| BY OROMO SCHOLARS AND PROFESSIONALS Mr. Isaias Afwerki, President of Eritrea February 28, 2020 Your Excellency, We, the undersigned Oromo scholars and professionals, write this letter to you to express our disappointment in your recent position on events in Oromia and Ethiopia as expressed during your February 08, 2020 interview on Eritrean Television. These views reveal perverse readiness to intervene in the internal matters of our country and are hostile towards popular demands to democratize Ethiopia. Eritrea’s relationship with the Oromo has been mostly positive, peaceful, and complementary. Oromos and Eritreans have shared similar history and politics. Until Eritrea’s independence in 1991, the people of both nations had suffered under successive repressive regimes that ruled Ethiopia and fought on the same side to dismantle the oppressive system. Oromia was home to hundreds of thousands of Eritreans during the reigns of Haile Selassie and Mengistu Hailemariam. Just as many Oromos, if not more, have established unbreakable social ties with Eritreans. Many of the signatories to this letter have Eritrean friends and colleagues, including members of your cabinet. Onesimos Nesib, a native of Oromia who translated the Christian Bible into the Oromo language, a saint of the American Lutheran Book of Worship, and known to be the pioneer of modern Oromo literature was freed from slavery to attend the Imkullu Swedish Evangelical Mission near Massawa, Eritrea. Prof. Asmerom Legesse, an Eritrean, has made significant scholarly contributions to the knowledge of the Oromo Gada system as an indigenous socioeconomic and political institution. Tesfaye GebreAb, an Eritrean writer who was born and raised in Oromia, is loved and admired for his penetrating works on the plight of the Oromo people. His book, YeBurqa Zimita, is a best seller narrating Oromo traditions and political deprivations. It is these social and individual connections that are once again at stake because of your imprudent and uncalled for stance, as expressed in your recent interview, on a matter that is non-negotiable to the Oromo people. These actions and the social media posts by a prominent member of your cabinet have indeed offended our people. |