Statement of High Command of the Oromo Liberation army

Since the middle of January 2019, the EPRDF’s so called Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) led by PM Abiy Ahmed scaled up its attack on Oromo civilians to the highest level including airstrikes. On January 12 & 13, 2019, the government conducted airstrike in western Oromia, Qellem Wallaggaa, in specific district called Gidaamii. The airstrike was aimed to kill the western commander of the Oromo freedom fighter aka Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), Jaal Marroo (Kumsaa Dirribaa). Although the airstrike missed the attended target, several unarmed civilians has been massacred in the incident. The surprising drama was that after the government realized that they missed the target of killing the commander, they denied the airstrike itself. However, the airstrike was conducted in a day light and witnessed by the public in the area.

Since PM Abiy came to power with the promise for change, democracy and peace, to the contrary, we experienced several war and hostilities in Oromia. Particularly there was a continuous war between the Ethiopian National Defense force and the Oromo Liberation Army. The last two months were when we observed the highest war crime that was undertaken in Oromia region especially in Wallagga (west) and Gujii (south) zones of Oromia. This includes spreading of the internationally prohibited poison gases in Oromia jungles where the presence of Oromo Liberation Army suspected. Due to this poison gases several domestic and wild animals have been killed. Also the nature of the war was extremely brutal and sweeping that hugely affected all citizens in the area including the environment. Due to this sweeping nature of the war not only many civilians have been killed but also the lives of many wild animals have been lost. Also many people in the localities have been exposed to unusual diseases that never experienced before.
It is obvious that in the last 27 years, the Ethiopian people had been ruled under deceitful democracy and declared and undeclared military command posts of the EPRDF’s authoritarian regime. While Dr. Abiy came to power a year ago, he promised to change the totalitarian system and lead the country to democratic transition. But to the contrary, after few deceptive propaganda, Dr Abiy made U-turn and went back to the dictatorial and military rule and instituted command posts in certain regions of Oromia. It is with sadness and shock that we observe war crime against the Oromo people.
We appeal to the International community to aware of this war crime and denounce and urge the Ethiopian regime to stop these inhumane activities. We also would like to note that, if the Ethiopian Government doesn’t stop this war crime against the Oromo people as soon as possible Dr Abiy’s administration and his ruling party, ODP/EPRDF, will be solely accountable for the crime against humanity.

We appeal to the world Governments, the international community, renowned media, human right organizations and those who believe in people’s freedom, democracy and love peace to investigate the crime against humanity that is taking place in Oromia at the moment and find out the truth.

Finally, we call up on the Oromo people in east, west, north and south and those in exile to stand up in unison and fight against this appalling government hostilities and genocide to protect ourselves and our environment.

We would like to inform the Oromo people and the world community that Dr Abiy’s Administration is deceiving the Oromo people by telling them change and transition to democracy and peace. However, in practice his regime is undertaking extremely outrageous crime against humanity to the Oromo people more than any of his predecessors. We advise the Ethiopian regime to stop these inhumane actions to the Oromo people. If these crimes do not stop, the Oromo Liberation Army and the Oromo people have every right and obligations to defend itself. In this regard, we call up on the Oromo youth (Qeerroo) to stand up and play utmost role in protecting the rights of the Oromo people.

Victory to the Oromo people!

High Command of the Oromo Liberation army

June 01, 2019