Police investigating alleged abduction of two Ethiopians (ONLF Leaders) in Nairobi

January 29, 2014, Nairobi, Kenya (Standard Digital) : Kenyan police are investigating alleged abduction of two top officials of Ethiopia’s Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) from outside a popular restaurant in Upper Hill, Nairobi. The two who were identified as Mr Sulub Ahmed and Ali Hussein were members of the ONLF negotiation team that was in Nairobi for a proposed third round of talks. Other officials said the two were members of ONLF central committee. ONLF officials who asked not to be named claimed security agencies from Ethiopia and Kenya were involved in the kidnapping. They had been invited for a lunch date at a restaurant near TSC headquarters on Sunday afternoon when they were abducted by men who were in three waiting cars. One of the cars, a black Toyota Prado was seized and detained at the Turbi police station on Monday but the two were missing amid speculation they had been taken across to Ethiopia. Moyale OCPD Tom Atuti said there had been complaints of abduction of the two officials but they were yet to confirm who were behind it. “The vehicle and driver are under police custody to establish if indeed he was involved in the alleged kidnapping of the officials,” said Atuti. The ONLF officials who spoke in Nairobi said the two officials were invited by the Kenyan government for peace negotiations. “This is not the first time that such an incident happens and we urge that the government of Kenya provides us with security. We do not know the fate of our officials but we know they were taken to Ethiopia,” said an official who asked not to be named. He asked Kenya, which took the responsibility to be a neutral venue, and as a facilitator to investigate fully the incident and request the Ethiopian government to return the abductees. Analysts say that this move may affect diplomatic negotiations between ONLF and Ethiopia brokered by Kenyan Government on 2012. ONLF is a separatist rebel group fighting to make the region of Ogaden in eastern Ethiopia an independent state. ONLF, established in 1984, demands for the autonomy of this region, and claimed responsibility for several attacks since the beginning of 2007 aimed at Ethiopian forces in the area, which the government considers a region under the new federal system. There live nearly eight million people, mainly Somali. Because Ogaden is populated by many ethnic Somalis, the ONLF claims that Ethiopia is an occupying government. However, the Ogaden people are represented in the Ethiopian government by a number of groups, including the opposition Somali People’s Democratic Party (SPDP). Source: Standard Related: Ethiopia Abducts two key-ONLF senior leaders and negotiators in Nairobi, Kenya

The Filthy Pond of Corruption That TPLF And Its Authorities Baptized In

By Mekonenn Elalla Fekadu | January 27, 2014

The current dictatorial regime of Ethiopia which imposes the supremacy of one race is making a prominent chapter in the history of the country by destroying public resources and ransacking financial assets. In its twenty-two years of power life, the regime’s administration has been earmarked with two distinctive traits: corruption and laceration of the nation into pieces with sharp blade of race. Right from the onset, TPLF based itself on racial aristocracy, wide spread corruption, and excessive power abuse to safeguard its members who are extravagantly wasting the public resource as personal heritage. As racism and corruption are closely knitted with the authoritarian rule, one can not be explained in the absence of the other. The dictatorial regime of TPLF is simply a Petri dish to cultivate corruption bacteria that destroys the socio political system of the country from top to bottom.

These days, the regime has engaged on a pseudo-anticorruption campaign to cover up or erase its notorious governance and corruption practice that have become clearer than the sunlight at noon among the nation or the international community at large. The current move to arrest just a small group of corrupted individuals while ignoring those high ranked officials who are soaked to their neck in public money laundry pond is a good indicator as the regime has no interest on breaking the back bone of corruption beyond deceiving the nation. Otherwise, for the people who do not fan the deceptive game of this regime, such a small scale ant-corruption act is nothing more than scooping a spoon of water out of a sea.

Unlike the precedent  regimes of the country, TPLF is known not only to reserve high governmental posts to its party supporters, but also exclusively rewarding educational opportunities and economic growth privileges to its so called golden members that paid or believed to pay the necessary scarifies to keep the system alive on power. Just to encourage this blind and blood-related loyalty, the party leaves corruption doors wide open to its supporters, and empowers them to ransack the country’s resources without any sense of responsibility or accountability. This partiality clearly defines the existence of favored institutions and small group of society which are legally licensed for corruption and power abuse while the rest, the majority, are deprived of their basic right and being highly scrutinized for any “irregularities” or whatsoever action considered against the regime.

The dictatorial regime’s current lame move to create corruption free administrative environment has put a limelight on its own military generals and commanders that run the defense ministry of the country. The annual financial report of those auditors assigned by TPLF itself has vindicated that the accounting exercise of the ministry is marked by so many irregularities and great financial plundering. The current Prime Minister Ato Hailemariam Dessalegne is selling his seat and authority to TPLF officials who maneuver and dictate his mind. He is making undaunted campaign to give legal protection for those corrupted criminals that hived themselves in Defense Ministry, National Intelligence and Security service, and Federal Bureau of Security.  Unfortunately, these three institutions are infamous machineries of the government that run gruesome acts of inhumanity and destabilization of peace across the country. Besides this, the above cited institutions are rated among the top most corrupted organizations where officials misuse the country’s resources to amass personal wealth are packed in like sardines.

Since these three institutions are staffed by irresponsible TPLF members who lack knowledge to administer the people and fail accountability for proper administration of financial assets, the prime minister’s move to immunize them could do nothing good except legalizing them to vandalize the public resources and to shed more blood of innocents on the land.

Nevertheless, how hard TPLF tries to cover up its demonic nature and mimic to care for the people and for the country, the nation have understood the true nature of the regime and decided more than ever to abolish the system with its bureaucratic “divide and rule” malfunctions. Leave aside to blink and miss the high level of corruption and misuse of power being committed continually, Ethiopians are already well aware of the charlatan behavior of the regime to forecast its future intentions that are hidden behind each and every “positive” move it is making today. Contrary to the regime’s addled administration philosophy of “divide and rule,” Ethiopians have united their hand to stand together and are shouting on one voice saying enough-is-enough to uproot TPLF and its twins, corruption and racism, once and for all.

Must Watch: Bobbaa Diinni Oromo dhabamsiisuf bane ufirraa deebisuuf dirqama lammummaa haa baanuu! (TVOMT)

Bekele Gerba kept in prison for bureaucratic reasons

January 24, 2014

Ethiopia’s opposition politician Bekele Gerba is not legible for release until next month and may not be released until next year, Horn Affairs learnt.

Bekele Gerba, former dep. Chairperson of Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), was detained in August 27, 2011. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on charges of “provocation crimes against the state” and collaborating with the Oromo Liberation Front, an organization designated as terrorist by Ethiopian Parliament.

The sentence was reduced to three years and seven months after Bekele appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.

There have been claims on social media that Bekele was supposed to be released on probation last weekend, but has been kept in prison for bureaucratic reasons.

Public Relations officer of the Federal Prison Administration Commission contradicted the claims.

Addisu Tedros told Horn Affairs today that:

“A prisoner’s release on probation is determined based on a thorough evaluation and finally submitted to court for approval. However, Bekele Gerba’s case has not reached that stage yet.

If Bekele Gerba is to be released on probation it would not be sooner than February 10, 2014. Otherwise, his prison term will end on May 11, 2015.”

