution to the development of Oromo literature in the English
language. Addisu Tolesa has excellent command of both Oromo and
English languages. I am impressed with his ability to express profound
Oromo concepts that are difficult to articulate much less to translate into
English. However, the book under review is a very expensive one and it is
not easily accessible. It is hoped that the publishers will produce a
paperback edition of this book. If and when that occurs, I hope Addis
Tolesa will consult Sumner's Oromo Wisdom literature volumes, to further
enrich and expand the horizon of his fascinating book.

1. F. Cerulli 1922. Folk Literature of the Galla of Southern Abyssinia,
Boston: Hamard African Studies, p. 146.

2. Yacob Wolde-Mariam, 1998: "A Memorable Day," The Ethiopian

Herald, Thursday, May 28: 3-4.

3. Edmond Keller, 1995: Remaking the Ethiopian State in Collapsed

Book Reviews

States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authori~,ed. by


4. Claude Sumner, 1995: Oromo Wisdom Literature Volume 1

Proverbs, Collections and Analysis, Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa

5. Claude Sumner, 1997. Oromo Wisdom Literature Volume I1

Songs, Collection and Analysis, Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation.

6. Addisu Tolesa, 1999. Geerarsa Fol!a,ongs as the Oromo National

Literature: A Study of Ethnography, Folklore and Folklife in the Context of
the Ethiopian Colonization of Oromia, Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen
Press, p. vii.

Mohammed Hassen
Georgia State University

Secret, by Farah Nuruddin, New York: Arcade Publishing, 1998, pp.

298, price $25.95.

You see, sooner or later, secrets sabotage the very purpose for
which they are being withheld, they give away the very thing one wishes
to protect, Nonno, the thoughtful and influential grandfather, warns his
grandson in Nuruddin Farahs latest novel (Farah, 114). The words of the
family patriarch echo throughout Farah's book as Kalaman works to
uncover the complicated myths and hidden events that have shaped his
life. Secrets, Farah's eighth major work, chronicles Kalamans painful
journey against the backdrop of the violent and chaotic collapse of the
Somali state in the early 1990s.
Farah, one of Africa's most popular contemporary novelists, has
packed Secrets full of textured themes like magic, sexuality, political
collapse, and class. The book focuses on the lives of four characters:
Sholoongo, the magical temptress whose sudden return to Mogadishu
sets the story in motion; Kalaman, the computer executive desperately
searching for answers to the mysteries that surround his life; Damac,
Kalaman's mother, who knows the shocking answer to her son's search;
and Nonno, the dignified grandfather whose life serves as a metaphor for
the decline of Somalia. These characters provide a canvass on which
Farah paints a story of mesmerizing prose. Farah allows each of these
characters a turn as the narrator in Secrets, and the literary technique
allows readers to view the motivations that drive them. While Secrets
concerns itself with people's lives, Farah never leads us too far from the
clan-inspired chaos and bloodshed that serves as the novels context.
The story begins when Sholoongo returns Mogadiscio to bury
her father. While in Somalia, she hopes to convince Kalaman to father
her child. The request is actually a debt that Kalaman must honor
because Sholoongo, a shaman, bewitched him as a child.
Farah uses Sholoongos character to probe the issues of sexuality
and magic in Somali society. Sholoongo's sexual prowess has enticed
several generations of Kalamans family. Sholoongo influences others by
making them believe she has the ability to cast spells, assume other
forms, and enter people's dreams. At one point, Kalaman and others
suspect that Sholoongo transformed herself into an elephant and
murdered an acquaintance that illegally procured ivory for the
international market. The combination of magic and sexuality makes
Sholoongo a powerful woman. Farah creates another strong woman in
the character of Damac. Damac is a successful business woman, but fears
that Sholoongo will ruin her by exposing her past and taking her son
Sholoongo discovered the tragic truth about Damac years before.
In Damacs youth, a rejected suitor obtained a forged marriage certificate
and attempted to claim her as his wife. When that failed, he and several
friends gang-raped Damac. Kalaman was the product of this brutal
assault. Yaqut, believed by Kalaman to be his father, took Damac in and
provided for the woman and her son. The two never actually married --
their relationship is considered a sin in Somali society. They are forced
to keep it secret. Later, one of the rapists used the forged marriage
certificate to blackmail Damac.
Book Reviews

Years earlier, Damac realized that Sholoongo knew of the forged

marriage document and subsequently, Damac had Sholoongo -- still a
young girl --fingerprinted by authorities on trumped up theft charges. As
a result of this legal action, Damac fears that Sholoongo has stolen
Kalamans soul.
Kalaman, symbolizes the new Somalia that clan warfare
threatens to destroy. He lives in a nice apartment in Mogadiscio,
complete with a maid. An executive at the high-tech company he started
from scratch, Kalaman has an office in a modern building in downtown
Mogadiscio. His life revolves around work for international embassies,
aid agencies, and Italian bank accounts. The collapse of Somalia has
increased his business, while making it more fragile at the same time. If
we are moving into dollar-making ventures it is because this country is
becoming a land of ruin, Kamala says of his business (Farah, 48).
Sholoongos arrival forces Kalaman to begin a search to discover
the mysterious origins of his life. Along the way, he takes us through the
sites and sounds of Somalia's final days. Kalaman passes through armed
checkpoints with ease and silently drives past lifeless bodies in the street.
At night, the sound of gunfire causes little alarm. You get used to hearing
the sound of automatic weapons, Kamalan explains, And you sleep right
through it (Farah, 43).
Kalaman braves these dangers to find the origin of his name.
Kamalan convinces an old family friend to provide some of the
information. Nonno adds other facts. Eventually, Kalaman's father,
Yaqut, confirms the story. "We had no faith in anyone, your mother and
I," he explains to his son. We're truly sorry if we locked you out, but then
we had no choice but to exclude everybody from knowing our secrets.
Can you imagine a man and a woman living in sin, as they say, in a
traditionally Muslim society such as ours? We would have been stoned
to death, and the perpetrators of the gang rape would have been allowed
to go free (Farah, 260).
Trained as a Muslim scholar, he fled his hometown in the
northern Somalia and concealed his identity. Italian officials in
Mogadiscio provided him with new papers that listed his clan as a British
for the colonial power that earlier controlled northern regions. Nonno
becomes a successful patriarch who earns respect for his willingness to
help others. He finances Yaqut's engraving and repair business. He also
assists a neighbor in his efforts to start a horse training operation.
By the time Kamala begins his journey, Nonno is an old man in
failing health - a metaphor for the collapse of Somalia. As the novel
closes, Nonno slowly dies as his country becomes consumed by clan
warfare. Like me -- and I am on my deathbed -- she (Somalia) is as good
as gone, Nonno declares as he slowly expires. It is a tragedy that the
country, which many generations have strived to shape, is being
destroyed piece meal right in front of our unseeing eyes. . . . Our country
is as good as gone (Farah 296).
In the end, Sholoongo proves unable to convince Kalaman to
father her child. Instead, she coaxes the frail Nonno into bed with her.
With this relationship consummated, Nonno, like Somalia, passes into
Farah tells Kalaman's story in the sparse but rich style that has
earned him critical acclaim. Farah's prose, with its roots in the
sophisticated Somali poetry, blends both tradition and modernity. His
style reflects both his origins and his membership in a transnational,
cosmopolitan world. The author focuses Secrets on the characters
personal lives, but never lets readers forget the decline of Somalia.

Robert Woodrum
Georgia State University