The entire executive committee of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has been relieved of its duties and replaced with a provisional executive council today.
Majority of the OLF national council members has passed a vote of “No Confidence” on the executive committee in order take the organization out of the current paralysis and stagnation due to an irreconcilable disagreement inside the executive committee.
The main source of the disagreement revolved around the vision and performance of the organization. The new OLF leadership is said to be committed to advancing the interest of Oromos, as well as all Ethiopians.
The new leadership will focus on intensifying the armed struggle against the Meles regime and playing a key role in unifying and democratizing Ethiopia in collaboration with other opposition forces, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Leaders of Ginbot 7 Movement and other forces have been briefed of this development by the new OLF leadership.
There had been an ongoing and heated internal debate inside the OLF leadership for quite a while over strategy and the overall political platform of the organization, leading to today’s revolutionary change.
Key leaders of the change that is taking place inside OLF include Dima Nego, founding member and first chairman; General Kemal Gelchu, chairman of the OLF forces high command; Ahmed Hussein, founding member and former Minister of Foreign Trade; Lencho Letta, former deputy secretary general of OLF; General Hailu Gonfa, head of the OLF army’s training and deployment; Lencho Bati, former OLF spokesperson; Hassan Hussein, head of foreign relations; and Ibrahim Mume, coordinator of OLF supporters and members in the Diaspora.
Despite its military and political strength, OLF had been unable to wage a consistent and forceful campaign against the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne). Oromos are currently one of the most persecuted peoples in Ethiopia. The overwhelming majority of prisons in Ethiopia are filled by Oromos who are suspected of supporting OLF. Most Ethiopian refugees in Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Somalia, Yemen and other countries are Oromos. And yet, OLF has been unable to protect Oromos from all these atrocities even though it has a professional army, and an experienced political leadership.
The new OLF leadership strives to change that and work to end the Woyanne brutal regime in collaboration with all opposition forces, according to ER sources close to the OLF.