Guji Oromo need freedom from liberators
AUGUST 4, 2020
Source: Ethiopia Insight
BY
NAGESSA DUBE
In West and East Guji zones, the Oromo Liberation Army is not living up to its name
From the day I arrived in Ethiopia from the U.S.
in late February, I began collecting information about the strife in the two Guji zones of southern Oromia. Even among those at Bole Airport to welcome me, some had relatives in the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). They were in tears as they told me of the atrocities being committed against civilians by the rebels.As I learned during nearly two months on the ground in my home district of Negelle, where I was a parliamentary candidate in 2010, both the government and the rebels are committing abuses.
On the government side, for instance, 20 people were killed by security forces in two weredas (districts) of West Gujii zone in December 2018. Thirteen died in a small town called Finchawa on 28 December, and seven more were killed in Gelana Wereda of the West Gujii zone that same day. The killings, according to informants, were in apparent retaliation for a motorcycle gunman’s attack on an army convoy that had been heading back to its base. Upset at that incident, the army started shooting into a packed street in Finchawa town. The same scenario played out in Gelana.
Another six people were reported to have been executed by government military forces on 20 May 2019 at a place called Derara in East Gujii zone, Gorodola Wereda, after rebels fired at another government convoy. These killings were noted in an Amnesty International report issued in January.
This information was gathered from sources, but a lot of it is corroborated in a more recent Amnesty report, “Beyond Law Enforcement” which documents the launch of a multi-agency law-enforcement offensive against armed separatists in December 2018. This coincided with the surge in killings by security forces noted above.
However, the rebels are also guilty of terrorizing civilians.
The OLA—an armed splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front
(OLF)—has killed more than 700 civilians since April 2018 in East and West Gujii zones, according to Haaji Umar Nagessa, an elder whom they recently assassinated, as revealed in his interview on Oromia Media Network. Several cases of torture, rape and sexual abuse, killings, robbery and vandalism including arson were recorded by Haaji Umar. Abductions for ransom are common.
Thus what occurred in Guji is Oromo on Oromo crime and murder. oromo civilians are a target both of OLF and OPDO both use acts of violence and both are oromo killing each other. this is due to Guji lacking a Amhara Population so they resort to killing each other
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