Walgahii Hawaasa Oromoo Harstad(kaaba Norway) fi naannoo sanii fi Konya ABO kaaba Norway

FDG Qeerroon wal qabatee lixa Shawaa aanaalee adda addaa irraa barattooti Oromoo 24 waraana Wayyaaneen qabaman.

Bitootessa 09,214 Miidaaqenyii

Bitootessaa 9/2014 Godina Lixaa Shawaa keessatti goototni baratootni Oromoo manneen barnootaa sadarkaa 2ffaa Geedoo fi Midaa Qanyii M/B Ballaammii sadarkaa 2ffaa Yaadannoo gooticha Oromoo barataa Wandimmuu Daammanaa fi FDG itti fufisisaa jiraachuun wal qabatee baratootni Oromoo M/B Midaa Qanyii Ballaammii sadarkaa 2ffaa fi qopha’ina irraa baratootni 24 humna poolisa Wayyaaneen qabamanii dararamuun jiraachuun gabaasi naannicha irraa nu gahe addeessa.

Haala kanaan maatii fi uummanni naannoo diddaa bulchiinsa naannoo irratti kaasaniin barattooti kun hatattamaan akka gadhiifaman gaafataa jiru .

Itti aansuun yeroo ammaa kanatti FDG barattootaan ka’e itti fufuu irraan barattoota 24 keessaa 13 mootummaa Wayyaaneen haalaan dararamaa warri jiran keessaa:-

1,Barataa Biraanuu Cimdeessaa barataa kutaa 12ffaa
2 .Alamuu Tayyee barataa kutaa 10ffaa
3. Dammumaa Tasfayee barataa kutaa 10ffaa.
4. Tashoomaa Dhugaasaa barataa kutaa 12ffaa
5. Guddataa Moosisaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
6. Geetuu Cimdeessaa batarataa kolleejji irra eebbifame hojii dhabee
7. waggarii Fiixaa, barataa kutaa 10ffaa
8. kabbabaa ababaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
9 .Zrihuum garbee barataa kutaa 10ffaa
10..Ababee Waaqumaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
11..Obsuu Takkalaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
12..Fedhasaa dirribaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
13..Gaja’ee Barasaa barataa kutaa 9ffaa dabalatee baratootni 24 badii tokko malee humna poolisaan qabamanii dararamaa jiraachuun beekame.

Godinuma kana Aanota garaagaraa keessattis uummaanni walga’ii maqaa misoomaa dahoo godhatee olola siyaasa Wayyaanee gaggeeffamu uummanni hin fudhannu jechuun jibbinsa Wayyaaneef qabu argisiisa jiraachuun ibsame jira.

Ethiopia: Political Detainees Tortured (Human rights watch )

Police Abuse Journalists, Opponents to Extract Confessions

OCTOBER 18, 2013

(Nairobi) – Ethiopian authorities have subjected political detainees to torture and other ill-treatment at the main detention center in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government should take urgent steps to curb illegal practices in the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector, known as Maekelawi, impartially investigate allegations of abuse, and hold those responsible to account.

The 70-page report, “‘They Want a Confession’: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station,” documents serious human rights abuses, unlawful interrogation tactics, and poor detention conditions in Maekelawi since 2010. Those detained in Maekelawi include scores of opposition politicians, journalists, protest organizers, and alleged supporters of ethnic insurgencies. Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 35 former Maekelawi detainees and their relatives who described how officials had denied their basic needs, tortured, and otherwise mistreated them to extract information and confessions, and refused them access to legal counsel and their relatives.

“Ethiopian authorities right in the heart of the capital regularly use abuse to gather information,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “Beatings, torture, and coerced confessions are no way to deal with journalists or the political opposition.”

Since the disputed elections of 2005, Ethiopia has intensified its clampdown on peaceful dissent. Arbitrary arrest and political prosecutions, including under the country’s restrictive anti-terrorism law, have frequently been used against perceived opponents of the government who have been detained and interrogated at Maekelawi.

