The last six years of Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) government have made one thing unmistakably clear—not just to core Oromo nationalists who have long recognized the Ethiopian regime’s aversion to genuine peace, but also to the doubters. The oppressive yoke weighing on the Oromo people and other marginalized groups cannot be dismantled through peaceful means.
History has proven this time and again over the last 50 years. Even more decisively, the events of the past seven years demonstrate this harsh reality. From the Oromo Liberation Front’s (OLF) return to Ethiopia for peaceful political engagement to Abiy Ahmed’s carefully orchestrated deceptions—often aided by figures like Shimelis Abdissa and a host of willing or manipulated collaborators—the underlying goal has always been the consolidation of power. The term “Oromo government” has been shamelessly misused to pacify and distract segments of the Oromo population while the PP government entrenches its authoritarian rule.
Ethiopia, as a political entity, was created to subjugate—not to liberate. Attempts to save Ethiopia while simultaneously emancipating the Oromo people and other oppressed groups are futile.
Consider the fate of Oromo leaders who have championed peace: icons like Hacaaluu Hundeessaa and Battee Urgeessaa were brutally executed, with no meaningful justice sought or delivered. The 14 Karrayyuu Abba Gadaas were brutally gunned down in cold blood while fulfilling their solemn duty of celebrating the Gadaa system—a centuries-old sociopolitical tradition of the Oromo people, rooted in peace and harmony. At the exact moment of the killing, all the Abbaa Gadaas were gathered in prayer. Ethiopia, under its current or past regimes, not only refuses to tolerate peace ambassadors but actively eliminates them. The regime employs state-sanctioned terror, including the extrajudicial execution of parents under the pretext of suspected family ties to the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Entire communities live in fear as ragtag militia groups, unleashed by the government, wreak havoc—terrorizing, extorting, and committing atrocities with impunity.
The suffering of the Oromo people, particularly in rural areas, has reached unprecedented levels. Poverty, already a persistent challenge, has worsened dramatically. Skyrocketing agricultural input costs—fertilizer prices have increased more than tenfold—have rendered it impossible for many households to sustain their families. Farmland taxation in some parts of Oromia has surged by as much as six to eight times, creating an unbearable financial burden.
As if these hardships weren’t enough, Oromia farmers are now being forced to surrender 70% of their wheat harvest (beginning with the November 2024 crop) to the regional government. This policy is part of Abiy Ahmed’s dubious claim of achieving wheat exportation—a shameless con. Instead of actual exports, the government sells the wheat to international donor organizations like the World Food Programme (WFP) in exchange for hard currency, only for the same grain to be handed out as aid to starving Ethiopians without ever leaving the country. This cynical scheme not only robs Oromo farmers, who are paid less than half the market price for their produce, but also mocks the very notion of governance with moral responsibility.
The tragic consequences of this exploitative system are plain to see. Oromo farmers are impoverished and starved under the pretense of national progress, while international organizations unwittingly enable the regime’s cruel policies. Even this year’s adjustment to a 70% cap on grain surrender, down from 100% in previous years, is no more than a hollow gesture—an insult to those who have already borne the brunt of this injustice.
The atrocities committed by the Ethiopian regime defy imagination. Reports of summary executions, such as the recent killing of a young man suspected of sympathizing with the OLA, highlight the state’s depravity. With his hands tied behind his back, the young man was executed by a uniformed Ethiopian soldier in front of his parents, who were forced to watch. To amplify the horror, this atrocity was recorded and disseminated on social media—a calculated message of fear from the PP government. While this incident surfaced publicly, countless others occur far from the public eye, hidden in the shadows of state repression.
By any reasonable measure, Ethiopia is a failed state. Over the past six years, the government has deployed tanks, ground forces, and the air force including drones—not against external enemies, but against its own citizens. This grotesque misuse of power underscores the state’s utter illegitimacy and its total failure to uphold even the most basic tenets of governance.
The Oromo people can no longer afford to doubt the reality before them. Ethiopia, as a political entity, was created to subjugate—not to liberate. Attempts to save Ethiopia while simultaneously emancipating the Oromo people and other oppressed groups are futile. The system is inherently oppressive and irredeemable in its current form.
Negotiations from a position of strength—not submission—are the only means of securing true freedom and democracy.
The only viable path forward is for the Oromo people to fully support their armed struggle to dismantle the machinery of oppression. Negotiations from a position of strength—not submission—are the only means of securing true freedom and democracy. If Ethiopia is to survive, it must be remade entirely—its oppressive structures dismantled and replaced by a just system that respects the rights and dignity of all its peoples.
The Oromo people must rise decisively to save themselves, their livelihoods, and, above all, their honor. The time for action is now. Only through unwavering struggle can the chains of oppression be broken, paving the way for a future of dignity and self-determination.
