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Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Reporter
Residents in Ethiopia’s Metekel and Kamashi zones report that the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which the government has designated as a terrorist group (“Shane”), is rapidly gaining control of their areas.
After two years of relative calm, Metekel and Kamashi have descended into a crisis zone over the past five months. The OLA, reportedly having moved from the Wollega zones, has penetrated into the Benishangul-Gumuz regional state and is quickly seizing numerous areas.
Recent reports indicate that the armed group has taken control of Dibate kebeles, committing atrocities against civilians, including murder and rape. Among the kebeles reportedly seized by the OLA is the town of Berber, where many women, including teenagers, have allegedly been raped.
Speaking to Borkena anonymously, residents recounted a harrowing incident from last Sunday, June 30, 2017 E.C. (July 7, 2024): “A father’s personal weapon was confiscated, and after he was abducted, his two daughters were raped in front of him.” Sources also claim that the armed group, which has seized up to 10 kebeles in the woreda, is committing daily acts of murder, abduction, robbery, and rape.
Residents lament that the attacks on the local community have become so frequent they seem “permissible,” with no one seemingly listening to their pleas. They describe widespread human rights abuses in the kebeles controlled by the group, adding that neither security forces nor any government body “dare show their face” in these areas, indicating a lack of governmental responsibility.
Community representatives have expressed frustration, stating that the regional government has not given due attention to the attacks on civilians. These representatives are now urging the federal government to intervene.
Specifically, in the Bullen, Dibate, and Wombera woredas of the Metekel Zone, there have been repeated targeted attacks on civilians. The OLA is reportedly committing these acts—including murder, abduction, and robbery—without any hindrance. Significant assets have been looted, ranging from individual property to government institutions, banks, police stations, health centers, and hospitals.
Community representatives have also voiced their discontent that the OLA’s attacks on the public have not received attention from either the government or the media. “Despite repeated appeals for help to the regional government, the public has not been heard,” they stated, urging the federal government to urgently intervene and fulfill its responsibility to protect citizens from harm.
A plea has been made for the government to either protect its citizens or allow the community to organize itself for self-defense. Representatives have requested that conditions be created for armed individuals to organize and protect themselves, and for youth to be trained to secure their local areas.
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The next project is liberating Oromos in Kenya. You can see it yourself. The name ‘Kenya’ is an anglicized name cooked up from the Oromifaa term ‘Kegna’ which means ‘ours’. 50% of Kenya(Kegna). 29% of Tanzania, the entire Eadtern part of South Sudan including the entire Berber regions in Morocco and Algeria have already been liberated and are in full control of the indomitable OLA founded by the top 10 philosophers in the history of mankind such as the multiple Lenchos and Leopards. As you already know, Berbers as well as all those Germans in Bavaria and Norwegians in and around Oslo are pure Oromos. Please don’t tell them I said that. For now, don’t interrupt me because I’m busy packing up to go back to found my own of ‘The Republic of Warra Itu’ with its capital just behind Gaaraa Asabot. In my republic there will be a complete freedom of speech and the press as long as you don’t talk bad about me or my republic and you don’t marry an Oromo man or a woman. Get it? Let’s go!!!
Make that:
1) …the entire Eastern part of South Sudan…
2) …and if you are not an Oromo, you can’t marry an Oromo man or a woman.