Horn of Africa Communities in the UK held a mass demonstration

Meadna News

A peaceful demonstration was organised yesterday 16 th of January 2008 in London by the Horn of Africa forum to highlight the common problems and belligerence of the minority regime in Ethiopia faced by the people of Horn of Africa today. The demonstration was first of its kind and was attended by a wide range of nationalities and ethnic groups including the Somalis, Eritreans, People from Ogaden, Oromo, Sidama, Gambela together with representatives of the remaining oppressed Ethiopian People.

The demonstration was held in London opposite to Downing Street for five and half hours and all the people of the Horn of Africa were present to make their voices heard. The aim of this unique demonstration where different nationalities and oppressed people in Ethiopia came together for a common cause was to insure the violence, invasion, unlawful occupation, deliberate famine, torture… perpetrated by the minority regime in Ethiopia is clearly understood by the UK government and the international community as a whole.

The mood of the demonstration was vibrant and full of colour. All the people of horn of Africa came represented with their own flags and made sure their voice was heard by Downing Street and other local officials.  It was attended by all age groups, student groups, women groups, community leaders, Mosque & Church leaders and across the section of the communities in the horn of Africa residing in the UK. The turn-out of the demonstration was very high, especially considering the demonstration was unusually organised during a working day.  The demonstrators were carrying placards that reflect the views of the different people of horn of Africa.

Representatives of the demonstrators had had a chance to attend 10 Downing Street officials and handed a petition to the prime minister office. Also a group that represents all the demonstrators attended a meeting with Foreign Office officials and presented the collective view of the situation in the Horn of Africa and expressed the fact that it is not an accident that all the people in the Horn of Africa have failed a victim of the Ethiopian regime and the regime has become a liability to the Horn of Africa. Each group of people had a chance to present their particular case and build a clear case and trend by the regime in Ethiopia to create havoc and misery wherever it went. The representatives also highlighted the misguided U.S policy and the unconditional support of the Ethiopian regime. The officials have explained that they have been using quite diplomacy with the Ethiopian government to ensure a better outcome for most of the issues and have promised to arrange further meetings with senior officials in the government.

The event was also covered by different international and local media outlets. The BBC world service, the BBC network Africa, Algezeera, VOA and other local outlets have managed to cover the event. The ambition and unique circumstance where different nationalities in Africa organizing themselves to stage this type of large demonstration during weekday has managed to capture the attention of many news media and decision makers.

The peaceful demonstration was concluded with great display of unity and music from the different people of Horn of Africa after five and half hours long standing, shouting and making speeches. The organisers have made it clear that this peaceful demonstration is the first step of working together for peace and stability and will be working hard in the future to strengthen our unity so that we can create a peaceful, stable and developed horn of Africa where all the people can coexist respectfully of each other.

 

Horn of Africa forum  

 

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