#Qeerroo#Oromoo

Oromia's returnee OLF rebels on hunger strike
Former Oromian rebels currently being rehabilitated at a camp have started a hunger strike protesting poor living conditions.

“We are treated inhumanly and no one cares about us, most of our comrades are now ill due to lack of hygiene and absence of food,” one of the ex-rebels told the BBC Afaan Oromoo Service.

An estimated 1,000 fighters under the banner of the Oromo Liberation Front, OLF, are currently kept at the Tolay camp located in south-western Ethiopia.

It is not known how long the hunger strike is supposed to last or the conditions under which they will call it off.

In the last few months, government forces and OLF fighters in a part of Oromia clashed with reports that the army had carried out air raids on their camps.

The Oromia regional government has had cause to talk in harsh terms about OLF’s operations after it was revealed that some of its fighters were involved in rising insecurity in the region – Ethiopia’s largest and most populous.

OLF is one of the main ex-terrorist groups that returned to the country last year from Eritrea. Their return was based on a peace deal reached between Ethiopia and Eritrea in July.

The Abiy Ahmed federal government agreed a deal with the group. The Oromia region has subsequently entered a political alliance with OLF but the security concerns have continued to linger.

#Qeerroo#Oromoo

Via Raggasaa Oljirra

Members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) lured into submission by JSM & Co. have become hostages in their own land and are being treated as Guinea pigs by ODP's bestial cadres. A moral decadence of the lowest order is at works under the suzerainty of Lamma's and Abiy's Ethiopia. It is very saddening to watch this happening on the watches of those "ljoollee Oromo at the helm of the State power in Ethiopia" -unless the reality of it is nothing more than 'much ado about nothing.' Why on earth is the ruling party condoning acts of barbarism on its own people when their cadres are feasting on the blood and flesh of their own brothers? Why is it so political for them to apprehend helpless people who are at the mercy of their good will and do not pose a single threat to the ODP unless the said bunch is truly made up of a house of cards? Why is it so difficult to release these people to their own natural environment, i.e., their villages where they can find support among family members, relatives and neighbours? Who are they trying to avenge by torturing helpless people for the political or economic end? I know I can ask JSM these questions as he is in town now but I already know what he is going to lecture me as usual. He is as helpless as the very people he had delivered to the concentration camp with the very exception of a privilege he has at his disposal: the 1st class flight he could take to any airport in the world at any time of the day or the night. Yet, I will talk to him, at least for the record that he escaped the threats against him by Alamu Sime, while the helpless had to absorb all of the agonies meant for him and others. Oromos have to remember though, the destiny of members of OLA who would be repatriated is bestowed upon the Abba Gadaas, Oromo Elders, Oromo intellectuals and the Oromo masses at large, And therefore, we all have the moral and historic obligation to inquire the conditions of the returnees. Otherwise, all would be added into the basket of the accomplice and are considered collaborators in acts of bestiality.

#Oromoo

The Ethiopian army on Sunday morning (January 13) started an aerial operation targeting areas in western Oromia believed to be he held by ex-rebel group, Oromo Liberation Front, OLF.

The Addis Standard portal cited an unnamed military source as confirming the air strikes in Qellem Wellega and surrounding areas.

The portal quoted the source as saying the strikes were targeted at “military camps run by the OLA,” in reference to the Oromo Liberation Army, the armed wing of the OLF. It is not known when the strikes are supposed to end.

The action is tied to two bank robbery incidents that were reportedly carried out by armed members of the OLF. The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Cooperative Bank of Oromia were robbed on Saturday. Local media outlets are reporting that hostages were taken in the robbery.

The regional administration also told the VOA Amharic service that bank robbery cases in western Oromia had shot up at the last count that 10 incidents had been reported.

The OLF is one of about a half-dozen rebel groups that were based in next-door Eritrea. Its leadership agreed to return home to pursue peaceful political struggle after the Ethiopia – Eritrea peace deal of July 2018.

OLF fighters crossed the border back home after years in Eritrea before its leadership led by Dawud Ibsa flew into the capital Addis Ababa to much fanfare and jubilation.

The group has since their return gotten into disagreement with the federal government especially on the deployment of troops in areas it says its fighters are ‘active.’

Many political and security watchers have warned that basic disagreement between OLFand the regional and federal government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed could prove fatal for ongoing reforms.