The Ongoing War Between Habesha Fanno and Hybrid Biltsigina Is None of the Oromo’s Business!
By Fayyis Oromia*
Interestingly, the Habesha Fanno (modern name for the Naftagna) and the Hybrid Biltsigina, who once cooperated against the genuine and legitimate Oromo struggle, have now betrayed each other. The Amhara elites’ calculation was clever and strategic. They hijacked Dr. Abiy’s regime and used him to crush Tigrayan nationalism. Their plan was to continue using him against Oromo nationalists and then discard him.
Although Dr. Abiy betrayed the Oromo cause in an effort to appease the Amhara elites, they still viewed him as affiliated with the OLF and conspired against him. They were systematically organizing themselves across political and religious institutions, with support from Shabiya (Eritrean regime). In the meantime, it seems that Dr. Abiy sensed the threat and is now attempting to fight back.
The war has now become a conflict between two enemies of the Oromo: the “big evil” Fanno and the “lesser evil” Biltsigina. As long as Fanno does not become strong or dangerous enough to enter Oromia, this war between the two is none of the Oromo’s business.
A potentially effective way to counter the extremist Fanno force is to arm and empower other oppressed nationalities in the Amhara region—such as the Qemant, Agaw, and the Wollo Oromo—so they can govern their own homelands. Dr. Abiy should return Wolqayit to Tigray, allow the Qemant region with Gondar as its capital to gain autonomy, recognize the Agaw region including Lasta, Awi, and Wag, and support the Woyito in reclaiming Bahir Dar and its surroundings. Of course, Wollo, including Raya, is the northern part of Oromia.
Let our two enemies fight each other, but the Oromo should never allow the greater enemy to defeat the lesser one.
The anticipated war between the former Habesha colonizers of the Oromo (i.e., Woyane) and the current hybrid subjugators (i.e., Biltsigina) has already ended. Both were enemies of the Oromo, and their conflict was not the Oromo’s concern. The Oromo people rid themselves of Woyane’s colonization five years ago and are now struggling to achieve freedom from Biltsigina’s domination.
Genuine Oromo nationalists rallying behind the OLF/OLA and OFC should continue their fight against the ruling Oromo hybrids while simultaneously preventing the return of Fanno. These biologically and/or psychologically hybrid Oromos, led by Dr. Abiy, are highly deceptive. Outwardly they appear Oromo, but internally they align with Amhara ideology. Their goal is to maintain the long-standing dominance of the Amharic language and Amhara identity, while suppressing Afàn Oromô and Oromummà.
The primary task of Oromo nationalists must be to remove these pro-Amhara Oromo elites currently ruling from the Finfinné palace, and to elevate Afàn Oromô to its rightful, demographically legitimate position as the working language of all federal institutions—replacing Amharic.
Now that the Habeshas and the hybrids are fighting one another, it presents an opportunity for the Oromo to weaken both enemies.
It is quite surprising to see the formerly boastful Naftagnas crying for several months and now beginning to regroup. However, the consequences of the past struggle and the ongoing conflict will not stop here. Ultimately, either Amharanet or Oromummà must prevail.
Will the current dominance of Amharanet/Amharic—upheld by Abiy’s OPP—continue, or will the legitimate leadership of Oromummà, promoted by the OLF, emerge? These two competing political ideologies cannot coexist equally within the Finfinné palace or other federal institutions. Either the pro-Amharanet dictators led by Dr. Abiy, supported by Amharas, will prevail, or the pro-Oromummà democrats in the opposition will rise.
I believe Oromummà will become the leading national identity in Ethiopia, rising from the grave of Amharanet. When that happens, the Amhara elites will be the ones crying. Otherwise, if the pro-Amharanet dictatorship continues to dominate, the Oromo will unfortunately be forced to continue their struggle. To avoid such tragedy, we must now focus on empowering our resilient Oromo nation.
I once heard Jawar Mohammed speak about the main objective of the ‘Oromo First’ Movement. He told one of the Oromo communities the movement was engaging with that its primary aim is to empower the Oromo people at three levels: personal, community, and national.
