by Asafa Jalata, PhD
The University of
Tennessee
On October 2, 2016, the
Tigre-led Ethiopian
regime massacred more
than seven hundred
Oromos and injured
hundreds more at
Irreechaa , the Oromo
national holiday of
Thanksgiving held in
Bishoftu in which
millions had gathered.
During the Irreechaa
festival, Ethiopian
security forces shot live
ammunition into the
crowd and fired tear gas,
although they claimed
that the lives lost were
due to a stampede.
Western media have
joined in this claim,
spreading inaccurate
information about the
tragic events of this day.
However, Oromo victims
know what happened to
them, and they are
telling their truth. They
have used videos,
pictures, and social
media to release
accurate information.
The victims say that the
Tigre-led government
used live bullets,
teargas, helicopter
gunships, armored cars
and snipers to terrify
and kill Oromo children,
elderly, women and
other sectors of the
Oromo society that had
gathered to celebrate
Irreechaa . During the
holiday, many young
Oromos had chanted
anti-government
slogans to show support
for Oromo Protests, a
protest movement that
has been taking place
since November 2015.
Although the holiday
festival had this political
moment, the massacre
of hundreds of people on
this day was an
inhumane violation of
one of the most sacred
rituals of the Oromo.
Irreechaa is a sacred
holiday of peace and a
celebration of culture,
and the Ethiopian regime
continues to push the
limits of its inhumane
violent practices.
For a quarter of a
century, the Tigre-led
regime has targeted
Oromo mosques,
churches and Galma
(the house of Oromo
indigenous religion) and
killed hundreds of
Oromo religious leaders
who have expressed
their Oromummaa
(Oromo identity, culture,
and ideology) through
their religions, language,
clothing, and other
activities. The regime,
mainly representing the
interests of the Tigre, 6%
of the Ethiopian
population, has been
committing heinous
abuses and violence
against the Oromo
people, the largest
ethno-national group in
Ethiopia, and others,
since its coming to
power. Furthermore, in
the process of
transferring Oromo land
and other resources to
Tigre colonial elites and
their collaborators, the
regime has also targeted
Oromo activists,
politicians, students, and
farmers who oppose its
discriminatory and
terrorist policies.
It is estimated that more
than one million Oromos
have been killed and
thousands of Oromos
have been suffering in
prisons and secret
concentration camps.
Oromos who have been
released from these
prisons and
concentration camps
have exposed how
Oromos are tortured,
castrated, blinded,
incapacitated, killed, and
infected with HIV in
various prisons and
concentration camps.
Also, hundreds of
prisoners have perished
due to the lack of
adequate food, clothing,
healthcare and other
essential services. All
these criminal acts have
been committed on the
brightest and conscious
elements of the Oromo
society. Unfortunately,
the financial, military and
diplomatic support of big
powers has contributed
to these genocidal and
terrorist policies and
practices for twenty-five
years. Still these big
powers refuse to take
practical actions to stop
the regime from its
criminal acts. While
giving lip service, these
powers have continued
to provide material
support to the regime.
Currently, the Oromo
people are determined
more than ever to
establish their political
destiny. Despite
continuous violent
crackdowns and heinous
massacres such as that
at Irreechaa, they
continue to protest
peacefully and raise their
voices to challenge the
Ethiopian regime’s
oppressive anti-Oromo
policies. Tigre colonial
elites and their
collaborators have
somehow convinced
themselves that
continuing and
escalating violence
against unarmed and
peaceful civilians is their
answer to controlling
and quieting a people
who are determined to
struggle for their rights,
sovereignty, and
freedoms. The reaction
from the Oromo has
instead been more
protests and more
outrage at the Ethiopian
regime’s inhumanity.
The Oromo, the Amhara,
the Somali, the Konso,
the Sidama, the
Gambella and others
need to join the Oromo
protest movement to
remove the Tigre-led
terrorist and genocidal
regime. Learning from
the failures of the last
two decades, the Oromo
movement must rebuild
its national
organizational capacity
and form an alliance
with all peoples that are
suffering from Ethiopian
state terrorism,
genocide, and war on
the principles of national
self-determination and
an egalitarian
multinational
democracy.