The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was engulfed by a disastrous internal crisis during the past two years. This week, it was announced that the crisis has finally been resolved. The leadership with split in to two camps — one led by Daud Ibsa and the other one by Gen. Kemal Gelchu.
OLF issued the following statement:
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is happy to announce that after a series of talks under the mediation of its founders and senior members have agreed to reconcile and unify the organization by signing a major agreement on September 27, 2010. Accordingly, the reconciliation and unification will be finalized within the next five months. The parties availed themselves of the Oromo people’s rich heritage of conflict resolution to reach at this win-win solution.
The Oromo Liberation Front urges its members, supporters, and the general public to leave the past behind and redouble their efforts and rededicate themselves to the unfinished business of achieving freedom and liberty.
We believe consolidating the Oromo camp is of paramount importance. Hence, we call upon all Oromo organizations to heed our people’s call for unity.
Victory to the Oromo People!
Alliance for Liberty, Equality, and Justice in Ethiopia (ALEJE) has issued the following statement on the news.
Oromo Liberation Front Resolves Internal conflicts and rededicates itself for the historic struggle for Freedom, Democracy, and Equality
The internal conflict that has ravaged the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) over the past two years and, at least, modestly diminished its struggle for freedom, democracy, and equality has come to a triumphant end. During the peace and reconciliation meeting that took place over the weekend of September 27, 2010 in Washington, DC, the OLF leadership resolved its internal differences and concluded this historic meeting strongly reunited in one voice.
ALEJE extends a heartfelt congratulation to the OLF leadership, its members, and supporters on this momentous victory that will certainly paves the way for successive victories. ALEJE would also like to acknowledge and thank all the Oromo elders that made this moment possible.
The news of the reunification of the OLF leadership and its determination to reignite the struggle for freedom and equality in Ethiopia will definitely create havoc in the TPLF camp, the only entity that has benefited the most from the split of the OLF leadership in the first place. As an ethnic minority regime that has misruled Ethiopia with extreme savagery and lawlessness, the Zenawi regime clearly understands the important role that the OLF can play in the struggle for democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of in Ethiopia.
Ever so cognizant of the simple truth that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, Zenawi’s regime over the last two years has left no stone unturned to keep the OLF leadership from resolving its internal conflict and stand as a formidable force against the divide and rule policy of the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front.
Alliance for Liberty, Equality, and Justice in Ethiopia strongly believes that the reunification of the OLF leadership takes the struggle of the Ethiopian people one step closer to building an all inclusive and genuinely democratic Ethiopia where the rule of law, respect for human rights, and civil liberties will be built on the ashes of a brutal dictatorship that has wreaked havoc on our society.
The formation of a united front and central leadership has been one of the most frequently asked but never answered questions in the zero-sum game of Ethiopian politics. ALEJE strongly believes that it is the duty and historic responsibility of the OLF and other democratic forces of Ethiopia to provide satisfactory answer to one of the most important questions in the political history of Ethiopia.
The TPLF regime is oppressing and humiliating all ranks and sectors of the people of Ethiopia and it is looting regional and national resources from all corners of the country. ALEJE believes that unity is strength and the only way to stop the humiliation, the oppressive condition of the Ethiopian people, the wholesale looting, and downward trajectory of Ethiopia into a 21st century banana republic requires a collective effort.
The Ethiopian people regardless of their ethnic, political, religious, affiliation have suffered too much for far too long while the elites on all sides wasted precious time arguing at times on irrelevant and mundane issues. We believe it is now time to find common ground, work hard, make up for the lost time to find solutions to our common challenges and meet the expectation of the Ethiopian people in their quest for a genuinely democratic political order, liberty, and equality.
Alliance for Liberty, Equality, and Justice in Ethiopia feels the “fierce urgency of now” and is confident that the OLF leadership will take prompt, decisive, and groundbreaking measures that will embolden its constituency to fire the torch of freedom.
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