On one side, the
Oromo people are struggling to empower themselves and gain control on their economic and cultural resources; on the other side, with the help of global powers and their international institutions the Ethiopian government is engaging in state terrorism and massive human rights violations, transferring Oromo economic resources (particularly land) to state elites and their global partners.
"The attack on defenseless civil population resulted in the death of at least ten thousand
Oromo people, plunder of huge resources, and raping of women, young and old - all carried out as part of a forced removal of Oromo nationals from their ancestral lands."
class="MsoNormalBut the ascendancy of the first-ever ethnic Oromo to the helm of the Ethiopian state in modern times is fuelling ethnic nationalism and putting a sharp focus on the
Oromo people as the centrepiece of an imagined Oromo-Somali Cushitic Alliance' as a new axis in the Horn of Africa politics.
Consequently, government security forces tried to quell the unrest with lethal weapons but such moves were only energizing young
Oromo people who were demanding equal rights treatment and believed Oromia, which is the country's largest region was neglected and the government does not want to bring development and deliver services.
And given his leadership role in the
Oromo People's Democratic Organisation, his ascension to the top political post in the country could be a game changer.
The
Oromo people, the largest ethnic group of Ethiopia's 100 million people, have long felt marginalised.
Then, he became the Secretary of the
Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO).
In the final days of Ethiopia's civil war, the TPLF orchestrated the creation of three satellite parties from other elements of the rebel force: the
Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDP), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), and the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM), to ostensibly represent their respective ethnic groups, but which enabled the TPLF to consolidate its grip on power.
In recent weeks, continuing conflict between ethnic Oromos and Somalis led to the killing of several dozen people and the displacement of tens of thousands of
Oromo people.
The
Oromo people have an estimated population of 40 million, including 20,000 political prisoners who are accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, an outlawed group labelled a terrorist organisation.
The protesters had chanted slogans against
Oromo People's Democratic Organisation, one of the four regional parties that make up the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has ruled the nation for quarter of a century.