Asked whether the dates are counted correctly, the officer added that it is based on a computerized data base.

On the other hand, a senior official in the Ethiopian government told Horn Affairs that Bekele Gerba won’t be released on probation.

The official, speaking off-the-record, said that: “The government has no intention of releasing [Bekele Gerba] until he completes the full prison term.”

No more pre-release of prisoners?

The Ethiopian government has not released any high-profile prisoner since the pardon for the two Swedish journalists on September 2012, when Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was still an acting PM. Though tens of thousands have been granted pardon on the eve of the Ethiopian New Year, last September, there are reports that the government rejected the petition for pardon by journalist Wubshet Taye and opposition politician Zerihun G/Egiziabher.

Remarking on the matter, during an exclusive interview with Horn Affairs last week, Minister Rewan Husien claimed that this doesn’t mean that the government has closed the door on pre-release of prisoners.

Referring to the high-profile prisoners, Redwan added:
“Currently, the government has not arrived at a conclusion that there is anyone who is ready to change, who has been corrected and who has reached a point of becoming an example to others. But that doesn’t mean we won’t reach a different conclusion at some future date.”

Though Redwan was commenting on pardon – which is technically different from a release on probation -, both matters lie under the discretion of the government. Thus, presumably subject to similar raison d’etre.

Source: Horn Affairs

በኢትዮዽያ ውስጥ የሚገኙ ሙስሊሞች ዛሬ የተቃውሞ ድምጻቸውን ሲያሰሙ ዋሉ (ቪድዮን ይመልከቱ)

Obbo Lenco Lata’s party is registered for 2015 election

Rundassa Asheetee | January 23, 2014

There is no doubt that CIA is crowing victory by obbo Lenco Lata’s party returning to Finfinnee.  Mean time, the TPLF bosses too will be satisfied by the pleasure they harvest from Lenco Lata’s return to Finfinnee.  For the CIA, it is a matter of botching an unprecedented opportunity to control the horn of Africa, and for the TPLF, the return of Lenco Lata’s party is a matter of gaining more legitimacy that it is a democratic government with an Oromo president and a Walayita prime minister.  Obviously no other governments of empire Ethiopia had ever installed two fake men in power, one from the marginalized majority Oromo, and the other from the most demeaned and looked down upon small tribe known as Walayita. 

Certainly, the TPLF will win the election and declare that every thing is working as planed, while  it’s victory would give all those who are robing the country a new chance of five more years of profit making venture.  Yet, no body would be more glad than abba Biyyaa and Dima Nogo, men who have worked hard for this day to come. On the other hand, the OPDO will not be pleased to see Lenco  returning home, of course unless Lenco’s return wold zero-out the influence of the Blue and Madirek parties propaganda, provided an agreement is reached that the ODF would be OPDO’s Trojan Horse.  What is sure however is that all nations who bought lands and business in Oromia will back the TPLF and continue to fund it’s military and spying networks.

What about Eritrea and the oppositions supported by it?

Lenco’s returning to Finfinnee will not leave the Eritrea based opposition groups in the cold because now they understand that procrastinating the liberation process will only hurt them as the ODF destruction grow and as challenges become colossal.  Nevertheless, ODF’s influence is not going to be enormous as it may have been hopped to be, especially if it’s ineffective movement gradually dies off following the process that suffocated those of the likes of Licho Bukura, who became the Tigre regime’s shoe shine boys. Over whole, obbo Lenco’s party participation in the TPLF election changes nothing for Dr. Marara since his party has already been dead.

Interestingly, the TPLF regime will ratcheting up it’s violence against the Oromo people as the OLF intensifies it’s military operation and accomplish two tasks at one time, i.e undermining the ODF in the process of renewing effective military operation against the OLF.

As to the CIA and the west, they will step up their assistance to the the TPLF as long as the Tigreans are willing to enjoy power and wealth creation for themselves quietly, still allowing fake president and prime ministers.

The good thing is that the OLF and other armed groups stationed in Eritrea will no longer live in an illusion if their objective remains to fulfill what they’ve promised their respective ethnic groups.  Most likely, they will sign agreements to help each other out against the distraction of the TPLF. The Ginbot 7, the Arbanyoch Ginbar and the Tigre opposition groups may want more from the OLF and from Ogadenia liberation fronts, however, they have no choice but accept these two fronts demands of accepting Oromia and Ogadenia as semi independent states.  Without this, there will be little prospect for any of them to win against the TPLF on their own.

If the ODF happen to gain popularity and wins a respectable seat in the Tigreans parliament, the slave-minded OPDO will be pushed to the sidelines as it’s prominent leaders retire with large sum of money in their pockets. Basically, like those Tigre generals, few OPDO generals too will  become business men who would supply money and information to the younger TPLF bosses and protect their businesses interests.  The question here will be, would the OLF get well organized this time around  or it will remain to be a loosely organized entity.  Perhaps the most promising  step that the OLF can take is take new organizational rapprochement and transition itself real quickly if it wants to become an effective organization. Otherwise, obbo Lenco will succeed.

Rundassa Asheetee

Ethiopia Has a Terrible Human Rights Record – Why Is the West Still Turning a Blind Eye?

By Eleanor Ross, Writer and journalist based in London

January 23, 2014 (The Huffington Post) — Some disappeared, others were given lengthy prison sentences. One thing all thirty men arrested in 2012 in Ethiopia had in common was that they had criticised the state and the policies of the former Premier, Meles Zenawi.

And yet last week Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a group of Japanese business leaders met with the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn to discuss further support for Ethiopia at “government and private sector level.”

The former Meles Zenawi was a staunch supporter of American counter-terrorism policy while at the same time overseeing a country with a violent human rights record. In the eyes of the USA, Ethiopia is strategically situated. Located in the Horn of Africa, next to Somalia, northern Kenya and Sudan, it acts as a buffer zone between the growing Islamic extremism of Somalia and the West. As a result, the human rights violations of Zenawi were ignored.

As one of the first signatories of the UN in 1948, Ethiopia is a Western ally: 11 per cent of its entire GDP comes from Foreign Aid. The US is one of Ethiopia’s largest donors: it is estimated that it gave $3.3bn in 2008 alone. The two countries benefited from their close relation: there have been rumours that America hosted “black sites” in Ethiopia; bases where the CIA interrogated undeclared prisoners during the “War on Terror.”

But Meles Zenawi died in 2012. The opportunity for a more liberal government was not seized: Zenawi was replaced by Hailemariam Desalegn, described by critics as an “identikit Zenawi” running the country on “auto-pilot”. Desalegn is following the same political manifesto as Meles – he hasn’t changed one member of parliament.

The arena for debate and discussion is narrowing. Critics argue that Ethiopia is fast becoming a “one party democracy” where there are many parties but the same one wins again and again. Meles spoke to foreign press in 2005 and defended his 97 per cent electoral victory: “In democracies the party with the best track record remains in power.” The years since 2005 have seen growing unrest among the Ethiopian population and serious repression against critics of the regime. Human Rights Watch reported that Ethiopia “continues to severely restrict freedom of movement and expression”. It adds that “30 journalists and opposition members have been convicted under…vague anti-terrorism laws”.

