Statement of the UOCC Condemning the Deployment of Oromia Regional Forces against Tigray
July 19, 2021
The Union of Oromo Communities in Canada (UOCC) strongly and unequivocally condemns the deployment of Oromia Regional Forces in the egregious, senseless, and illegal war against the people of Tigray. This war was deliberately and maliciously concocted by the expansionist Amhara Regional Government and its allies to unconstitutionally annex part of the Tigrayan Regional State by changing the internal boundary forcefully. This full-scale invasion of Tigray by the three “axis of evil” or “Troika of Tyranny,” the Amhara (special, regular, and irregular) army, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF), and Eritrean Forces, wholly ruined the infrastructure, health services, peace and security and all basic life-supporting necessities in Tigray.
The full-scale war, which erupted on November 4, 2020, has already created a humanitarian disaster and the invading forces have committed genocide and crimes against humanity, involving the use of rape, gang rape and hunger as weapons of war. Girls as young as eight and grandmothers as old as 70 have been reported to have been raped. Millions have been displaced, and people have now started dying of hunger.
But the people of Tigray consolidated their resistance as Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) and gallantly fought off the invaders. Following its recent resounding defeat , the ENDF fled Mekele in disarray after 8000 of its fighters surrendered. To save face, the Ethiopian Government declared a unilateral ceasefire, something the global community urged both sides from the beginning. Nonetheless, the Ethiopian Government resolutely refused to consider even the possibility. However, the Amhara militias and other Amhara lawless irregular forces continue to occupy the territories of western and southern Tigray, which they claim as their ancestral land.
A week ago, the Amhara Regional Government issued a Statement (a call-to-arms) urging all its citizens and other nations and peoples of Ethiopia to stand with Amhara Regional State and defend the Tigray territory the Amhara Region unconstitutionally annexed. Thus, the country is gearing up for another round of war against Tigray to dislodge the territories the Tigrayans won back and their constitutional right to regain Tigray territories still under the control of Amhara militia.
UOCC knows that the Government of Oromia has answered the call-to-arms and dispatched ten thousand Oromia Regional Special Forces. This is a poorly trained cohort of young people who joined the force to earn a living. It is not trained or equiped to fight a conventional war. These young people are no match for the well-trained and immensely motivated TDF, who rooted out the mechanized and heavily armed Ethiopian and Eritrean forces at a speed of light.
In the meantime, the Amhara Special Force is waging another unconstitutional war with the Karayu Oromos to dispossess them of their land. The Oromia Regional State Government’s inaction to protect its people from Amhara invaders and its decision to fight alongside the expansionist Amhara regional government in Tigray is a political perversion, beyond comprehension and is a mystery that defies any logic.
UOCC strongly condemns this despicable action of the Government of Oromia Regional State. This senseless, unjust, and illegal war in Tigray has nothing to do with Oromo and Oromia. UOCC strongly urges Oromos not to participate in this expansionist war, waged to satisfy the unquenchable Amhara elites’ voracious appetite for land grab and domination.
Moreover, the war in Tigray is the continuation of the war in Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz. It is a war on all nations and federalist forces in Ethiopia, meant to strengthen the hands of the unitarist Amhara elites waging an anti-federalist war spearheaded by Abiy Ahmed, who is aspiring to remain in power to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a king. The Amhara regional government is now calling for support from Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz, while at the same time carrying out expansionist wars in these regions.
Therefore, Oromo has no business raising arms against the people of Tigray. Instead, it should defend itself against the expansionist Amhara Regional State and support the Oromo forces struggling against the Ethiopian Government’s unprecedented brutal and inhumane treatment of the Oromo people and politicians.
Instead of listening to the international community and federalist forces to initiate an all-inclusive dialogue to address economic, political, social, and human rights challenges facing the country, Abiy has taken the worst possible option. In agreement with the Amhara Regional State, he retracted the ceasefire he recently announced and made a call-for-arms to solve the country’s political challenges through the barrel of the gun.
Therefore, the UOCC condemns the deployment of Oromia Regional force in Tigray. We call upon the International Community and all human rights organizations to bear on the Government of Ethiopia to stop its brutal war, release all unlawfully detained political prisoners, and call for an all-inclusive dialogue immediately.
Moreover, UOCC unequivocally condemns the brutal and inhumane sufferings of the Tigray people caused by the unholy alliance between Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia’s wicked leaders.
UOCC holds these forces responsible for the genocide and war crimes in Tigray, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Oromia. We urge that an independent international tribunal investigate all the crimes committed daily in Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia, and Tigray.
Finally, UOCC calls on the peoples of Ethiopia in general and the Oromo people, in particular, to fully oppose this war. It was designed for Amhara territorial expansion and to keep Abiy Ahmed in power for life through meticulously coordinated destruction of the federal system and replacing it with the Amhara hegemony of the Menelik Project.