
(OLFJanuary 13, 2010) It is imperative that the oppressed peoples who are under the domination of dictatorship and tyranny will need solidarity and cooperation among themselves to release themselves from tyrannical rule imposed upon them. Unless we focused on the deception and intrigues fabricated by our enemy to create mistrust among our peoples, sow seeds of conflicts between them or create fear and hatred towards each other and exposed these wicked acts of the enemy the success of our struggle will fall under question.
There are many nations, nationalities and peoples who are struggling against the Wayyane tyrannical dictatorship in Ethiopia. Amongst them the Ogadeni and Oromo peoples can be mentioned as the foremost peoples fighting the century old unjust system of the Ethiopian regime. These neighborly and brotherly peoples have many features in common, which we may point as follows:
- The Oromo and Ogadeni peoples passed many years of misery and subjugation under the ruthless Ethiopian domination. In the same manner at present, they are denied of their right of ownership of their country. The fact that their country, their wealth and property fell under the control of the present minority dictatorship of the TPLF and caused their respective populations exposed to severe famine and hunger made them believe that they do not have a government that represents them and take care of them during bad time.
- The two peoples are familiar by the fact that they are/were struggling against their common enemy in order to end the century old foreign domination and attain their freedom. The struggle they waged for years in order to live as free nation in their own country made them similar. The other point that indicates their similarity is that both of them struggle to empower their population as decision makers in their affairs and to make sure that they are in control of the wealth of their country.
- Because of their political attitude the Oromo and Ogadeni people are considered by Ethiopian government as a primary enemy and harassed in their villages, imprisoned, or killed without due process of law. The two peoples are denied of human rights in their own countries and dislocated, forced to flee their country and sought a refugee status in foreign land, and all these made them people of the same fate.
- The two peoples have adjacent settlements, they have similar culture and tradition with which they use to settle disputes whenever they arise. They have customs of resolving societal problems without allowing the intervention of aliens into their affairs; and these made them, basically they are people with similar culture and customs.
- In spite of the fact that the Ogadeni and Oromo people are despised and looked down upon by the Ethiopian government they are, on the other hand, considered and feared as their enemy number one.
- Today as the Oromo people is being allegedly accused of being sympathetic or supportive to the OLF, the Ogadeni people is also being accused, imprisoned, harassed and killed because of their political stand towards the ONLF.
- Depending on their lifestyle, peoples who depend on cattle raising and farming for their livelihood will support each other when bad harvest or draught occurs to pass the bad days. This good neighborlihood and brotherly nature of our two peoples is one of the common features that must be maintained and not to be misused to the advantage of our enemy.
- The mindset of the Ethiopian despotic rulers is built upon the mentality that anyone whose political stand is not in parallel with theirs must be eliminated. Because of this it is unfortunate that the Oromo and Ogadeni peoples could not get the right to support the political organization of their choice or organize themselves under one of the organizations of their preference. They are obliged to organize themselves only under the TPLF affiliated political organizations.
- Above all, the fact that these peoples have a common enemy, made them that they are peoples of similar problems and that of the same aspirations.
In general the points mentioned above and others still did not mentioned, indicate that the two peoples share many common features than differences. However, it is obvious to the two peoples that, being aware of these facts the enemy is perpetrating intrigues in order to create discords in the relations of the two peoples to prolong its life. Among the plots intricated by the enemy is fabricating border disputes between the neighboring populations and thereby create obstacles to their peaceful and harmonious livelihood. Conscious of this, the OLF/ONLF confirms that the two peoples; specially the elderlies, the students and the traditional leaders must tirelessly work in exposing the intrigues perpetrated by our enemy and take an immediate and necessary measures.
In addition to these the Ethiopian government intentionally makes the neighboring peoples quarrel over water wells and grazing land, whereby they create conflicts among the local population in order to prolong their stay in the political power. The oppressed peoples must understand that it is themselves who are directly affected by the deception created among them by the enemy; therefore it is important than anything that what is prolonging the domination of the repressive regime of the TPLF is their being prey to the intrigues of the regime. Being aware of this the ONLF/OLF reiterate that the oppressed peoples in general, the Ogadeni and Oromo peoples in particular, must leave aside petty conflicts created and fanned among them by the enemy and work hard to remove mistrusts and misunderstandings among themselves. Lastly, it is the intention and will of the OLF/ONLF to direct the two peoples to focus on constructing harmonious relations among themselves that leads to victory.
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