A few years ago, when Oromo nationalists were actively calling for the unity of liberation forces, a foreigner and friend of the Oromo cause, Professor Megalommatis, made an important observation. He said what we truly needed was not only empowering unity, but dynamic movement—what he referred to as dynamics. I discussed his perspective here: [Gadaa.com Article](http://gadaa.com/oduu/3244/2010/04/09/o … impossible). It was an excellent point. In our national liberation struggle, we needed political dynamics—real action—not just debates, speeches, and never-ending discussions.
In general, dynamics is defined as the social, intellectual, or moral force that produces activity and change in a given sphere. Applied to a national liberation movement, political dynamics refers to the national force that generates action and change in the political life of a nation.
What kind of action, what type of change, and in what direction do the Oromo people need to move in order to achieve the goals of our struggle? Are we active enough? What change do we desire, and are we capable of realizing it?
These are questions we must ask ourselves. We are clearly dissatisfied with our current situation, and we want to change it. To make that change happen, we need force—we need power. That’s why discussing national empowerment at this time is not only relevant but essential.
National empowerment refers to the increase of a nation’s political, social, or economic strength. It involves building confidence in a nation’s ability to determine its own destiny. It’s not simply about receiving power from external sources, because nations like ours already possess significant internal strength—in the form of collective knowledge, cultural resilience, and motivation. Empowerment, therefore, is about unlocking and utilizing that existing strength.
National empowerment enables a people—in this case, the Oromo—to gain skills and knowledge that help overcome political obstacles, face regional challenges, and achieve national goals. It’s about creating a culture of self-confidence, independence, and forward momentum.
Empowerment Includes These Capabilities:
- The ability to make collective decisions that affect the nation’s future
- Access to information and resources for informed decision-making
- The capacity to evaluate different options and choose the best path
- The assertiveness to make and stand by national decisions
- A belief in the nation’s ability to bring about meaningful change
- The ability to learn and build skills that improve national wellbeing
- The exchange of information and ideas to educate and mobilize the population
- Participation in ongoing national growth and change
- Strengthening of a positive national identity and strategic thinking to distinguish what serves Oromo interests and what doesn’t
When we assess how the Oromo nation has dealt with its circumstances, we can confidently say that the Oromo are among the most resilient nations in the world. For nearly 3,000 years, the Oromo have resisted forces that have tried to erase our identity.
Resilience means enduring hardship, bouncing back from adversity, and becoming stronger through the struggle. Nations, like metals under pressure, may remain unchanged, adapt, or break. Despite centuries of attack and subjugation, the Oromo have not broken. We have remained supple, adapted when necessary, and survived.
That is why I confidently say the Oromo nation is as resilient as metal.
When the ‘Oromo First’ Movement was engaging with Oromo communities across the globe, we began to reflect deeply on how best to empower this resilient nation in order to create the political dynamics needed to achieve our goals. Until now, we have focused on promoting unity among Oromo political organizations because we understood that unity is strength. But we must also recognize the reverse truth: strength brings unity.
In this short commentary, I would like to emphasize that second truth. In addition to working toward unity, we must also focus on empowering our national liberation camp to strengthen our shared purpose. It was evident that both our foesand our fools tried to weaken the Oromo liberation movement by spreading discord among nationalists. In the cyberworld and community life, they often fixated on the so-called “mistakes and weaknesses” of Oromo leaders and organizations.
But ask yourself: what kind of person keeps lamenting about the same issue, repeating the same accusations for years? Such a person is either an enemy with bad intentions or a fool with no good intention for the Oromo cause. We recognized their tactics and refused to waste our resources—our money, energy, and time—responding to them unless they posed a serious threat to our struggle.
Instead, we needed to focus on how to empower ourselves—as individuals, as communities, as a national liberation army, and as a nation. We celebrated Irreecha every day in its deeper sense—as a symbol of national empowerment.
So, what practical steps could we take to achieve this empowerment?
Engage and support our communities, as the ‘Oromo First’ Movement did.
