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::Feature::
Oromo
Personalities of the Month
Diribe
Demissie Obbo
Diribe Demissie,
President (the Mecha Tulama Association (MTA)) Obbo
Gemechu Feyera, Vice-President
(MTA) Obbo
Sentayehu Workneh, Treasurer (MTA) Obbo
Dechassa Benti,
Board Member (MTA) Obbo
Shane Korma,
Board Member (MTA) Obbo
Legesse Detti,
Former Secretary (MTA) Obbo
Dabassa Wakjira,
Journalist (ETV) Obbo
Shifferaw Insermu,
Journalist (ETV) Obbo
Ashebir Kebede,
Employee (Hundee) Adde
Lelisse Timkata,
Employee (Hundee) Obbo
Fikreselassie Bulcha,
Employee (Hundee) Obbo
Dirar Abdissa,
Employee (Finfinne Oromo Self-Help Organization) and
the countless other Oromo Prisoners
of Conscience in Ethiopia
AI
Index:
AFR
25/006/2004
21 May 2004
UA 180/04
Fifteen
members of the Oromo ethnic group, including the first two men named
above, were arrested on 18 May in the capital, Addis Ababa. Sentayehu
Workneh was arrested on 20 May. They are reportedly held incommunicado at
the 3rd police station, the Central Investigation Department ("Maikelawi"),
where torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners has been reported
in the past. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of
conscience.
Diribi
Demissie is the President of an officially registered Oromo community
welfare organization, the Macha Tulema Association (MTA). Gemechu Feyera
is the Vice-President of the MTA and Sentayehu Workneh is the treasurer.
Others arrested reportedly include university students. The police have
alleged that they were suspected of involvement in a hand-grenade attack
at Addis Ababa University on 29 April, which killed one student. Police
reportedly accused the MTA of links with this incident because they had
given financial support to students expelled from the university in
January. The police claim they are linked with the armed opposition Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF), based in Eritrea.
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::Cover
Story::
The
Oromo Gadaa
[Part
One]
The
fate of an Indigenous African democracy
By: Lammi Boonsa
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 3/31/2004
Africans
have their own homegrown democracies far ahead of those who now claim that
theirs is the only democracy. For example, the Oromo nation of Eastern
Africa has a genuine democratic institution, called the Gadaa. Gadaa is a
system by which the Oromo people directed all aspects of their lives
including: political, social, economic, and spiritual affairs.
Before the Oromo nation fell under the most savage European and Abyssinian
(Ethiopian) colonial rule, Gadaa was truly an effective and functional
African democracy by which the Oromo nation managed its affairs.
Gadaa is an African homegrown democracy. The Oromo nation invented it and
have using it for over 500 years of their recorded history. This African
democratic institution has guided the life of each member of the Oromo
society for his/her entire life.
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[Part
Two]
Imperialism’s
effect on the Oromo Gadda
By: Lammi Boonsa
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 4/7/2004
There
are functional redundancies among the Oromo democratic institutions. Such
redundancies are built into democratic institutions to serve as check and
balance mechanisms.
For instance, some the functions of the Gadaa and Qalluu institutions
often overlap and tend to create opposition between the leaders of the two
institutions. Such opposition is considered necessary and healthy in
democracies. Actually, Oromo institutions and for that matter, the
society, has intentionally built in opposition.
Accurate time keeping is very important in the Gadaa system and other
Oromo institutions. Time is important in entering into and leaving
offices. Knowledge of time is also important for rituals that take place
at different times of the year. Knowledge of time also serves to forecast
events and weather. The Oromo have invented an accurate calendar to serve
these purposes.
An African anthropologist and expert on Oromo culture, Dr. Legesse says,
“The Oromo calendar is a great and unique invention and has been
recorded in a very few cultures in the history of mankind.” He indicated
that the other known cultures with similar calendars are the Chinese,
Mayan, and Hindus. Modern astronomers also have attested to the Oromo
calendar’s accuracy and the scientific base of its invention.
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