Maekelawi officials, primarily police investigators, have used various methods of torture and ill-treatment against those in their custody. Former detainees described to Human Rights Watch being slapped, kicked, and beaten with various objects, including sticks and gun butts, primarily during interrogations. Detainees also described being held in painful stress positions for hours upon end, hung from the wall by their wrists, often while being beaten.

A student from Oromiya described being shackled for several months in solitary confinement: “When I wanted to stand up it was hard: I had to use my head, legs, and the walls to stand up. I was still chained when I was eating. They would chain my hands in front of me while I ate and then chain them behind me again afterward.”

Detention conditions in Maekelawi’s four primary detention blocks are poor but vary considerably. In the worst block, known as “Chalama Bet” (dark house in Amharic), former detainees said their access to daylight and to a toilet were severely restricted, and some were held in solitary confinement. Those in “Tawla Bet” (wooden house) complained of limited access to the courtyard outside their cells and flea infestations. Investigators use access to basic needs and facilities to punish or reward detainees for their compliance with their demands, including by transferring them between blocks. Short of release, many yearn to be transferred to the block known as “Sheraton,” named for the international hotel, where movement is freer.

Detainees held in Chalama Bet and Tawla Bet were routinely denied access to their lawyers and relatives, particularly in the initial phase of detention. Several family members told Human Rights Watch that they had visited Maekelawi daily but that officials denied them access to their detained relative until the lengthy investigation phase was over. The absence of a lawyer during interrogations increases the likelihood of abuse, and limits the chances for documenting abuse and obtaining redress.

“Cutting detainees off from their lawyers and relatives not only heightens the risk of abuse but creates enormous pressure to comply with the investigators’ demands,” Lefkow said. “Those in custody in Maekelawi need lawyers at their interrogations and access to their relatives, and should be promptly charged before a judge.”

Human Rights Watch found that investigators used coercive methods, including beatings and threats of violence, to compel detainees to sign statements and confessions. These statements have sometimes been used to exert pressure on people to work with the authorities after they are released, or used as evidence in court.

Martin Schibbye, a Swedish journalist held in Maekelawi in 2011, described the pressure used to extract confessions: “For most people in Maekelawi, they keep them until they give up and confess, you can spend three weeks with no interviews, it’s just waiting for a confession, it’s all built around confession. Police say it will be sorted in court, but nothing will be sorted out in court.”

Detainees have limited channels for redress for ill-treatment.  Ethiopia’s courts lack independence, particularly in politically sensitive cases. Despite numerous allegations of abuse by defendants, including people held under the anti-terrorism law, the courts have taken inadequate steps to investigate these allegations or to protect defendants complaining of mistreatment from reprisals.

The courts should be more proactive in responding to complaints of mistreatment, but that can happen only if the government allows the courts to act independently and respects their decisions, Human Rights Watch said.

Ethiopia has severely restricted independent human rights investigation and reporting in recent years, hampering monitoring of detention conditions in Maekelawi. The governmental Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has visited Maekelawi three times since 2010 and publicly raised concerns about incommunicado detention. However, former detainees told Human Rights Watch that Maekelawi officials were present during those visits, preventing them from talking with commission members privately, and questioned their impact.

Improved human rights monitoring in Maekelawi and other detention facilities requires revision of two repressive laws, the Charities and Societies Proclamation and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. These laws have significantly reduced independent human rights monitoring and removed basic legal safeguards against torture and ill-treatment in detention.

Ethiopia’s constitution and international legal commitments require officials to protect all detainees from mistreatment, and the Ethiopian authorities at all levels have a responsibility both to end abusive practices and to prosecute those responsible. While the Ethiopian government has developed a three-year human rights action plan that acknowledges the need to improve the treatment of detainees, the plan does not address physical abuse and torture; it focuses on capacity building rather than on the concrete political action needed to end the routine abuse.

