Unable to "wipe out" Oromo Liberation Army fighters within 30,60,90 days (deadline regime politicians & army officers often declare since 2019), fed. army has stepped up airstrikes in Oromia - where a hidden war is taking place for last 3 yrs - slaughtering civilians left & right One of the hardest part of this war, on top of the devastation it brought to civilians especially in west, south & central Oromia, is the fact that the IC didn't find reason to believe its existence, let alone its impact.For one it's a hidden war with commun'n blackout. Familiar?

As the day draws to an end, it’s safe to say that the Ethiopian state under the admin of PM Abiy has quietly erased #Ginbot20 (May 28/1991), the date that ushered in the last political settlement, which, in 1995, reconstituted the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). Few things to say. This year’s May 28 comes in the backdrop of a brutal war against the major protagonist, TPLF, which coalesced a host of other rebel groups on a 4 yr political settlement between 1991-95 before the founding constitution of today’s 🇪🇹was adopted.

The process...

❗️"እናቴ የደም ዕምባ እያለቀሰች፣ ወንድሜ ተረሽኖ ከገደል አፋፍ ላይ እየተገፈተረ፣ ክብሯን የጠበቀች እህቴ በባለጌዎች እየተደፈረች በዚ ሽልማት ልደሰት አልችልም። የእናቴ እንባ ሲታበስ፣ ሃገሬ ወደ ቀደመ ክብሯ ስትመለስ እደርስበታለሁ::" ኢሳያስ Loose translation: “I won’t celebrate when my mother is shedding tears of blood; my brother brutally slaughtered & his body thrown off a cliff; & my genteel sister raped by hooligans. I shall celebrate when my mothers’ tears are wiped & the dignity of my homeland is restored.”

Re:NEBE’s latest decision on OLF’s breakaway faction: Regardless of his legitimate concern with NEBE, Jaal Dawud Ibssa should take today’s decision by the Board to delegitimise the so-called General Assembly led by Jaal Ararso Biqila as a window of opportunity to unite the party. In return Jaal Ararso should take a lesson or two from post 2005 systematic & engineered fracturing & weakening of opposition parties (a tactic being played by PP), dismember whatever he put together & agree to convene OLF’s General Assembly under the leadership of Jaal Dawud.

Sunday thoughts!

One of the cascade of shocks the #Oromo nation continue to endure in the wake of the yet unsolved assassination of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa is the following crackdown on multiple individuals who represent a significant political agency of the Oromo in the 🇪🇹to come. Among the consequential arrests is the likes of Bekele, Jawar & Hamza, seen here after 40 days of hunger strike for what they believed in. But it’s a mistake to think the crackdown was limited to them. Speak with any Oromo, you will learn that there is a pre & post Hacaaluu 🇪🇹.

This week Be’aman Netsere, a seasoned Orthodox Church scholar, & Yared Shumete, a humanitarian, published their travel experiences about the war in #Tigray.

Both raised facts Ethiopia needs to reckon with.

Most important, Be’aman confirmed the #Axum & #Dengolat massacres. He also captured pics of Eritrean forces freely roaming near the Axum obelisk.

But it’s what he said about the deafening silence of the EOTC both on the massacres & the wanton destruction of its own holy sites that needs to be paid the at most attention, imo!

The powerful pro-war camp has deployed 2 potent means to silence anyone against the armed conflict in Tigray or for a negotiated settlement (dialogue): to defame all as paid by the "Junta" & to chastise all as an "ethnonationist" wanting to save the TPLF."

Four things to say 👇🏿 1- No armed conflict in the world, much less politically complex as the one in Tigray, has ever been resolved without a roundtable negotiated settlement. So please stop intimidating/threatening anyone who is an advocate of a negotiated settlement. It may happen that way anyway.

A war against the member of the federation is an epic tragedy! But not unexpected.

@AbiyAhmedAli's grand ambition of nation building experiment failed spectacularly, just a few months into its plan.

As such,losing his political capital & support base was a natural outcome. 1/4 But out of the ashes of this failure morphed not a democratic experiment, but an increasingly transactional political dispensation. Quickly it turned Abiy's version of nation building into a deal b/n him & his allies based on who gets crushed & who gets a seat at the table. 2/4

William, with all due respect to your decision, I have to say this: when an article summarily calls "the Oromos are now the killers" it does more than criticize one individual; it simply labels the whole community as killers. There is no moral & ethical ground to platform it.

https://twitter.com/wdavison10/status/1309884919183822850

When an article calls an individual to "apologize on behalf of Oromos" it's not a criticism of this individual, it's a verdict against the entire community that they need to apologize for all the "bloodshed" caused by a few; & do they need to apologize on behalf of the state too?

Just finished reading this article by PM @AbiyAhmedAli.

Interesting to see that the argument in the article is informed by,& in keeping with, the long established tradition of the Ethiopian state & its successive leaders & their concept of the source of power & legitimacy.1/7 The article taps into the long held practices of Ethiopian leaders' in seeking legitimacy from the state's external backers.

