Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Statement On The Wayane/TPLF Instigated Massacre of the Oromos in Western Oromia

May 24, 2008

Once again the TPLF/ EPRDF regime has deliberately organized and instigated armed attack on the Oromo. This time the   regime organized, trained, armed and unleashed  militia from Gumuz, a nation in a region neighboring Oromia from the West,  on wanton killings of the Oromos of East Wallaggaa, Western Oromia. This is a Crime against Humanity.

The Oromo and Gumuz peoples have lived together as good neighbors for hundreds of years. It is these neighboring peoples that the TPLF regime maliciously turned against each other causing days of violence that claimed the lives of more than 400 people, as a result of a campaign that went on from May 17, 2008 to May 19, 2008. The Gumuz militia attack on the unarmed civilian Oromos caused the death of hundreds and many more injuries and displacement of hundreds to people, and destruction of large amount of properties.  The TPLF regime trained and armed Gumuz militia with AK-47 and heavy machine-guns and ordered them to commit indiscriminate killings of unarmed Oromo civilians of East Wallagaa. As a matter of the TPLF government's policy, the Oromos were disarmed and are not allowed to bear arms. The Gumuz militia attacked the unaware and unarmed civilians.  Hundreds of Oromos were subjected to horrific and barbaric killings. The militia is said to be so heavily armed that the local police themselves had to flee along with the civilians. The relevant government body and armed forces were bystanders watching the massacre of the unarmed and defenseless Oromos.

Ever since it came to power, the TPLF/EPRDF regime has applied the outdated 'divide and rule' policy to weaken peoples'  struggles for freedom and justice by sowing seeds of disharmony among friendly neighboring  peoples. The TPLF regime's track record of the past 17 years of tyrannical rule is full of such evil intrigues that instigated bloody conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia. As a result of TPLF's machinations Oromo and Sidama, Oromo and Somali, Oromo and Gedao, Anywak and Nuer, Oromo and Amhara, Oromo and Oromo, now Oromo and Gumuz and several other people have clashed. As the result thousands of innocent lives were lost, tens of thousands of people were displaced and enormous amounts of properties were destroyed in the past 17 years.  Behind all the conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia during this period, there always are the TPLF regime's security agents deliberately creating distrust and suspicion among peoples who have lived peacefully for many years as neighbors.  The regime survives by creating armed conflicts among peoples in Ethiopia.  Such heinous act is a crime against humanity

For years, the OLF has been issuing warnings to all the peoples in Ethiopia in general and to the Oromo in particular to be cautious and not to fall into the trap of TPLF instigated ethnic conflict. It is sad that contrary to our early warnings, the regime succeeded in recruiting thugs from among the friendly people of Gumuz  and attacked and caused the death of hundreds of innocent and unarmed population and the destruction of their properties.  Only in the past weeks this regime made agreement with bio-fuel companies to misappropriate hundreds of thousands of hectares of land from that region and persecuted the local administration. The current move is to deflect the attention of the people from that scheme. We have no doubt that the TPLF regime will continue to foment similar conflicts among the peoples in Ethiopia. Therefore, all the peoples in Ethiopia need to always be vigilant and work together to foil future similar wicked acts of the minority TPLF regime.

Finally, the OLF vehemently condemns the cruel act and policies of the TPLF regime and Gumuz militia that resulted in the death and injuries of hundreds of innocent Oromos. Again we forewarn the brotherly peoples of Oromo and Gumuz in particular and all the peoples in Ethiopia in general to defy the regime's malicious divide and rule policy, unite and work together to hasten the inevitable downfall of the minority TPLF regime. At the same time, we remind the Oromo people, the victim of the minority TPLF regime's long declared  all-out war of subjugation, that you are in the war of liberation, to which you have all the rights, and hence  to rise and defend yourself by all means at your disposal.

Last, but not least, we call upon the international community and governments to exert all necessary pressures on the TPLF regime to desist from its inhuman and destructive policies of deliberately setting the people it purports to govern against each other.  We also call on all concerned governments and international organizations to pay close attention to the crime against humanity the minority tyrannical TPLF regime is perpetrating in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general and take remedial actions before it is too late.  

Victory to the Oromo People!

Oromo Liberation Front