“More funds and capacity building alone will not end the widespread mistreatment in Maekelawi and other Ethiopian detention centers,” Lefkow said. “Real change demands action from the highest levels of government against all those responsible to root out the underlying culture of impunity.”

go to link http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/10/18/ethiopia-political-detainees-tortured

Trondheim, Norway: Public Rally for Oromo Human Rights and Freedom march o1,2014

The Oromo Community in the Trondheim, Norway, in cooperation with OLF, Trondheim, and Oromo asylum seekers, in Norway organized a public protest (rally) to protest and expose crimes against humanity by the current TPLF regime in Ethiopia against Oromo nationals. They showed togetherness by standing for human right.

Oromo women protest male violence under banner of goddess Atete

By VELEDA

March 7, 2014 (Source Memory) — I found this article while searching for information about the Oromo goddess Atete on a scholarly database. Here the southern Ethiopian goddess hardly appears in her own right, most of the Oromo having (incompletely) converted to Islam or Christianity. Yet she has survived in women’s domain, especially in a ceremonial period around birth, known as Qanafa, which remains sacrosanct. The women fiercely defend this time sacred to Atete and, although they are abused at other times, militantly confront men who commit abuse during the Qanafa seclusion. Much of the information available about Atete revolves around these ritualized female protests rather than the actual rites of the goddess.

Jeylan W. Hussein. “A Cultural Representation of Women in the Oromo Society.” African Study Monographs 25 (3), October 2004, pp 103-147 Online:

Oromo scholar Jeylan Hussein outlines the decline in women’s status in recent history, losses that have accelerated since conversions to Christianity (pushed by the dominant Amhara group) and Islam (embraced by many as a means of resisting these traditional enemies of the Oromo). He cites testimony of elders and historical records that indicate that women’s status was better in earlier times and that gender inequality hardened in the colonial era. [108-9]

It’s not that the old laws weren’t patriarchal. Oromo society was already patrilineal, with a harsh sexual double standard that stigmatized females and practiced boy-preference. Men who could afford it married several women, and senior wives ranked far above additional wives and concubines. Hussein analyzes numerous proverbs, showing how they describe women as inferior beings, as weak, fickle, irrational. They overwhelmingly depict women as men’s chattel. Several proverbs advocate beating wives, and compare them to donkeys and horses who could be tamed and beaten at will. As Hussein summarizes, Oromo sayings prescribe male mastery and female subordination. [121-28]

Men “actively excluded” women from the Gada generational system. However, when men held their assemblies, women used their work songs to make their position known with “pointed commentary… or a direct criticism of some unjust or unwise decision the men are contemplating.” [Legesse, 1973: 20-21, in Hussein,109]

Oral tradition also says that Oromo women received certain regalia and powers from the Gada system. An official called the Abba Gada brought to his wife two insignia of female honor and authority, a sinqe (ritual stick) and a qanafa (sacred piece of wood). She used the sinqe in anointments and other important ceremonies. The qanafa was to be tied around her forehead while giving birth, and for several months afterward. This wearing of the qanafa represented the high dignity of mothers, and served as the focal point of female protest and resistence.

Among the Shoa Oromo, most people are nominally Orthodox Christians, but the old religion is still in the mix: “One example of this is the periodic observance of muuda (anointment) by both men and women, and Atete (female divinity) by women.” [105] In Oromo religion, Hussein contrasts “the patriarchal view of Waaq, and the matriarchal view of women’s divinities such as Atete and Marame.” [110] Women’s Atete rituals belong to a cultural belief that women are intermediaries between the spiritual and physical, and “that Waaq listens to women’s desire and instantly responds to it.” [111]

Hussein disputes early British accounts of Atete as a fertility goddess with annual ceremonies. He says that there is no fixed date for her festival: “Whenever natural disasters fall, women gather and perform the ritual.” So when crops failed, the rains stopped, epidemics spread, or in times of war, it was the women who prayed to relieve the hardships. The men formally asked them to “gather around a sacred Qiltu (sycamore tree), distinguished ford or high ground, or any renowned ujubaa (tree shrine). The women gathered and prayed to revert the affliction.” [111]