Support the national liberation army (OLA) despite the smear campaigns run by both our foes and our fools. Contributing financially to the OLA was one of the most direct ways we could assist the movement.
Just as the OLA raised their guns, our intellectuals picked up their pens to write and compose material to counter our enemies’ propaganda.
Above all, we stayed bold and strong, even in the face of the worst situations our people encountered.
Over the years, the Oromo have struggled not only against Abyssinian domination and colonialism, but also against the international powers that supported them. We received little support from the international community. Our neighbors—Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—cooperated with our tormentors in the Finfinne palace, deporting Oromo refugees who sought sanctuary. Yet none of this discouraged us. In the face of such regional hostility and international silence, the Oromo nation survived and adapted.
We will do the same in the future.
Even as the Western powers, along with Israel and Russia, aligned themselves with Abyssinian rulers, and as rising global players like China and India grabbed our land and resources, the Oromo remained resilient. These challenges should not discourage us—they should motivate us to unify and empower ourselves even more.
All these challenges must serve as motivation for the Oromo people to come together and empower ourselves. We cannot afford the luxury of internal divisions or quarrels over minor and secondary issues—such as the endless dispute over the so-called “difference of objective: Ethiopian democratization vs. Oromian decolonization.” I’ve already written extensively about this topic, so I won’t delve into it again here. But it is worth noting how both our enemies and misguided allies have used this manufactured division to weaken and fragment the Oromo national movement.
We ignored their mantras and instead focused on constructive strategies to carry out our national liberation work. Of course, there were a few genuine nationalists—not enemies, not fools—who unintentionally contributed to this same division because of personal grievances against specific factions or leaders within the Oromo liberation camp.
To describe their behavior, there’s a saying in Afàn Oromô:
“Kan gaara ol bahuu dadhabee, dalga fiiga.”
“The one who fails to climb the mountain chooses to run sideways—away from the goal.”
For some individuals, the struggle against our true enemies felt too difficult or overwhelming. Lacking a practical alternative, they ended up criticizing those who were doing the hard work. This behavior was not constructive, and it did not bring us any closer to liberation.
If these individuals truly saw themselves as genuine freedom fighters, they should have taken a lesson from professional sports—especially football (soccer) coaches. For example, when Manchester United or similar teams suffer a defeat because of a player’s mistake, the coach takes public responsibility. They say, “We made mistakes,” and focus on fixing them. They don’t publicly blame or curse their own players; only opponents do that.
In the same spirit, it was no surprise when our enemies or fools hurled insults at Oromo political leaders. They either had a hidden agenda or lacked the insight to contribute meaningfully. But when genuine Oromo nationalists engaged in character assassination and blame games, they undermined the very cause they claimed to support.
Instead of that, they should have taken collective responsibility and worked toward improvement.
This is why I consistently encouraged all Oromo nationalists who truly want to see a free and liberated Oromia to distance themselves from the destructive behavior of our foes and fools. We needed to invest our time, energy, and resources in constructive efforts to empower our resilient nation.
Ultimately, the core of all politics, in any part of the world, is about power. Only when we gain real power can we assert our political, economic, and social interests. That’s exactly why our enemies have always worked so hard to prevent the Oromo from accessing power.
But unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, the Oromo nation is too resilient and determined. Whether it takes a few more years or a hundred, the Oromo will become an indispensable force in the region.
Time is on our side. The time has come. Oromia is rising, and the balance of power in the region is beginning to shift. Neighboring countries that once deported our comrades—handing them over to be “eaten by the Abyssinian hyena” in the Finfinne palace, as once powerfully illustrated by a front-page image on Gadaa.com—now look back on their actions with shame.
The atrocities committed by Abyssinian elites, the support they received from neighboring regimes, and the backing of international power players did not break us. Instead, these injustices only motivated us further to organize, resist, and fight back—not to cry or beg, but to act with purpose and strength.
What we needed—and still need—is an empowering political dynamic within our national liberation movement. That dynamic must be action-oriented. It must encourage and reward bold, decisive steps. That’s why the practical actions taken by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) in directly confronting our enemies were crucial and commendable.