If anything, it's a perfect manifestation of how the call in 70s by Ethiopia's left for the establishment of a gov't by the people remain valid. 2/7

ብዙ ጊዜ እንደዚህ ለዘቀጠ ክስ ምላሽ አልሰጥም።ይህን ክስ ግን ቢያንስ 3 አሳፋሪ ድክመቶቹን መግለጽ አስፈላጊ ነው።

1-አዲስ ስታንዳርድ አንዱ ተነስቶ ተግራይን እንጨብጣታለን ሲል፥ሌላው ኢትዮጵያን ጫማ ማድረግ ያስተማራት አማራ ነው ሲል አልተቸም። አዲስ ስታንዳርድ ባልተቻቸው ግለሰቦች መወቀስ ካለበት ከዚህም በላይ ሊያስውቅሱት የሚችሉ ያልተቻቸው ግለሰባዊ ክስተቶች አሉ።

2- ኦነግን እዚህ ጋር መለጠፍ የተፈለገበት ምክንያት አዲስ ስታንዳርድን ጀዋር በገንዘብ አንደሚያስተዳድው ከማመላከት

While today's decision by the HoF is commendable for averting a looming danger by avoiding a resolution suggesting punitive interventions by the fed. gov't, by upholding the ill-conceived decision of the CCI, members of the House may have violated the constitutional..1/5 ...sovereignty of the very regional states they represented in the House. Their decision raises more question than it answers. For eg: what legal base does the CCI has to avail to itself the right to "interpret" the FDRE constitution on behalf of regional states when they...2/5

Who should get a copy of this book first? 🤔 There is no perfect manifestation of how the transition has drifted from its promises than what's compiled in this book. It's as old as our enthusiasm from 2 years ago. So if anyone needs a copy first, its @AbiyAhmedAli & co.
Why? 1/8

https://twitter.com/mihretum/status/1301733437443903488

In less than a yr after being hailed a peacemaker & grabbing a Nobel for it, we have to lose our sleep over whether or not the next war with Tigray is just around the corner. Abiy's cheerleaders want it badly & Tigray doesn't mind b/c the right to self-rule is in its DNA. 2/8.

This excerpt from @anneapplebaum's latest "Twilight of Democracy. The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism" will give you goosebumps!
***
"No contemporary authoritarian can succeed without the modern equivalent: the writers, intellectuals, pamphleteers, bloggers, spin doctors... ...producers of television programs and creators of memes who can sell his image to the public. Authoritarians need the people who will promote the riot or launch the coup. But they also need the people who can use sophisticated legal language, people who can argue that...

The need for "National Dialogue" is becoming a term repeatedly mentioned Re: current Ethiopia.

But it's important to understand the weight of this term! IMO, the easiest place to start learning abt it will be a look at Tunisian National Dialogue, set up after the country was... ...thrown into a total turmoil ff the political assassinations of leftist opposition figures Chokri Belaid & Mohammed Brahmi in 2013, which gave rise to a dangerously toxic political polarization that threatened the fragile transition Tunisia was undergoing post 2011 revolution.

I don't know what to feel about seeing you still trying to reason with this, if only for your own academic fidelity to the constitution & remaining true to your 1st shot at the practice of the excercise constitutionalism.

After all that's what we all thought we were doing right?

https://twitter.com/AdamAbebe/status/1271079340441296896

Sorry, but I think it's time to admit that what you all did was hijacked by the wild political schism that wanted us to believe the entire process was the "reformed" break from EPRDF, whereas the outcome is a clean bill of legitimacy EPRDF never had, but PP will have unquestioned

The possibility of a lasting peace in Western & Southern #Oromia & the political atmosphere for a negotiated settlement appear to be exhausted, sadly. The people of #Wollega & #Guji & their environs are bleeding from a double-edged frontier of a war that has no winner so far..1/6 Trust, the foundation of a negotiated settlement, is one of the major casualties in the two year's attempts so far for peace between the fed. & #Oromia govs on one side & the rebel groups, OLA,on the other b/se party politicking, deception & lack of sincerity have overruled.. 2/6

Thank you.But neither the original requester @Abelpoly, nor any of those who joined the "demand" for clarification cared to distinguish the glaring legal & constitutional differences b/n a Legislative nominee & an Executive Nominee. Deacon Daniel is a nominee by the Executive.1/5

https://twitter.com/Abba_Raajii/status/1239575423983353863

As such, it's the 2nd time in the history of the Legislative that an Executive nominee was opposed by such No.of MPs.

For B/gd: The 1st was in 2002 when MPs rejected Bereket Simon's nomination (by the Executive) to chair then Ethiopian TV & Radio and EPA. But 2 weeks later 2/5

Thread in defense of #Intellectualism.

I am shocked & deeply ashamed by PM Abiy's speech last night belittling intellectuals of political science & economics. It's cheap & reckless. I hope it is something that our children don't have to grow listening to. My kids won't! A brief reflection: the wave of anti-intellectualism that swept through every inch of Ethiopian political space since Abiy came to power seems to begin deploying its last arsenal: authoritarianism, one of the three most effective instruments against intellectualism of any stripe.

Thread 👇
The dilemma of journalism ethics vs the fate of #Dembidollo uni students.

Protection of sources is one of the most important pillars of journalism.Without it, our line of duty is extremely vulnerable to threats & intimidation especially in countries like Ethiopia. 1/6 Of all the painful journey Ethio media had to go through & continued to endure,so far I am not aware of this sacred practice of protection of sources coming under state sanctioned threat whereby jurnos are forced to hand over the identity of their sources.Not to my knowledge. 2/6

This review by @TomGardner18 for @ForeignPolicy makes a compelling, easy to digest points about what's arguably a complex topic in contemporary Ethiopia.👌
foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/21/wil…
***Here is a thread of my reflection. (We don't do that these days but Tom's analysis is worth it.) Tom's review of the books by Mulugeta G/Hiwot & Terrence Lyons, coupled with his own lived experience, is what makes this review a must read by everyone.

But this thread is about a few salient points that I think are either omitted, simply overlooked or need additional points.