The day before World Press Freedom Day on May 2 2013, the Ethiopian government ruled to uphold the imprisonment of one of its most well-known prisoners of conscience, Eskinder Nega. He was jailed for being a journalist who criticised the government, and yet, by standing up for his beliefs and expressing his basic human right for Freedom of Speech, he earned an 18 year jail sentence.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has denied his release. America and Britain have done little to challenge their ally, so worried are they about creating another enemy in the Horn of Africa. Britain and America have consistently failed to challenge their ally about its abhorrent Human Rights record. Ethiopia flaunts its apathy towards the UN convention of Human Rights, denying opposition members a right to fair trial and repressing people for trying to voice their opinions peacefully.

Ethiopian political repression is worsening. There have been repeated crackdowns against the country’s Muslim minority. This has included arbitrary arrests as Muslims make peaceful demands for freedom of worship. Again, critics have voiced concern with the regime. Mehari Taddele Maru, head of the African Conflict Prevention Program at the Institute for Security Studies expressed concern that “if legitimate grievances are not met then there is a risk that extremist violent elements will exploit those grievances to further their own.”

The world is waking up to Ethiopia’s increasingly poor human rights track record and yet the United States hasn’t stopped aid flowing to Ethiopia or threatened the country with sanctions. Japan still tries to conduct business with Ethiopia when instead they should be holding Ethiopia to account.

As a founding member of the UN and an “ally” of the West, Ethiopia must be held accountable for her crimes. If the West does not challenge Ethiopia and demand that it releases its prisoners who have been locked up without fair trial, then notions of democracy and human rights accountability as embedded in the Human Rights Charter look ever more vulnerable-Human Rights globally will be laughed out of the door.

Source: The Huffington Post

Ethiopian AMISOM Membership Scrutinized

Ethiopian troops in Baidoa in 2012
Ethiopian troops have been in and out of Somalia for many years

January 23, 2014 (VOA News) — A former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia says he thinks it’s a “mistake” for Ethiopian troops to join the AMISOM force in Somalia. AMISOM is the African Union Mission in Somalia.

David Shinn is an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He said it could be of particular concern “if Ethiopian forces are expected to go beyond the immediate Ethiopia / Somalia border area. Everyone knows that they have been crossing the border into Somalia for some time now confronting al-Shabab forces or any hostile forces for that matter.”

AMISOM has driven al-Shabab from the capital Mogadishu, but the militant group still controls areas of the country.

Shinn said the Ethiopian incursions into Somalia of late have been “fairly low key and hasn’t drawn a lot of attention. But it’s all been done in the context of a bilateral action obviously with the support of the Somali government. But by joining AMISOM, this I think is going to revive the Ethiopian intervention more broadly in Somalia that they engaged in from the very beginning of 2007 through January of 2009, particularly their engagement in Mogadishu. And that did not end well.”

At the time, Ethiopian forces helped drive out the Islamic Courts Union, which had imposed Sharia law in the country. The relationship between Ethiopia and Somalia over the years has included conflict.

Shinn said the Ethiopian decision move could allow al-Shabab to use it as a “rallying cry” to recruit new members.

He said that it’s unclear what Ethiopia would gain by joining AMISOM, aside from possible reimbursement for its military operations in Somalia. It’s currently funding those operations itself. He said that the move probably would not enhance Ethiopia’s border security, which is already “pretty good.”

To hear the interview click on the link below

Source: VOA News

Egypt may take Nile dam dispute with Ethiopia to UN

Al-Monitor, (By Walaa Hussein), January 20, 2014

After all attempts to solve the Egyptian-Ethiopian crisis over the Renaissance Dam at the negotiating table ended in failure after a third round of negotiations on Jan. 4, with Egypt withdrawing from the discussions and conferences being held in Khartoum, there is now talk at the governmental level about internationalizing the issue. At the same time, Egypt is witnessing rising popular demands to resort to the UN Security Council to establish Egypt’s right to veto the establishment of the Renaissance Dam, given the potential danger it represents to Egyptian water security.

After negotiations broke down between Cairo and Addis Ababa regarding the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Egyptian government is considering internationalizing the issue through filing a complaint with international bodies.

Khalid Wasif, the official spokesman for the minister of irrigation and water resources, revealed to Al-Monitor that Egypt has “begun to explore international channels for setting up alternative diplomatic and political tracks to ward off the dangers that might afflict the country if the Renaissance Dam is built, in light of the announced specifications of the dam.” He emphasized, “Egypt will not allow the dam to be built and will move to rally international pressure to prevent it from being funded. Moreover, Cairo will work [to secure] a public declaration by the international community rejecting the dam’s completion, in the absence of [Ethiopian] guarantees that Egypt and Egyptians will not suffer any loss in water security, nor will the other states of the Nile Basin. Egypt has rights guaranteed by international law and agreements, which the Ethiopian side is not respecting.”

Wasif added, “According to existing agreements governing the river — which require upriver states to notify Egypt in advance and obtain its consent prior to embarking on any projects that would affect the Nile sources — Egypt’s is the stronger legal position. Yet, Egypt has nevertheless insisted upon resolving the issue in a friendly manner, through reciprocal dialogue with the Ethiopian side, devoid of any escalation. But the government in Addis Ababa has shown no appreciation for this fact. Thus, Egypt has refused to continue the latest Khartoum meetings, given Ethiopia’s insistence on not providing the necessary guarantees that Egypt’s share of the water supply will remain secure.”

Rida al-Dimak, the director of the Center for Water Projects at Cairo University’s Engineering College, told Al-Monitor, “The development of alternative supplies of water must be accelerated, to replace the water that will be lost as a result of the construction of the Renaissance Dam. Foremost among these alternative sources is the exchange of wellspring [water] with the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo, transferring water from the Congo River to the Nile, so as to guarantee that the amount of water available to Egypt remains constant.”

Dimak warned against the completion of the Renaissance Dam according to its current specifications, stating that it would constitute a violation of human rights. The social and environmental effects, he explained, must be taken into consideration whenever a new water project is built, in accordance with inviolable international conventions. Some international reports have confirmed that the Ethiopian dam will result in a shortage of drinking water and destruction of a great deal of Egyptian agricultural land. This, he states, provides the foundation for Egypt’s right to object to the dam in international forums.

For his part, former Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Muhammad Nasr al-Din Allam said in an interview with Al-Monitor that the Egyptian government no longer has any alternative but to move quickly to take steps toward international escalation. The first of these, he states, should be to lodge an official protest against the government in Addis Ababa, formally declaring Egypt’s rejection of the project.

“This right is guaranteed to us by old agreements signed and recognized internationally, and which were conditioned upon notifying Egypt in advance before any Nile-related project was established. This protest ought to be followed by the lodging of an official complaint with the UN to establish Egypt’s position and [remonstrate against] Ethiopian intransigence, as well as to formally demand the formation of an international fact-finding committee to study the points of disagreement between Egypt and Ethiopia. These points include the dam’s capacity, the period of time needed to fill it, [details concerning its] operation, the project’s unsound and unsafe construction and the lack of rigorous Ethiopian studies demonstrating that the dam is not vulnerable to collapse, something that would have disastrous consequences for both Egypt and Sudan,” Allam noted.

