United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa
  
  Statement on Ethiopia’s Attack on Oromos in Somalia
  January 16, 2007
  
  The instability and chaos that constantly smolders below the surface
in the Horn of Africa is occasionally brought into the full view of the
international community. This time, the source of the turmoil is
revealed in the abrupt invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian regime of
Meles
Zenawi.  Completely dismissing the notion of the territorial integrity
of Somalia, imprisonment and indiscriminate killings of innocent people
instantly became the order of the day during the incursion.
  Even though the dictatorial Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawi has been
forwarding to the international community various pretexts to justify
its incursion into Somalia, its main hidden agenda has never been clear
to the world.  However, Meles’s major concerns became clearer when he
dictated to his Ethiopian puppet parliament his regime’s underlying
interest to go to Somalia.  In a speech before parliament he
unequivocally underlined that his main mission was to hunt down Oromos
and other
oppressed peoples who are waging struggle against his government. In
other words those are Oromos and other oppressed peoples of the Empire
who
rejected his dictatorial rule, escaped impressments and inhuman
treatment, fled his brutal colonial rule and sought refuge in Somalia.
Meles
was forced to take this strategic and harsh action because the Oromo
national liberation struggle in the form of popular insurgency is
rocking
the Ethiopian imperial regime from its base. To prolong his days
in power, Meles has had no choice but to incarcerate hundreds and
thousands of political opponents that are residing under his political
domain.  The prisons in Ethiopia are full of those who oppose his
regime.
Under his policy, thousands of Oromos have been gunned down in the
streets of their own cities. All such tyrannical actions did not create
peace and democracy in the empire state of Ethiopia. Within Ethiopia
and
Oromiyaa, Meles was unable to find any miracle that could quell the
ever-increasing desire of the Oromo people for freedom; rather, the
Oromo
liberation struggle continued gathering momentum and engulfing the
entire
length and breadth of Oromiyaa. Thus Meles was bent on persecuting
Oromos based on their very identity and has thus politicized Oromo
national
origin. The daily routine of arbitrary arrest, torture and killing of
Oromos for no crime except for being Oromo under Meles government
caused
many to flee from Ethiopia to the country that the world
thinks the most unstable in Africa.  To the Oromo it was a haven
compared to what they were experiencing at home in Oromiyaa.  Meles’
search for Oromos is extended to Oromo refugees residing in neighboring
countries.
  
  Occasional raids of Ethiopian soldiers into Kenya, and the Sudan,
targeting Oromo dissidents residing in those countries where they have
been legally granted refugee status, is a testimony to the criminal
procedures of the Ethiopian regime. The recent invasion of Somalia,
though,
is of alarming magnitude; Ethiopian tanks, helicopter gunship and other
warplanes were involved in the invasion.
  Soon after removing the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from power and
restoring the authority of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG),
the Meles regime embarked on the main objective that brought his forces
to Somalia in the first place: that is, hunting down Oromo refugees who
fled to Somalia from successive dictatorial regimes in Ethiopia.
According to AFP report, during the house-to-house search by the
Transitional
Federal Government security forces along with Ethiopian troops in
Mogadishu, Oromos were arrested indiscriminately and taken to an
unknown
location. Ethiopian forces kidnapped Oromos and treated them
inhumanely.
Some were shot and killed on the spot, while the luckier ones were
arrested and taken to Ethiopia to be humiliated later on labeled as
“rebels that are dangerous to Ethiopian security.”  
  Even residents of Mogadishu worry that the Ethiopian troops are
targeting the Oromos who have been residing there for decades.
  In the absence of a stable national government in Somalia, it is the
responsibility of international community, including human rights
groups, the African Union, United Nations and all peace-loving
countries of
the world to insure the safety of the helpless Oromo refugees and all
other innocent people in Somalia. United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa,
ULFO, therefore:
  
  1.      Unequivocally declares that the Oromo people oppose the
interference by all foreign forces in Somalia’s internal affairs
  2.      Appeals to the world community to exert the necessary
pressure on the Ethiopian regime to pull out its troops from Somalia
and to
stop hunting and killing innocent Oromos,
  3.      Demands the immediate release of Oromos who were kidnapped by
the Ethiopian forces during the raids and house-to-house searches
during the invasion,
  4.      Calls upon international humanitarian agencies to reach out
to those Oromos who were displaced from their legitimate place of
sanctuary by the invasion,
  5.      Condemns the unlawful acts of transgression the Ethiopian
regime is committing against its neighbor, Somalia.
  6.      Calls upon the US government to stop rewarding Meles Zenawi,
who is a criminal dictator disguising himself as a partner in fighting
terrorism.  Rather the US should see that Meles is a liability in
furthering US interest in the Horn of Africa.  A relationship with him,
just
like relationships with other despotic regimes in different parts of
the world, badly tarnishes the image of the US in the eyes of Africans
and in the eyes of the world.
  7.      Appeals to the Somali people to stand with the Oromo people
who sought refuge and peace in Somalia,
  8.      Reminds the TFG of its historical responsibility to protect
Oromo refugees just as it would protect other citizens of Somalia from
the indiscriminate attacks by the Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
  9.      Calls upon the Oromo people to rise up in unison to stand
against the barbaric acts that the Meles regime is perpetuating against
the Oromo and other oppressed peoples who seek refuge outside the
country
and those who are residing within the boundaries of the Ethiopian
empire.
  
  Unity is Strength!
  Oromiyaa Shall be Free!