Is Prime Minister AAA Going to Realize Oromo’s ÀAÀ?
By Fayyis Oromia*
Now, there is no option for the Oromo other than acting in unison to maintain the victory achieved so far and to strive to fulfill the rest. Anti-Oromo forces are doing everything under the sun to remove Dr. Abiy and, with that, to destroy everything Oromo. Dr. Abiy, who betrayed the Oromo cause in order to appease Habesha elites, has no choice but to return to his constituency—the Oromo. Genuine Oromo nationalists, who used to criticize, oppose, and fight Dr. Abiy, also have no choice but to welcome the Prime Minister and persuade him to do the bidding of the Oromo. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali (AAA) needs to focus on promoting Oromo’s Àdà, Afàn, and Àngo (ÀAÀ). No more hesitation or procrastination. He must consolidate the Àngo (power), promote Afàn (language) to primary status by replacing Amarigna, and further develop and modernize the Àdà (culture), including the Gadà democracy. If he commits himself to serving Oromo’s ÀAÀ, he will surely be remembered as one of the best Oromo leaders in history. It is up to him to earn that place in Oromo history or to be remembered as the worst leader who betrayed the Oromo cause just to please Habesha elites.
It was good that the hybrid regime of Dr. Abiy tried to appease the Oromo with a well-orchestrated celebration of Irréchà in Finfinné and Bishoftü. The attempt to push away the Oromo resistance flag from the celebration was only a temporary success of the hybrids. Surely, the beloved flag shall return when genuine Oromo nationalists are in control. If the hybrids really want to reconcile with the Oromo, they need to give priority to Afàn Oromo in everything they do, replacing Amarigna. For instance, they should use Afàn Oromo first whenever they give public speeches, and only secondarily use Amarigna. They should immediately declare that Afàn Oromo is the primary working language of all federal institutions such as the palace, parliament, cabinet, courts, military, and security. If they take this step, I believe the Oromo will have no reason to feel oppressed by the hybrids, after gaining freedom from the Habeshas.
The current trend looks like Dr. Abiy and his Prosperitan Oromos are trying to return to the Oromummà camp, of course disappointing the Amaranet club. Most Amharanists had hoped to hide behind Ethiopiawinet to manipulate and use Abiy Ahmed just as they did Mengistu H/Mariam. Abiy was trapped by them for several years, betraying the Oromo cause and persecuting genuine Oromo nationalists. Now, it seems he is coming back to his senses. The release of Jawar and others, as well as the ongoing dialogue with the OLF led by Daud Ibsa, shows his return. Amharanists sensed this move by Abiy and feel betrayed by him. All their media outlets are crying because of it. I hope Abiy maintains this momentum and makes peace in the Oromummà camp. The coming together and forging of consensus among the three Oromo organizations (OFC, OLF/OLA, and OPP) is a big blow to the [ deleted ] Amharanists, who try to trade on the brand of Ethiopiawinet. Oromo forces should agree to foster a bigger democratic Ethiopia (de facto Oropia = Oromummà-led country) by abandoning the smaller Oromia. By doing this, Oromianists can hijack the brand Ethiopiawinet from the Amaranet bloc. This was a very good vision of Dr. Haile Fida. Democratic Ethiopia, whether as ethnic federation or geographic federation, is de facto Oropia, which is almost double the size of Oromia.
The definition of Oromummà is simply Oromo identity or Oromonet. Its antithesis has been Amaranet. Since 1270, Amaranet has grown by destroying Oromummà and Agawnet. This has been the key policy of Amara elites to this day. Amaranet, camouflaged as Ethiopiawinet, flourished at the cost of Agawnet and Oromummà. But now, the development of Oromummà is frustrating Amara elites. They thought they could instrumentalize Dr. Abiy to crush Oromummà as they did to Tegarunet. They agitated and propagated heavily to persuade Dr. Abiy to invade Oromia as he did to Tigray. Now, seeing that this cannot happen, they have started to oppose him and hold demonstrations against Oromummà. Thanks to the hard work of Oromo republicans, we were able to separate Dr. Abiy from the Amara elites. Now, it is time for Oromo republicans to support Dr. Abiy and his Prosperitan group so that the anti-Oromummà elites will have no chance to prevail. It is also high time to support the Agaw people of Gojjam, Lalibella, and Gondar to survive and thrive with their original identity of Agawnet, which has so far been highly suppressed by Amaranet.
Amara [ deleted ] elites did their best to separate Dr. Abiy from his Oromo constituency and to instrumentalize him to break Oromummà. Even though the 2018 change came through huge sacrifices by the Oromo, especially the Qeerroo, Dr. Abiy has gained overwhelming support from the Amaranet bloc, not from the Oromummà camp. Amara elites manipulated Dr. Abiy and persuaded him to crack down on genuine Oromo nationalists and undermine Oromummà. Dr. Abiy did a lot to satisfy them and thus lost Oromo support. Aware that Dr. Abiy lost huge Oromo backing, they are now trying to get rid of him and monopolize power in the Finfinné palace. Amara elites will never be satisfied until they take back the power they lost in 1991 (or even in 1974) and control everything in Ethiopia. If Dr. Abiy wants to save himself and the nations in Ethiopia from the return of assimilationist and oppressive Amara elites, he must come back to his Oromo constituency and reconcile with genuine Oromo nationalists in the OFC and OLF, as well as with people like Lammà Magarsà and Jawar Mohammed. Then, he can have a stable and strong support base that no force from the Amaranet bloc (camouflaged as Ethiopiawinet) can shake. He must decide to serve the Oromummà camp by any means.