Allam stressed the need for Egypt to demand that construction on the Ethiopian dam be halted at once, until the fact-finding committee completes its work. According to Allam, this would require “a period of, at most, three to six months.” Moreover, he added, “A copy of the committee’s report should be brought before the UN, to demonstrate the damage that the dam would wreak upon Egypt, which should then head to the Security Council.”

In an interview with the daily El Fagr on Jan. 9, Ayman Salama, an Egyptian expert in international law, stressed that the Egyptian government would be justified in taking its case to the UN Security Council, even though “one cannot adopt international arbitration to settle the crisis, since that would require the assent of both parties to the conflict to adopt this formulation of crisis resolution. The Ethiopian government has indicated that it will be highly intransigent on this issue. International arbitration has therefore become extremely unlikely. But Egypt might be able to turn to the Security Council. This, however, would require the preparation of a file containing documented facts of legal and material evidence of the harm that this dam would incur, both to Egypt and to its vital interests. The issue must be shown to threaten the peace and security of the two countries. [If successful], a number of measures could then be taken by the Security Council to compel Ethiopia to meet Egyptian demands.”

Egypt’s National Defense Council has already held an emergency session on Jan. 8, headed by President Adly Mansour and dedicated to reviewing internal developments and the domestic Egyptian security situation. With the irrigation and water resources minister in attendance, the council also examined the latest developments concerning Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam and the steps being taken on that front to preserve Egyptian water security. It also noted the steps devoted to reducing or eliminating any negative effects that the soon-to-be-built dam might have on Egypt or the other states of the Nile Basin. The council also stressed that Egypt’s water rights must not be squandered, and that it would not accept any undermining of Egyptian national security.

These steps, and Egyptian moves toward international escalation and the internationalization of the Renaissance Dam crisis, follow years of Egyptian insistence upon solving the crisis through mutual dialogue at the negotiating table.

Ethiopia:Abebe Gellaw Exposed G7 naked politics and crisis in ESAT TV!

ሌንጮ ባቲ “ኦቦ ሌንጮ ፊንፊኔ አልገቡም፤ ኖርዌይ ነው ያሉት፤ በቅርቡ በግልጽ እንገባለን” ሲሉ የአዲስ አድማስን ዘገባ አስተባበሉ

ሌንጮ ባቲ “ኦቦ ሌንጮ ፊንፊኔ አልገቡም፤ ኖርዌይ ነው ያሉት፤ በቅርቡ በግልጽ እንገባለን” ሲሉ የአዲስ አድማስን ዘገባ አስተባበሉ
(ዘ-ሐበሻ) የኦሮሞ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ግምባር የሕዝብ ግንኙነት ኃላፊ አቶ ሌንጮ ባቲ ከዘ-ሐበሻ ጋር በስልክ ባደረጉት ቃለ ምልልስ የድርጅታቸው መሪ አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ አዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጣ ዛሬ እንደጻፈው ኢትዮጵያ አልገቡም፤ ኖርዌይ ነው ያሉት አሉ። ዛሬ ኦቦ ሌንጮ ባቲን ኖርዌይ ደውዬ በስልክ አዋርቻቸዋለሁ ያሉት አቶ ሌንጮ ኢትዮጵያ የምንገባው በድብቅ ሳይሆን በግልጽ ነው ብለዋል። ድርጅታችን ሃገር ቤት ገብቶ መታገልን የወሰነው አሁን አይደለም ያሉት አቶ ሌንጮ ባቲ በቅርቡ ኢትዮጵያ እንደሚገቡ፤ የአዲስ አድማስ ወሬ መሠረተ ቢስ ነው ሲሉ አስታውቀዋል በኢትዮጵያ መንግስት “ሽብርተኛ ተብሎ የተሰየመው የኦሮሞ ነፃ አውጪ ግንባር /ኦነግ/ ከፍተኛ አመራር የነበሩት አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ፣ አዲስ ያቋቋሙትን ፓርቲ ይዘው ሰላማዊ መንገድ ለመታገል አዲስ አበባ መግባታቸውን ምንጮች ገለፁ፡፡ ኢህአዴግ የደርግ ስርዓትን አስወግዶ አዲስ አበባን ሲቆጣጠር ከአቶ መለስ ዜናዊ ጋር ለፕሬዝዳንትነት እንዲወዳደሩ ተጠቁመው አልፈልግም ማለታቸው የሚነገርላቸው አቶ ሌንጮ፤ ወደ ሰላማዊ ትግል መግባታቸውን በተመለከተ ብዙዎች አምነው እንዳልተቀበሏቸው የገለፁ ሲሆን ከሶስት ቀናት በፊት አዲስ አበባ መግባታቸው ታውቋል፡፡ በሰላማዊ መንገድ ለመታገል ኢትዮጵያ መግባታቸውን አስመልክቶ የቀድሞ ድርጅታቸው ኦነግ ስላለው አቋም ከውጭ ሚዲያዎች የተጠየቁት አቶ ሌንጮ፤ “እሱን ኦነግ ነው የሚያውቀው” ሲሉ መልሰዋል፡፡ የአቶ ሌንጮ ለታን ወደ ሀገር ቤት መመለስ አስመልክቶ አስተያየት የተጠየቁት ዶ/ር ነጋሶ ጊዳዳ፤ ቀደም ሲል ኦነግ በሁለት አመለካከቶች መሃል ሲዋልል የነበረ ፓርቲ መሆኑን ይገልጻሉ፡፡ አንደኛው፤ ኦሮሚያ ሙሉ ለሙሉ መገንጠል አለባት የሚለው ሲሆን ሁለተኛው ደግሞ ትገንጠልም አትንገንጠልም በሚለው አመለካከት መሃል የሚዋልል ነበር ይላሉ፡፡  አሁን የእነ አቶ ሌንጮ ወደ ሠላማዊ ትግል መመለስ፣ በኢትዮጵያ አንድነት እምነት የነበረው አካል ተለይቶ መውጣቱን ያመለክታል ብለዋል፡፡ ይህም በበጐ የሚታይ ነው ያሉት ዶ/ር ነጋሶ፤ ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብና ለኦሮሞ ህዝብ ትግል መልካም መንገድ እንደሚከፍትም ያላቸውን እምነት ገልጸዋል፡፡ ዶ/ር ነጋሶ ቀደም ሲል በኦነግ የፖለቲካ ትግል ውስጥ ማለፋቸውን “ዳንዲ፣ የነጋሶ መንገድ” በሚለው መጽሃፋቸው ጠቁመዋታል፡፡ ከኦነግ ዋና ዋና መሪዎች አንዱ የነበሩት ሌንጮ ለታ “ወደ ሰላማዊ ትግል ተመልሻለሁ” ማለታቸውን መንግስት ያውቀው እንደሆነ የተጠየቁት የመንግስት ኮሚዩኒኬሽን ሚኒስትር ዴኤታ አቶ ሽመልስ ከማል፤ በበኩላቸው፤ በግለሰብ ደረጃ የተሟላ መረጃ እንደሌላቸው ጠቁመው፣ አንድ ሽብርተኛ ተብሎ በህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት የተሰየመ ድርጅት ወደ ሰላማዊ ትግል መመለሱ የሚረጋገጥለትና ስያሜው የሚነሳለት ግን በራሱ በህዝብ ተወካዮች ም/ቤት ነው ብለዋል፡፡ አቶ ሌንጮ ለታን በአካል አግኝተን ለማነጋገር ያደረግነው ጥረት አልተሳካም፡፡

Source: zehabesha

Thousands of ONLF, OLF and Somalis protest against Ethiopian delegates

January 19, 2014

Thousands of Ogaden National Liberation Front and Oromo Liberation Front protested against a delegation from Ethiopian government on Saturday.This comes after cash-strapped Ethiopian Regime sent delegates to United Kingdom for fundraising for its Nile water dam construction project.