Some Oromo nationalists who had tried the electoral path eventually realized what many of us already knew: no Abyssinian ruling force will willingly give up power through the ballot box alone. No colonial or neo-colonial power has ever stepped aside simply because we voted for it to do so.
Freedom for the Oromo will not come from elections alone. It must come from a strategic combination of armed struggle and nonviolent resistance—from both bullet and ballot, not ballot alone.
Let this be clear: there is no viable alternative to strengthening the OLA if we are serious about promoting the Oromo national liberation movement. Only our enemies and their foolish allies oppose the strengthening of the OLA—because they know it is the one force capable of challenging and ending their domination.
We learned a valuable lesson from the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan. They fought fiercely. They lost around two million lives. But they achieved freedom and independence. Throughout their struggle, they spoke of both autonomy within Sudan and independence from it. Ultimately, the people made their choice through referendum.
The same principle applies to Oromia. There is no need for Oromo nationalists to fight over whether our final goal is internal autonomy or full independence. That decision belongs to the Oromo people. Let them decide democratically, when the time is right. Those who keep repeating this debate only do so to divide and disempower us. And most of those voices belong to our foes or confused allies who fear a united Oromo front.
I encourage all genuine Oromo nationalists to move beyond this tired debate and focus on empowering both the armed and nonviolent resistance, and aligning them with civil disobedience and mass uprising throughout Ethiopia, especially within Oromia.
Once Oromia achieves liberation, it will be up to the international community to recognize the undeniable reality of our sovereignty. The same world powers that have historically supported the status quo—supporting the oppression of the Oromo and other marginalized peoples—will now be forced to acknowledge the will of the people. Recognition of an independent Oromia will no longer be a matter of if, but when. And when that day comes, we will not beg for legitimacy; we will take it by asserting our right to self-determination. The people of Oromia will not be denied.
The Horn of Africa, a region long dominated by the rule of foreign-backed empires, will have to adjust to a new reality—one where the Cushitic peoples take their rightful place in the region’s political, economic, and cultural spheres. The power dynamics in the Horn will shift, and the dominance of Abyssinian elites, whose interests have been sustained by international intervention, will finally come to an end. The future of the Horn must be shaped by Cushitic nations—Oromia, Somalia, and the Afar, each exercising their rights to self-determination.
Let us be clear: The Horn of Africa cannot move forward as long as the current system of oppression persists. A future where Cushitic nations—not just Oromia—lead and shape the region is both possible and necessary. Our vision is for a democratic and peaceful Horn of Africa, where the peoples of the region can collaborate without fear of subjugation, war, or exploitation.
This is not a utopian dream, but a vision based on historical justice and self-determination. We must build a Horn where the Cushitic peoples have their rightful place, not as subjects of a foreign imperialist agenda, but as equal, respected nations. We will dismantle the hegemonic forces of ethnic chauvinism and colonial domination, replacing them with cooperative, mutually supportive structures that promote the well-being and flourishing of all nations in the region.
The liberation of Oromia must also lead to a wider restructuring of the Ethiopian state—if it is to survive at all. The current federal system, propped up by Abyssinian elites, has failed. It has only served to perpetuate the dominance of a small elite over the majority of the Ethiopian population. Any future Ethiopian state must be founded on principles of equality and justice, with power shared among all its constituent nations—not dominated by one or two groups.
If Ethiopia is to continue as a unified state, it must be restructured. The only way forward is through the recognition of the rights of the Oromo and all nations, and the abolition of imperialistic hierarchies. Only then can we build a future where Oromia, Sidama, Wolaita, and all other nations live in dignity, free from oppression and exploitation. This is the vision that guides us.
No external force, whether foreign governments or multinational corporations, will decide our fate. The future of Oromia—and of the entire Horn of Africa—will be written by the people. And when we rise, when we achieve our freedom, the world will know that it was through our blood, sweat, and tears that we forged our destiny.
Galatôma!
Read more: https://orompia.wordpress.com/2016/12/2 ... nt-nation/