As Cost of Horn war soars, popular opposition to the Ethiopian regime rising

As Cost of Horn war soars, popular opposition to the Ethiopian regime rising

(OIN, June 9, 2000)

The bloody conflict in the Horn of Africa is being widely covered by the international media. However, the true magnitude of its devastating human and material cost is yet to be uncovered.

According to a disturbing report issued by the National Council of the Oromo Liberation Front yesterday, thousands of wounded and disabled Ethiopian soldiers are condemned to languish in a remote and desert area called Eda’ar, in the Afar region, far away from the prying eyes of the media and without adequate medical care.

The report adds that towards the end of May alone, the TPLF regime transferred about 5000 of those critically wounded to Finfinne (Addis Ababa) and Bushoftu (Debre Zeit). Similarly on June 5, 2000 another 120, freshly injured in the recent offensive, were dumped at the town of Jijjiga, about 440 miles east of the capital. The regime ordered the local administration to take care of them though it was obvious that the region is already devastated by famine and thus unable to adequately care for the wounded.

In another development contradicting media reports that the war has popular backing in Ethiopia, the TPLF regime is faced with increasing opposition to the war and its horrendous cost especially among the Oromo people who constitute over 50% of the Ethiopia's population. Opposition to the war is also said to be strong among the peoples of the Southern Ethiopia regional state.

The TPLF regime is therefore resorting to violent means to suppress the popular opposition to its war policies. For instance, in Annanno Mite, a village in Hararghe, Eastern Oromia, it is reported that several youth resisted forced conscription recently and in the ensuing clash with the TPLF security forces one of the protesters was shot and killed while six others were arrested and are being held incommunicado.

Elsewhere, Oromo elders are being held behind bars for supporting the OLF and opposing the use of their children as cannon fodder. In Dawa, Bate, Chachatu and Kamise districts of Wallo region, Awwalu Siraj (80), Nuru Awwalu (Awwalu Siraj’s son), Abdul Wahil, Sheik Yusuf Aman (75), Yusuf Rashid, Bodaya Ahmed (Mufti), Mohamed Ahmed and Said Ahmed are among those who were detained recently. Siraj Awwalu, Badaya Ahmed and Said Ahmed have since died while in custody.

In south central Oromia, the TPLF security forces abducted dozens of Shashamanne high school students on May 26 to preempt a planned demonstration against the policies of the TPLF regime with regard to the Oromo people.

It is to be remembered that during the last few months similar outbursts of student uprisings took place in Ambo, central Oromia, Naqamte and Dambi Dollo, Western Oromia, and the TPLF security forces shot and killed several students and detained hundreds. As the large casualty figures gradually come out, the people, especially those who witnessed the arrival of thousands of critically wounded at the Bole airport and Bushoftu air force base, are reportedly more and more disillusioned not only about the war, which diplomats and the western media characterize as senseless, but also the policies and practices of the Tigrean regime.