The protesters were shouting in a loud voice down,down Woyane down and waving banners that refers the Ethiopian government as a terrorist state.

The protesters stopped the Ethiopian delegation to hold a meeting in a hotel near Ethiopian Embassy to London.

Opposition sources say, the delegates led by Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Demeke Mekonnen were accompanied with Ethiopian-appointed Somali Regional President of Abdi mohamoud Omar aka Abdi Iley and members from the federal government that became got bogged down with waves of anger protesters.

The British police did not disperse the protesters that have been chanting anti-Woyane slogans since they were well organized and non-violent protesters,this follows after the main Ethiopian oppositions held a conference in Germany last week,in which the Allied Forces of Somali Politicians, ONLF,OLF, and members from Eritrea diaspora vowed to topple the Ethiopian regime which they regard as “an illegal government”.

However,the groups of Ogaden National liberation Front and Oromo Liberation Front allied against TPLF-Led of Ethiopian Regime and both of these groups are Independence seeking movements that have been fighting for the full independence of Oromia and Ogaden Region for the last three decades.

Manni adabaa bakka yakkamaan itti amala isaarraa sirratu dhamoo,kan biraa?

Ittaanaa Guuttataa | Amajji 17, 2014 

Seenaa misooma impaayera itiyoophiyaa keessatti, erga mootummaan wayyaanee gara aangootti dhufe bara 1983 asitti jijjiiramni addaa ta’eera yoo jedhame ragaan kanaa firootaafi miseensota waayyaanee qofa. Qotee bulaan ooyiruusaarraa beebyaa tokko malee ijaarsi gamoowwanii, daandiiwwaniifi kkf dhugaatti saffiseera. Hireen qotee bultoota kanaas ilmaan isaanii waliin daandii bukkee ta’aanii harka isa ol darbuufi gad bu’uu ilaaluu, jecha dhaga’ee inbeenneen buusii kadhachuu, gaddee kofalchiisuu, rakkatee duuromsuu dha. Manneetiin barnootaa fi yaalaa, bu’araaleen misoomaafi wirtuuwwan hayyootniifi dargaggootni Oromoo masaanuuwwan wayyaanee akka korbeessa re’ee itti hidhaman manneetiin adabaa sadarkaa isaanii hineegganne haalaan baballataniiru. Abishaalichi mootummaa wayyaanee MB 1fi manneetii adabaa 2, kellaawwan fayyaa 2fi wirtuulee ilmi oromoo itti mirga namummaa isaa sarbamu baballisuun karooraa guddinaafi tiraanisfoormeeshinii keessatti xiyyeeffannaa addaa argateera. Odeeffaannoowwan garaagaraa akka eeranitti Impaayera Itiyoophiyaa kessatti kan hidhamee jiruu 86% Ilmaan oromoo ta’uun isaa kan isaaf falmuu tokko ille akka hin jirree ta’uusa ni ragaasiisa.

Hiikaan mana adabaa qondaaltota mootummaa wayyaaneefi sirriitti galeeraa kan jedhu deebii inqabu, jarri baruus infedhan, beekaa rafaniiru  akka hiikaa haaraatti, manni adabaa bakka cunqursaan, dararamni, salphinni, dhiittaaniifi ajjechi ilmaan oromoo boquu ol qabatanii gaaffii mirgaa gaafatan itti geggeeffamuudha yoo jenne raawwatee akka soba inqabne kan irra gahe martinuu ni beeka. Ragaa qabatamaa kan fedhu yoo jiraate, dararama ilmaan oromoo ijaan inargu jedhee baqa gara biyyaa ollaatti baqate, maqaa shororkeessummaan qabamee gara mana adabaa Imaapyerattii keessatti kan ajjeefame Inkiiner Tasfaahuun Camadaa, yaadannoo baatiiwwan dhihooti. Ahhhhhh…maal godhu garuu, kan du’e hingaluu ta’eeti malee imimmaan waa’ee isaatiif bu’e garba Indii ta’ee lubbusaa nuu deebisa ture. Kan qabeenyaa biyyattiifi lammiiwwanii saamee duurumu meeqaaf eegumsiifi kunuunsi addaatu godhama, isa mirga isaaf Kan lammii isaaf quqquuqamu, mirga dhalootan argate falmachuu irra callisuurra isa wuxifatu garuu manneetii adabaa sadarkaa garaagaraatu itti jijjiirama. Kan bofaa utuu jennuu jawween lolloqaa dhufee jedhe namichi. Kan Miniilik kaleessaa godaannisni isaa  utuu hin badin, ajjechi Eebbisaa Addunyaafaa kaleessaa utuu nu duraa hinhaqamin, madaan calii calanqoo dheengaddaatti utuu hinfayyin, imimmaanni keenya waa’ee Tasfaahuniifi kanneen biroo utuu nuunqoorin, abbaan torbanii, kan xoofoon isaa guutee, akka hoolaa faasikaa hidamee guyyaa isaafi halkansaa adda baafachuu dadhabee guyyaa du’a isaatii eggatu, ammas jira Gootichi Baqqalaa Garbaa, mirga uumaan ilmaan namootaa maraaf laatee mootummaa wayyaneen maaf inkabajamne jedhee gaafachuusaatiin yaakkamaa kan jedhame  garuu maaliif? Maaliifii? Mee maalumaafi? Ilmi namaa sammuu horiirra adda isa godhu qabaachuun isaa akka ittiin yaaduuf, yaada isaan ukkaamamuurra jedhee baafachuusaan maqaa garaa garaatiin mana adabaatti darbatamuun, gaaffii fi sababa ga’aa malee hamma du’aatti adabamuun, yakka malee qabamanii hattuufi lubbu baaftuu waliin, hayyoomanii, akka budaa namarraa adda ba’aanii dararamuun maalumaaf? Jaarraa qaroomaa keessatti akka baroota durii durii sana jiraachuuf dirqiifamuun ilmaan oromoo hamma yoom tti itti fufa? Duutii ooluu baatus, yeroo malee, karoora ofiifi sabaaf qaban galmaan utuu hinga’in, biliisummaa akka dheebotanitti, abjuu fi fedha ulfa’an da’uuf utuu cinninsifatanii lubbuun darbuu caalaa kan bara kana garaa nama raasuufi hamile qabsaa’otaa buusu injiru. Ta’us qabsaa’aa malee qaanqeen qabsoon yoomuu waan hindhabamneef, yaa mootummaa wayyaanee, manneetii adabaa yakkantoota itti sirreessuuf malee kana caalaa falmattoota mirgaa itti dhabamsiisuuf carraaquuniifi tarkaanfachuun qancara gowwaa si gochuurra waan sindeebisneef, qeesaariifi al-qeesaariin adda baafataa adeemuun abshaalummaa dha.