Hussein offers one example of “rainmaking Atete hymns of the Arsi Oromo women” intended to win favor from Waaq. Once again, Atete is not named, only “the Lord,” indicating that revisions have erased the goddess from “Atete hymns.” Tradition held that after women’s prayer, Waaq “would immediately provide the community members with a much rain as they wanted.” He notes this as a female “leadership role” that also “indicates the subtle interconnection betweenayyaan (spirituality), uumaa (nature) and saffuu (ethical and moral code). [111-112]

Women use the Atete ceremony, among other things, for rituals of conception. An Arsi couple would ask the saddeetoo senior mothers sodality to set up an Atete ritual for them. The village women would gather and celebrate a sing with call and response prayers.  Among the Borana, a childless woman would come  to a mother of dabballe (young men of rank) for blessing. Her forehead and belly were rubbed with butter and libations of milk and honey wine poured. [112; 137, note 11]

By all accounts, however, Oromo women have lost ground. The most traditional groups retained a base for female solidarity that reached across divisions of kin and marriage ties. The Arsi Oromo called this female organization saddeetoo or saddeettan hanfalaa. This group of married and older women “provides the women with the impetus to participate in village councils and the cultural vehicle to mobilize en masse against mistreatment by men.” [103-07]

It was these female groups that invoked Atete “to counter male atrocities and to enforce religious sanctions against related misbehaviors.” Women’s primary impetus to action was a violation of the qanafa post-birth sanctity during which family members are supposed “to please the mother and avoid annoying her.” The husband has to respect taboos surrounding birth, which include not abusing his wife. If he beats or verbally abuses her “while she is observing this ritual, the wife throws off any responsibility at hand and heads straight to communicate the matter to thesaddeettan hanfalaa (council of senior mothers).” Even when the woman tries to kept such abuse secret, other women tell the female elders’ council. “Then, the senior mothers mobilize en masseagainst the atrocity committed by the husband. As a result of this, all of the women in the village abandon their individual houses, and protest against the offense.”

“The village women consider the offense committed against a single woman as violation committed against them as a group. Hence, no woman in the village is excused from the protest unless and otherwise she has an absolute inconvenience she has no control over.” They will not tolerate any woman who breaks this female solidarity. … After abandoning their houses, the women gather in the compound of the misbehaving husband and sing songs of resentment.” They may also decide to lay a curse on him. [113]

“Once they are in Atete ceremony, the women are observing a ritual and many taboos come into full force.” [113] No one can speak to them or cross their path as they go in procession. Bystanders have to stop and wait respectfully until they have passed, or risk a most serious curse resulting in incurable illness, ruin, or madness. To avoid these magical disasters, the male elders approach the senior women to find out what the problem is. If the male elders do not intervene immediately, the women leave and take refuge with another clan. Custom requires that they be received with honor, and their heads anointed with butter. The elders of that clan would then get in touch with male elders of the boycotted clan. These elders would have to ritually make amends and agree to deal with the abusive husband.

The ritual of reconciliation begins with the male elders taking a sheaf of green grass to the women (a sign  of reverence) and reciting a formal apology for invading their space. The male elders say all together, Dhiltee dhinna (save us from your eyes). The women elders accept the grass, responding, Hoffola Hobbaya (Be saved!) or Ijarraa hafaa! (Survive our eyes!). [In the footnotes, Hussein explains that “Save us from your eyes” is a standard disclaimer when facing a big gathering, that looking at the group, in this case at the women, is not to be considered shameless or bold.] After this opening, the men ask the women why they are protesting. One of the female elders recounts the crimes committed against the female community, against motherhood (protected by Atete, thus this protest is named for the goddess). “If need be, she reminds the male elders the lallaba of the good old days, when they were granted honour.” [114]