It is clear that Dr. Abiy’s main support base has been the Amara elites. He has already lost support from almost all Tigrayans and the majority of Oromos. It is good that the TPLF hegemonists were defeated. They made the genuine struggle of our Tigrean brothers and sisters futile. They squandered all opportunities for Tigrai independence because of greed and miscalculation. They could have cooperated with the OLF in 1991 to fix the whole problem of that cursed empire. Instead, Meles Zenawi maintained Amaranet and Amarigna domination at the expense of Oromiffa, gaining support from Amara elites to persecute the OLF. Now, Dr. Abiy is repeating the same mistake. He is maintaining Amaranet domination just to get Amara elites’ support to defeat the TPLF and Oromo republicans (OFC and OLF). The [ deleted ] Amara elites know well how to manipulate those in power. They used Mengistu and Meles; now they use Dr. Abiy to undermine the legitimate leadership of Oromiffa and Oromummà in Ethiopia. As long as they can instrumentalize Dr. Abiy to keep Amaranet domination ongoing and hinder the legitimate promotion of Oromiffa/Oromummà to a primary leading position, they will support him. When they develop their own strong force, they will surely get rid of him and all the mild Prosperitan Oromos now revering Amarigna instead of respecting their Oromiffa. As far as serving Amaranet and neglecting Oromummà is concerned, there is no difference between the previous Oromos who had power in the Finfinné palace (Menelik, H-Silasie, Mengistu, and Abiy).
Otherwise, was Getachew Reda a prophet and right when he said “Amara and Oromo are Isat ina Chid”? Have Woyane cadres succeeded in keeping Amara and Oromo elites in conflict? I had some hope that the Oromara project might last long. Unfortunately, it didn’t. There is no question that the Oromo are already free from subjugation by Amara elites and the hegemony of Tigrayan elites. The Oromo struggle is now between the Prosperitan OPP regime and the Republican OLF forces. Dr. Abiy’s administration is hesitant to take radical measures to implement the interests of their own people, the Oromo. Imagine if republican Oromos like those in the OLF had power in the Caffé Aràrà palace! Afàn Oromo would have been the federal working language overnight. Parts of Oromia given away by Meles Zenawi, such as Finfinné, would have been included in Oromia without hesitation. Now, the question of Finfinné becoming part of Oromia is only a matter of time, not if. No other nation except Amara elites opposes this Oromo move to integrate Finfinné into Oromia. By opposing Oromo interests, Amara elites are making a grave political mistake. They will pay dearly. Thanks to their foolish move, Tigray elites are approaching the Oromo just to isolate the Amara. Tigreans are playing politics smarter than Amara elites. To weaken the Amaras, playing the Agaw card alone is enough. Reviving and promoting Agaw nationalism is a good neutralizing antidote against ongoing aggressive and assimilative Amara nationalism.
It is clear that the main promoter of Article 39 in the Ethiopian constitution is the TPLF. The TPLF inserted the article as a guarantee for the option of Tigrai independence if it loses power in the Finfinné palace (Caffé Aràrà). It was not intended to secure the God-given right of other nations, which would be practically hindered as long as the TPLF remained in power. A good example is the Somali regional parliament’s 1995 decision for self-determination, which caused the main conflict between ONLF and TPLF. Ogadenis were denied the right to self-determination, which is theoretically guaranteed as a constitutional right. Since then, ONLF had to fight for the same self-determination, which it could have achieved peacefully. This shows why Article 39 had no value for oppressed nations other than Tigrayans. I once heard a very interesting interview given by Abadula Gamada in the “Political Civility” forum. He described why TPLF’s Article 39 is currently “good”: “If you close the door to a group of people in a house and tell them to be united and live together, surely they will break doors and windows to get out. But if you open the door and tell them to be united, surely they will live together by free will.” So, we can see how Article 39 was the best deception tool, wickedly designed against the Oromo liberation movement. According to him, the intention of Article 39 was not the liberation of oppressed nations but to keep them together under TPLF subjugation through political manipulation. He also said the article was good to allow separation when certain “Naftegna” organizations “siqebx ke tayé ina ke asega.”
This seems to be a tactic also used as a scare tactic against Amara elites. Isn’t it interesting to hear this, especially for Amara and Oromo elites who could not come together to find common ground and fight their common enemy—the worst fascist and looter the country ever had, the TPLF? Today, Oromo and Amara elites remain divided by many fears and political ambitions, while Tigrayans are being politically and militarily crushed by Dr. Abiy with Amara support. The TPLF wants to be the only nation with the right to self-determination and independence. This is a political calamity to Oromo, Amara, and others. The Amara question should be addressed seriously without undermining the Oromo question. Both Oromo and Amara elites should be visionary enough to end their differences and become one, as Getachew Reda said. Oromo elites should accept that the only way to achieve justice for their people is to give justice to Amaras as well.
Amara elites have been very disloyal to their country and to the Oromo since 1270. They have been the main source of Oromo oppression for centuries. This cannot be denied or erased by any political gimmick. However, the current generation of Amara elites should rethink their political stance and join hands with Oromo elites to forge a new democratic Ethiopia. Otherwise, the country will continue to suffer from ethnic conflicts, which only benefit opportunistic elites and foreign powers.
In conclusion, Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali has a historic opportunity to unify and empower the Oromo nation by fully embracing Oromummà, promoting Afàn Oromo as the federal working language, and restoring Oromia’s rightful territories. If he does so, he will be celebrated as a great leader. If not, history will judge him harshly.
Galatôma!
Read more:https://orompia.wordpress.com/2019/03/1 ... le-oromia/