Mee naa deebisaa, manni adabaa bakka yakkamaan itti amala isaarraa sirratu dhamoo, kan biraa? Gaaffii yeroon hiikuu malaa.

Amajjii 2014 Xumurame!!

አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ እውነት አዲስ ታሪክ መስራት ???

ከአለማየው ግርማ 

የኦሮሞ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር በእንግሊዝኛ ምህጻሩ «ኦ ዲ ኤፍ» ወደ ኣገር ቤት ተመልሶ በሰላማዊ መንገድ ለመታገል መወሰኑን ከአቶ ሌንጮ ለታ አንደበት ሰማን እንዲ በሚል ቃል“ ሃገር ቤት ገብተን በመታገል አዲስ ታሪክ እንሰራለን”  እሁን ግን  አቶ ሌንጮ ይሁኑ ድርጅታቸው  አገር ቤት ገብተው በመታገል እልማቸው እሁን  ያደርጉ ይሆን? አይመስለኝም። የትኛውስ ድርጅት በአገር ውሰጥ በመሆን በመታገል እደተሳካለትስ  አቶ ሌንጮ ሳያቁት ቀርተው ነው። አልልም በአገር ውሰጥ በመሆን ይህንን አባገነናዊ የሆነውን ስርዓት ለመጣል በአገር ውስጥ በመሆን መታገል እንደማያዋጣ እና መቼም ቢሆን የአቁዋም ለውጥ እንደማያመጣ ከማንም በላይ ወያኔን ከእግር እስከራሱ የሚያውቁት አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ ጠንቅቀው ያውቁታል። ከረሱትም  ይሄንን ስርሃት እየታገሉ ካሉ ድርጅቶች መማር ይኖርባችዋል ባይ ነኝ።               

                  ወያኔ ስልጣን ከመያዙም በፊትም እዲሆም ሰልጣን ከያዘ ቡሃላ በአገር ውስጥም ይሆን በውጭ አገራት የተመሰረቱ ድርጅቶች ይህንን ስርዓት ማለትም አምባገነናዊውን የወያኔን ስርሃት እንጥላለን ብለው  በአገር ውስጥ በመገኘት ያደረጉት ትግል ሁሉ መና እንደቀረ ሁላችን የምናቀው እውነት ነው። ብዙዎቹ ፈርሰዋል ከመፍረስም ያልተናነሰ ውሰጥም ያሉም አሉ  ገሚሶቹም ይሄንን አባገነናዊ የወያኔን ስርዓት ተቀላቅለው እየሰሩም ነው። በግልጽም ይሁን በስውር እንግዲ ይህ እውነት ከአቶ ሌንጮ ይሁን ከድርጅታቸው የተሰወረ እውነት ነው አልልም ።ታዲያ ይህ እውነት እያለ የእሳቸውም ይሁን የድርጅታቸው ራዕይ ወይም አላማ ምን  ይሆን?   እሳቸው እዳሉት ወደ አገር ገብቶ በመታገል አዲስ ታሪክ መስራት ወይስ ከትግል ማረፍ እሳቸው እዳሉት ወደ አገር ገብቶ በመታገል አዲስ ታሪክ መስራት እንዳልሆነ እሙን ነው። እኔ ግን ከትግል እራስን ማግለል ይመሰለኛል። ተራ ንግግር ተናገርክ አትበሉኝ እንጂ ወደአገር የሚያስገባቸው እውነት ቤተሰብ ወገን የተወለዱበት ቀዬ ናፍቆት ይመስለኛል።  ይሄም ከተናገሩት ቃል መረዳት ይቻላል። ለማንኛውም ሁሉንም አብረን የምናየው ይሆናል  የእኔ መልእክት ግን በህዝባችን በኦሮሞ ህዝብ መነገድ ይቁም እላለው። 

Diddaan Gootota Barattoota Oromoo Yuniversitii Jimmaa Jabaachuu Irraan Wayyaaneen Doorsisa Eegaluun Gabaafame

Gabaasa: Amajjii 15/2014 Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaatti baratootni
Oromoo nagaan humnota tikaa fi poolisotaan doorsifamaa jirachuun ibsame jira. Haala kanaan Poolisotni Mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa fi bulchitootni dabballoonni Wayyaanee Mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa keessa jiran baratoota Oromoo sadii irratti beeksisa waajjira dhimma nageenya poolisa mooraa yuunivarsiititti akka dhiyaattan jechuun baratoota Medicine lama fi barataa Afaan Oromoo Folklorii tokko irratti beeksisa baasuun bulchiinsi wajjira poolisii Mooraa Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa kan baratoota Oromoo dararuu qofaaf dhaabbate, ni arii’amtu jechuun balleessa tokko malee baratoota Oromoo doorsisaa jiraachuun gabaafamera. baratootni haala kanaan dorsifamaa jiran:
1. Barataa Guutasaa Jaalataa barataa Medicine waggaa 5ffaa
2. Barataa Sanyii Iddoosaa barataa Medicine waggaa 5ffaa
3. Barataa Zabbanaa Barasaa barataa Afaan Oromoo Folklore waggaa
3ffaa kanneen jedhaman badii tokko malee sababa Oromoo ta’an qofaaf barnoota irraa ni arii’amtu, ni hidhamtuu jechuun dorsifaman. Kana malees sabboontootni baratootni Oromoo hedduun Yuunivarsiitii Jimmaa irra barachaa jiran humna tikaa fi poolisaan bilbila isanii irratti bilbiluun illee akka dorsifama jiran ibsatani jiru.Gochaan shiftummaa fi faashistumma abbaa irruumma Wayyaanee kun baratoota Oromoo cufa fincila diddaa garbummaa (FDG)f kan kakaase ta’uun ibsame.
Haaluma walfakkatuun humini waraana Wayyaanee gara Yuuniversiitiiwwaa dhiha Oromiyaa Jimmaa, Mattuu, Amboo fi Wallaggaa irratti xiyyeeffannoo addaa gochuun humna waraanaan eegaa jirachuun gabaafame jira.
Haala kana ilaalchisuun gaggeesitooti Qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo dhiha Oromiyaa dhaamsa dabarsee jira. Baratootni Oromoo bakka jirtan hundaa dammaqa, mirga keenya kabachiisuu fi doorsisaa, hidhaa, sakkatta’insa seeraan alaa, sirna minilik amma wayyaneen nurraatti farsisaa jiru dhaabufi abbaa irrumma of irra dhaabsisuuf tokkummaan mootummaa wayyaanee dura dhaabbachuu qabna. Dorsiifni, hidhaan ,sakkata’insii, ajjechaan, arii’atamuu fi heddumni waraanaa kayyoo bilisummaa saba keenya danquu kan hin dandeenyee; kanaaf dubatti kan nu hin deebinee ta’uu akeekkachiisna.