The outcome is that the wrongdoer makes amends by “compensating the group and appeasing their divinity.” He usually does this by sacrificing a cow or calf for the women to feast on. “If the offender does not confess his mistake in person or in absentia, the women impose a more serious curse called abaarsa sinqee (the curse of sinqe). This is the stage when all of the women rest theirsinqe (ritual sticks) on the ground and pray to Waaq for the offender to be ruined.” So the Atete society has two sanctions: this one against a single person, and the bidhaa against the council of male elders. [114]

Hussein writes that the Atete ceremony has two functions: one is regulating women’s morality (but she says nothing about this). The other is to enable women to challenge male domination as a group. She observes that this ceremony is seriously endangered, like so much other Oromo culture. He discusses the pressures from Islam, particularly the “fanatical” Wahabi sect active in her country: “In the region, the preachers of this movement indignify those who cling to indigenous creeds by calling them Awaama or Jahila (ignorant). They condemn the traditional religious practices in its entirety as shirk (heretical)…” Hussein observes that Muslim Oromo women are abandoning the Atete rituals, and thus losing a significant mechanism of solidarity and resistance. [115]

“The gradual expansion of the two universalistic religions, Islam and Christianity, has directly or indirectly contributed towards the decline of the value of the Oromo women’s Atete ritual over the last century. With the recent resurgence of the competitive religions, their religious influence on the communal practices of the people has gained maximum momentum.”

© 2010 Max Dashu

The women’s ritual stick is especially interesting, since this appears in the Saharan murals as well as in modern South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and other parts of Africa, as well as on other continents.

I originally posted this commentry on the Suppressed Histories Facebook page after a reader who challenged my suggestion that a woman’s bruised eye could have anything to do with male batterer pattern. It gives ample evidence of endemic and sanctioned wife-beatings in that cultural context, but the feminist Oromo scholar’s article is interesting for another reason. He shows how Goddess veneration provided a basis for female solidarity and resistance, even though it had shrunk to apply only to periods of pregnancy and birth, and even as the goddess Atete herself was being done away with by christianization and islamicization.

Yaadannoo Wareegamuu Goota Oromoo Barataa Wandimmuu Daamanaan Wal Qabatee Barattooti 6 Ukkamfaman.FDG Itti Fufe.

