Tigray expresses solidarity with Oromo’s Fight for Freedom
Source: Globe News Net
Tigray expressed solidarity with the ongoing fight by the Oromo for their freedom.
In a statement today, Tigray government said that the people and government of Tigray support the struggle the Oromo have waged for “their freedom, and rights of self-determination and self-administration that are enshrined in the FDRE constitution.”
“As the victims of the Abiy regime’s premeditated campaign to annihilate them, the people and Government of Tigray have a great appreciation for the Oromo people’s fight for their right to survive as a people”, the statement said.
“For that reason, the people and Government of Tigray stand unequivocally with the Oromo people as they exercise their legitimate right of self-defense”, the statement added.
The statement condemned the Ethiopian government deploying “every destructive tool at his disposal, including armed drones, helicopter gunships and jets” to squash the armed struggle in Oromia.
“In recent weeks, the Abiy regime has ramped up its indiscriminate campaign to terrorize the Oromo people into subjugation by embarking on a new round of brutal military campaign across Oromia. Designed to eliminate the OLA and, by extension, extinguish the Oromo people’s yearning for freedom”, the statement said.
The statement praised the Oromo Liberation Army(OLA) that is says “has been fighting against the tyrannical Abiy regime’s attempt to suppress the Oromo people’s hard-won rights”.
The statement said that Oromia has been under de facto military rule since 2018 following Abiy’s ascension to the premiership.
The statement reminded that the Ethiopian government has committed deplorable atrocity crimes against the people of Tigray.
The statement called an end to the use of force to solve ‘fundamental political and ideological clashes’. The statement also called for a genuine, all-inclusive national dialogue that involve all stakeholders.
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) (WBO) split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018 after OLF group signed a peace deal with the federal government to end the Oromo conflict. But, some see it as the armed wing of the OLF. The Ethiopian government calls the OLA as ‘Shene’.
The group has been fighting the Ethiopian government since its splinter from the OLF in 2018. By late October 2021, the OLA controlled much of the Welega Province; the group also took control of Kamisee on 31 October 2021 at the same time the Tigray Defence Forces took control of Kombolcha. The government recently announced that the OLA controlled more than 6 % of Oromia.
