In Rwanda “up to seventeen thousandInterahmwe members had apparently been trained to act as an extermination squad against civilians. (An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, p.75)
As Mr. Rusesabaginaput it “Interahamwe means either ‘those who stand together’ or ‘those who attack together’ depending on who is doing the translation.” (Ibid, p.67)
In Ethiopia we started witnessing the Agazi members were trained to perform the same extermination of civilians. Starting from 2005 election until this moment they are busy doing the same extermination duty on all non-Tigre civilians mainly on Oromo.
“…. The Hutu slowly assumed power as the ruling class. One administrator in Kigali issued the following secret order: ‘I deem it necessary to rapidly put into place a local military force officially composed of 14 percent Tutsi and 86 percent Hutu but in effect and for practical purposes,100 percent Hutu’. Fearful of losing their longstanding grip on power-and perhaps also fearful of retributive violence……” (Ibid, p.25)
The case looks similar in Ethiopia, specially, in military commander positions and Agazi killing squad where the Tigrians take 98 percent of the share. In Rwanda the Hutus are 86 percent of the population where in Ethiopia the ruling elite and the military commanders and majority of the military rank and file is from Tigray that constitutes 6 percent of the country’s population. This minority syndrome makes the people in power to panic whenever the people/or an individual tries to peacefully demand anything simple. That is why in the last twenty-four years all issues were being answered with bullets rather than round table discussions or peaceful dialogue.
Mr. Rusesabagina further elaborated what happened in Rwanda “I tried not to listen to RTLM in those first hours, but it could not be avoided. Given the choice between listening to filth and missing potentially crucial information, I will choose the filth every single time.”
“But it was even worse than I could have imagined. The radio was instructing all its listeners to murder their neighbors.”
“Do your work,” I heard the announcers say. “Clean your neighborhood of brush. Cut the tall trees.”
”I would hear variations on these phrases echoing countless times over the next three months. The “tall trees” was an unmistakable reference to Tutsis. “Clean your neighborhood of brush” meant that rebel army sympathizers might be hiding among Tutsi families and so the entire family should be “cleaned” to be on the safe side. But somehow the worst phrase of all to me was “Do your work.” It made killing sound like a responsibility. Like it was the normal thing to do.”
“Here at least were the bones under the skin. All the anti-Tutsi rhetoric put out on the air over the previous six months had blossomed into what they were now actually saying out loud: Kill your neighbors. Murder your friends. Do not leave the graves half full. Fantasy had become reality. …..” (Ibid; p. 82)
Today we are listening the same rhetoric from the Ethiopian government authorities. Advisor to the “P/Minister”, Abay Tsehaye intimidated OPDO cadres by officially declaring to them “we will straighten out those who oppose the implementation of the master plan.” The so called prime minister went on government owned medias repeatedly and bragged to take merciless action. The so called communication minister called the Oromo people Demons, witches, gangsters, and terrorists. The stooge members of the parliament also called on the government to take appropriate action. Leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox church officially released statement supporting the genocide committed by the government and clearly stated to stand by the government. Government owned, and government affiliated so called independent medias like Zami radio also fanning war rhetoric on Oromo people in general. The above mentioned all are declaring genocide in different languages and the action is already on the ground. While the government authorities and their lackeys are beating genocide drum the fascist Agazi killing squad is murdering hundreds, imprisoning and torturing thousands and transporting thousands of prisoners to their home land Tigray to commit heinous crimes like hidden mass murder (genocide), and brutal torture.
Borrowing Mr. Rusesabagina’s words, “this was the clearest signal yet that the world was preparing to close its eyes, close its ears, and turn its back on what was happening.” (Ibid; p. 98)
This repeats itself in what is happening in Oromia today by Tigre killing squad. We again witness the world do not want to react to stop this genocide but also give economic and diplomatic support to further the genocide.
Mr. Rusesabagina says “…. Genocide finding could commit (the US government) to actually do something. So the pressure was on. There had to be a way to call what was happing by something other than its rightful name.” (Ibid; p. 135)
This author continued. “The peculiar avoidance of the word genocide was for reason.” (Ibid; p.136)
“……. UN member states signed a treaty in 1948 threatening criminal penalties for leaders of any regime found to have conducted an extermination campaign against a particular religious or racial group. But the United States dragged its feet, fearing the encroachment of a world government telling it how to act. It was not until 1986 that the U.S. Senate finally ratified the agreement. By then genocides had been carried out in Cambodia, in Nigeria, In Pakistan, in Burundi, and in many other places on the globe.”
“But this is characteristic. As Harvard University scholar Samantha Power has pointed out, the world’s foremost superpower, America, has almost never acted to stop a race of people from being exterminated, even when confronted with overwhelming evidence.”
“The reason for the US silence as the author put it is “If US officials actually spoke the word out loud they might have been morally and legally compelled to act under the terms of the 1948 treaty.”
The author further said “……Even though our situation was radically different in origin and nature, anything that called for a commitment of American troops to Africa was anathema in the hall of the U.S. State Department. And, of course there was no natural resource in Rwanda that anybody cared about either-only human beings in danger.” (Ibid; p.137-138).
The same is true for Oromi’a, where most world media outlets reported limited informationand is still reporting what has happened since the peaceful protest started in Oromia and all human right advocates disclose the death toll every now and then for the last one month, and some of them asked for the international interference to stop the genocide, no body dare to call the act in its rightful name.
Finally, I quote the author “Look closely at each of the world’s recent genocides, however, and the surface differences burn away. The core of genocide is always the same. They erupt under the cover of a war. They are the brainchildren of insecure leaders eager for more power. Governments ease their people into them gradually. Other nations must be persuaded to look away. And all genocides rely heavily on the power of group thinking to embolden the everyday killers.”
All these quotations are self-explanatory for the events taking place in Ethiopia in general and in Oromia in particular today. The insecure Tigray ethnic based minority fascist TPLF blood thirsty killers answer all people’s legitimate and peaceful demands with bullets-killing from 8-year young school children to 80-year elderly citizens. Even though the people halt its demonstration for at least a week they continued their genocide, mass arrest and barbaric torture. The act of Agazi eliminators raiding peaceful Ambo university students last Saturday (12/26/2015) to torture male students and rape female students is a fresh example.
On the other side the advocates of democracy the western world looks turning their eyes, closing their ears from this barbaric act of genocide. All things pass away. The Oromo people will take its freedom with its own struggle. But history never let your avoidance pass unregistered. This registered history never dies. It will judge us all in the future and give us our proper place.
Oromi’a shall be free!!!!
TPLF dictators will disgracefully perish as all dictators did in history!!!!
History will judge those who do not condemn this ongoing genocide!!!!
Central Oromia National Youth movement (Qeerroo fi Qarree Handhuura Oromiyaa)