Godina Lixa Shawaa Aanaa Midaa Qanyii fi Aanaa Calliyaa Geedootti FDG haalaan jabaata ta’ee itti fufe jira. Goototni Qeerroon baratootni Oromoo mana barumsaa Ballaammii sadarkaa lammaaffaa fi qophaa’ina fi mana barumsaa Geedoo sadarkaa lammaa fi Qophaa’ina guyyaa kana waggaa shanaffaa wareegamuu barataa Sabboonaa Oromoo Wandimmuu Dammanaa barataa kutaa 11ffaa M/B Geedootti utuu baratuu arrabsamuu fi maqaa xurreessa ilmaan habashaa fi ergamtootni Wayyaanee Uummata Oromoo irraatti gaggeessan mormuun diddaa bara 2001 akka lakkofsa Ethiopiatti FDG gaggeeffame keessatti adda dureen uummaata keenya maqaa xurreessuun, lafafuun, hadheessuuni fi xiqqeessuun dhaabbachuu qaba jechuun warreen FDG kaachisan keessa barataa Wandimmuu Dammanaa nama tokko waan ta’eef Diddaa baratootni Oromoo gaggeessan dura dhaabbachuuf mootummaan Wayyaanee humna waraanaa of harka qabu itti bobbasuun dhukaasaa baratoota Oromoo irraatti godheen barataa Wandiimmuu Dammanaa ajjeefamuun ni yaadatama.
Kanuma sababeeffachuun goototni baratootni Oromoo mana barumsaa Ballaammii sadarkaa 2ffaa fi Geedoo sadarkaa 2ffaa Bitootessaa 2 fi3/2014 yaadannoo sabboonaa Barataa Oromoo Wandimmuu dammanaaf yeroo shanaffaaf si’a gaggeessan kanatti dhunguu halluu alaabaa ABO qabsiifachuun guutummaatti barnoota dhaabuun yaaddannoo sammuu yeroo taasisan, kayyoo bilisummaa fi kabajamuu mirga Oromoo goototni ilmaan Oromoo bara baraan irraatti wareegaman yaadachuun qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo fulduratti tarkaanfachiisuuf FDG egalamee jiru ni jabeessina jechuun barruu warraqsa FDG kan gaaffii mirga abbaa biyyummaa Oromoo of irraa qabu Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo hoggansii dhiha Oromiyaa maxxansee uummataaf tamsaasaa jiru, Guutummaa magaalaa Ballaammii fi Geedoo keessatti uummataaf rabsuun barnotaa dhaabuun FDG qabsiisuun mormii wayyaaneef qaban ifatti argisiisan.
Kanaan wal qabatee M/B Ballammiitti sirni baruu fi barsiisuu guyyota lamaan kanaaf dhaabbate jiraachuun ibsame jira, sabaaba FDG armaan olitiin walqabatee Baratootni Oromoo nagaanhumna poolisii wayyaaneen qabamanii wajjira poolisii Aanaa Midaa
Qanyiitti hiraarfaman:
1,Barataa Biraanuu Cimdeessaa barataa kutaa 12ffaa
2 .Alamuu Tayyee barataa kutaa 10ffaa
3. Dammumaa Tasfayee barataa kutaa 10ffaa.
4. Tashoomaa Dhugaasaa barataa kutaa 12ffaa
5,Guddataa Moosisaa barataa kutaa 10ffaa
6. Geetuu Cimdeessaa batarataa kolleejji irra eebbifame hojii dhabee ta’aa jiru kanneen keessatti argaman baratoota Oromoo nagaa namoota 24 hidhuun hiraarsuu ibsamera. maqaa baratoota hafanii kan qaqqabsifnu ta’a.

Lixa Shawaa Geedoo Irraa Barattootni Oromoo 5n Tikoota Wayyaaneen Ukkaamfaman.

Gabaasaa Qeerroo Shawaa Lixaa Geedoo irraa;Bitootessa 05,mootummaan Wayyaanee ilmaan Oromoo mana hidhaatti guuruu irraa boodatti jechaa akka hin jirre gabaasota yeroodhaa gara yerootti dhiyaataa jiran irraa kan hubatamuudha. Akka gabaasaa Qeerroo ibsutti yaadannoo barataa kanaan dura Wayyaanee dhaan ajjeefame barataa Wandimmuu Daammanaa jedhamu yaadannoo isaaf barattootni mana barumsaa Geeddoo sadarkaa 2ffaa keessatti taasisaniin barattootni 5n tikoota Wayyaaneen qabamanii ukkaanfamanii jiru,kunis yaadannooma barataa due kanaaf godhameen achi keessatti haaloo bahuudhaaf walitti dhuftan,ejjennoo keessan cimsachuudha kan jedhuun mootummaan Wayyaanee barattoota adda duree dha jechuun qabaman maqaan isaanii kanaa gaditti kan ibsame:

1. Darejjee Baqqalaa-barataa kutaa 10ffaa
2. Namarraa Galataa-barataa kutaa 10ffaa
3. Tolasaa Guutaa-barataa kutaa 10ffaa
4. Mokonnin Xuwwii-barataa kutaa 12ffaa
5. Jamaal Abdii-barataa kutaa 12ffaa.

Barattootni kun yakka tokko malee yaadannooma barataa kanaaf godhameen tikoota wayyaaneetiin hara Bitootessa 05 qabamanii ukkaanfamanii jiru jedha Qeerroon magaalaa Geedoo irra.