Ethiopia: A Call for an End to the Endless Violence against Oromo Nationals

HRLHA Press Release

January 12, 2014

In the past twenty two years, the peoples of Ethiopian and the outside world have witnessed the EPRDF Government’s incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Oromo Nationals from all walks of life in jails, unofficial detention centers and concentration camps simply for allegedly being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), whom the ruling party has deemed a terrorist group, and some other opposition political organizations. Due to the inappropriate and inhuman treatments by the government security members, hundreds of Oromos died, suffered from physical disabilities resulting from tortures, and most of those who were taken to court were given harsh sentences including life in prison and capital punishments or death penalty. Oromo intellectuals, Businessmen, and the members of legally operating Oromo parties (for example the Oromo People`s Congress (OPC) and Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM)) have been among the victims of the EPRDF/TPLF Government’s suppressive political system. The most worrisome is that the Oromo youth, who were even born after the EPRDF/TPLF government came to power, have become the major victims of the Government’s brutalities under the same allegations of supporting and/or sympathizing with Oromo opposition political organizations. In the past decade or so, thousands of young Oromo students of universities, colleges, high schools and intermediate academic institutions have been criminalized for allegedly being member or sympathizers of the Oromo Libration Front. A lot of them have killed, tortured, and thousands are still languishing behind bars, while thousands others have been banned from being part of any level of educational opportunities; and, as a result, have became jobless, homeless, etc. Tenth of thousands have fled their homeland and become refugees in neighboring countries.

Read More :- HRLHA PR- January 2014.pdf Amajjii 2014

Outcome of persecution in Ethiopia: 3,000 to 5,000 Oromo Homeless Kids in Hargeisa

ARE DESPISED AND ABUSED BY JUST ABOUT EVERYONE THEY MEET

By Sean Williams

Mukhtar stands outside the Ethiopian café where he shines shoes every day

January 14, 2014 (Vice) — On an ordinary night, after the sun sets over Hargeisa, Somaliland, Mohamed packs up his shoe-shine kit and heads to the storm drain where he lives when he’s not working. All things considered, it’s a good spot for the 12-year-old to sleep—the discarded snack wrappers and plastic bottles help keep him warm, and when the sun creeps in each morning the shadow of a nearby skyscraper shields him from the heat.

The skyscraper, which was built in 2012 and houses a company whose business is to bring high-speed internet from neighboring Djibouti, is one of the many symbols of Hargeisa’s relative wealth. The city itself is the crown jewel of Somaliland, a self-declared republic in northwest Somalia.

Although Somaliland’s sovereignty has yet to be formally recognized by any other country or the UN, it has its own democratically elected government and a 30,000-strong military. Its nascent borders contain valuable natural resources—the Turkish oil company Genel plans to drill for oil there in the next two years—and the bustling northern port city of Berbera, which are two good reasons Somalia doesn’t want the region to secede. The government in the terror-torn capital, Mogadishu may also be clinging to the hope that Somaliland’s peace and prosperity could spill over into the rest of the region. But whatever the contours of this convoluted political landscape, at the very least Somaliland feels like a separate nation; houses in Hargeisa fly the tricolored flag the region adopted in 1996 instead of Somalia’s sky-blue standard.

Just a few decades ago, Somaliland was a broken place. Under the rule of Siad Barre, a ruthless dictator who took control of Somalia in 1969, nine years after the end of European colonial rule, Somalilanders were brutalized and disenfranchised. Barre forbade any explicit mention of the clan lines that have long divided the region from Somalia, and his troops infamously opened fire on protesters outside Hargeisa’s soccer stadium in 1990. After Barre was ousted in 1991, Somalia fell into a deadly civil war that is still being fought 23 years later. For over a decade, Hargeisa remained a tattered, smoking shell of a city.

Slowly, however, things started to change. The city has been bombing-free since 2008, which by the standards of its geopolitical neighborhood is a minor miracle. The region’s relative safety has persuaded thousands of wealthy Somalilanders who fled the unrest for the US, Europe, and Asia to return to their homeland, bringing their Western cash with them. The now autonomous region has its own currency, 16 universities, and more than 200,000 students enrolled in primary and secondary schools. If southern Somalia is a nation by name only, then Somaliland is its antithesis—a country in all but name, at least officially.

Outside downtown Hargeisa’s central market

No matter how prosperous Somaliland might become, it’s doubtful that any of that good fortune will trickle down to Hargeisa’s homeless children—young outcasts living completely on their own who are at best ignored and at worst abused and treated like vermin. They are a near-constant presence, crawling around the shadows of alleys and squares in a city where poverty and wealth butt heads on nearly every street corner: shiny new office blocks sit beside ancient shacks, currency traders have set up open-air stands where they display piles of cash, Hyundais brush past donkeys down the city’s sole paved street.

Behind that street is a café that serves up coffee and soup to midmorning breakfasters. This is where I first met Mohamed. “Salam,” he said quietly after I introduced myself.

Mohamed told me that if he sleeps too close to the skyscraper that shields him from the light of dawn, a security guard beats him with an acacia branch until he bleeds. I noticed that he had an old lemonade bottle tucked under his filthy sweatshirt. It was filled with glue, perhaps the only escape he has from his harsh existence. He took huffs every few minutes as he spoke to me: “I could stop. I could definitely stop. But it’s hard… And why?”

According to the Hargeisa Child Protection Network, there are 3,000 to 5,000 homeless youth in the city, most of whom are Oromo migrants from Ethiopia. Around 200 a year complete the voyage through Somaliland and across the Gulf of Aden into Yemen, where they attempt to cross the border to Saudi Arabia and find work; many more don’t make it.

For more than four decades the Oromo have been fleeing persecution in Ethiopia, where they have long been politically marginalized. Mohamed arrived in Somaliland as part of this ongoing migration. Five years ago, he told me, his family made the 500-mile trek from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, to Hargeisa. The Somaliland government claims up to 80,000 illegal immigrants—mostly Ethiopians—reside in its territory. Many of them trickled in through the giant border of Ogaden, a vast, dusty outback on the edge of Ethiopia’s Somali Region (the easternmost of the country’s nine ethnic divisions, which, as the name implies, is mostly populated by ethnic Somalis). Some travel in cars arranged by fixers. Others make the long journey on foot. Almost all won’t make it past the border without a bribe. Given their options, a few bucks for freedom seemed liked the best deal for Mohamed’s family. But after their migration, things only got worse.

A short time after his family arrived in Somaliland—he’s not sure exactly when—Mohamed’s father died of tuberculosis. Quickly running out of options, he left his mother in a border town called Borama to try to eke out a living, working whatever job was available some 90 miles away in Hargeisa.

Instead Mohamed ended up where he is now, wandering around the city with his friends and fellow Ethiopian migrants Mukhtar and Hamza (all three have adopted Muslim-sounding names to better blend into the local population). Their days mostly consist of shining shoes for 500 Somaliland shillings (seven cents) a pop and taking many breaks in between jobs to sniff glue.

On a good day, the boys will combine their meager earnings and pay to sleep on the floors of migrant camps on the outskirts of town, where persecuted people from all over East Africa live in corrugated shanties in the desert. If they don’t shine enough shoes, it’s back to the storm drain. “I live in the walls,” Mukhtar said. “No one knows me.”

Though they fled Ethiopia to escape persecution, the Oromo migrants often endure even worse treatment in Hargeisa. The first time I met Mohamed’s friend Hamza he was plodding through the crowd at an outdoor restaurant, offering shoe shines in the midday sun. An older man dressed in a cream apparatchik suit like a James Bond villain sitting next to me shouted at the child, who cowered, turned, and ran away. “Fucking kids,” he said to me in perfect English. “God can provide for them.”

Mohamed poses for the camera while Ibrahim takes a hit from a glue bottle behind him.

Reports by the local press on Hargeisa’s growing homeless- youth population have done nothing to help the kids’ reputation. The authorities have told journalists that street kids are the city’s gravest security threat amid a backdrop of tables covered with gruesome shivs, shanks, and machetes supposedly confiscated from the wily urchins. “The grown-up street children have become the new gangsters,” local police chief Mohamed Ismail Hirsi told the IRIN news agency in 2009.

Officials are similarly apathetic to the notion of helping the young migrants get out of their rut, likely because Somaliland and Somalia are already dealing with enough horrific humanitarian crises without having to worry about another country’s displaced people—in 2012, the number of Somalis fleeing their own country topped a million.

Somaliland boasts “a vibrant traditional social-welfare support system,” according to its National Vision 2030 plan—a grand scheme unveiled in 2012 that aims to continue to improve the region’s standard of living. The plan also acknowledges that “there are, however, times when vulnerable groups such as street children, displaced people, young children, and mothers are excluded from traditional social safety nets [and] the government… has a responsibility to intervene.” So far, the only evidence that the government intends to follow through with the plan is a struggling 400-capacity orphanage in Hargeisa. Unsurprisingly, government officials in Somaliland refused repeated requests for comment on this issue or any other issues pertaining to this article.

At the Somaliland government’s last count, in 2008, the region’s population was 3.5 million, but with so many people flooding in from the south and Ethiopia each year, it’s impossible to say how many hundreds of thousands more live there now. It’s hard to assign all the blame to the burgeoning nation’s embattled and overwhelmed authorities; there’s simply no room and too few resources to think too deeply about glue-addicted kids roaming the streets.

One claim that the government can’t make is that these kids have chosen to live in squalor; for them, there are no viable alternatives. Somaliland offers no government-funded public education—schools are generally run by NGOs, and other private groups rarely accept Oromo children as students. Even if they did, enrollment would be a nightmare because the vast majority of these kids are without identification, homes, or relatives living nearby. They’re often left on their own to scratch out an existence in a city that hates them and offers them next to nothing.

Ismail Yahye, who works for the Save the Children campaign, used to be a Somaliland street kid himself. He despairs at the pipe dreams they are fed before relocating from Ethiopia—many leave home believing the rumors about how life is so much better in Somaliland.

“The main reasons they come here are for economic prosperity and job opportunities,” he said. “They pay bribes at the border and come by foot. They can’t return. They’re trapped.”

The Hargeisa Child Protection Network reports that 88 percent of the city’s homeless children have suffered some form of sexual abuse or harassment. All of the boys I met denied having been raped or abused during their time on the streets, but my fixer told me he strongly believed that they were too ashamed and scared to admit to any such incidents.

In this very unfriendly and inhospitable city, a Somali American named Shafi is one of the few residents who goes out of his way to help the kids. In another life, Shafi was a drug dealer in Buffalo, New York, a job that landed him in prison before he cleaned up his act and decided to return to the city of his birth to do good. Now he provides Hargeisa’s street urchins with the occasional meal, helps them organize games of soccer or basketball, and finds safe places where they can stay at night. But he is only one man and knows he can’t save them all. Most still end up sleeping in the drains, left to die of starvation or diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid fever. “I’ve carried quite a few dead children through these streets,” he told me.

Many kids earn small amounts of cash doing menial tasks like shoe-shining and washing cars. Others find work running alcohol, which is illegal in the Muslim state. If you ever find yourself at a party in one of Hargeisa’s sprawling, plush villas, chances are the gin in your gimlet was smuggled into the country by a kid who sleeps in a gutter.

It was with Shafi’s help that I was first able to meet Hargeisa’s Oromo children. He told me the best place to find them was around the convenience stores they visit daily to buy fresh glue. On our first attempt and without much searching, Shafi and I found a couple of kids who appeared to be homeless hanging out in an alley near a school. We spoke with them for a bit, and when I felt that everyone was comfortable I pulled out my camera. Before I could take their photos, a guy who said he was an off-duty cop appeared out of nowhere. He approached us, shouting at me in gravelly Somali and quickly confiscating the bottles of glue from the kids.

“He called you a pedophile,” Shafi translated, adding that it would benefit me to reimburse the boys for their stolen solvents.

After the cop left, one of the boys grew somber. “I hope I stop using,” he said. As he spoke I noticed the painful sores etched across his face. “I just miss my family. I haven’t seen them in years. I’m alone and no one helps me.”

The stigma that surrounds these children is such that even those trying to help them are treated with suspicion—as are reporters hoping to tell their story, as I found out the hard way one night while Shafi and I were trying to track down Mohamed and his friends.

It was a typical breezy fall evening, full of the usual scenes: men sipping tea and debating loudly, women and children hustling soup and camel meat, a mess of car horns cleaving the air. Shafi was sure the kids were nearby, but that didn’t mean much because they usually try to remain hidden so as not to cause a scene.

It didn’t take much time to spot Hamza’s tattered bootleg Barcelona soccer jersey peeking out from behind the edge of a wall. As we approached, more kids appeared from behind parked cars and emerged from alleys, and some even popped out of a nearby storm drain. Within minutes more than two dozen homeless children had surrounded us, clamoring for cash and posing for pictures. An empty square in the middle of town had suddenly transformed into a glue-sniffers’ agora.

Our time with the kids didn’t last long. A couple minutes later an old man who was lounging outside a nearby café decided he’d had enough, sprung to his feet, walked over to us, and began hitting me and the kids with his walking stick.

Some of the children scattered. Others stayed, presumably with the hope that holding out for the payout from the Western journalist would be worth the licks. In a surreal moment, as the old man continued to swing his stick and scream, one boy, who said his name was Hussein, walked over and, huffing on his glue pot, told me about his hopes and dreams. “I want to be a doctor,” he said, staggering about and staring straight through me. “Sometimes I dream when I get hungry. But there’s no food here, no help. I expected a better life. I don’t now. But sometimes, I wish.”

Just then, a scuffle broke out—the old man had lured a couple of his friends into the argument, and they came to the collective decision to grab me and smash my camera. Shafi and my driver, Mohammed, struggled to hold them back.

Two cops arrived on the scene soon after the scuffle. Instead of punishing the old man for attacking the kids and trying to destroy my camera, they dragged me off to a festering cinder-block carcass covered in graffiti that serves as the local jail.

“You cannot photograph the children without their permission,” the more senior cop said, pointing to my camera. “They do not want you to photograph them.”

Shafi translated as I tried to explain to the policeman that that the kids were clearly desperate forsomeone to be interested in their plight, and that they were even posing for pictures. That’s when I stopped, realizing that the subject wasn’t up for debate. It was clear that writing about or photographing these street children was taboo.

In the end, I compromised by deleting most of the photos I had taken and then sat in a corner of the jail while my driver, Mohammed, and my captors read one another’s horoscopes outside the gates.

A couple hours later I was released. Mohammed was waiting for me outside, and he immediately pulled me aside to tell me something that I had already accepted the moment I entered the jail: my reporting on the children had come to an end.

Mohammed looked unnerved. “We can leave now, Insha’Allah… The kids thing is over. They are invisible.”

Source: wardheer news