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ABSTRACT
Decades of both non-violent and armed struggle did not bring much result to the Oromo quest for political power over the Ethiopian state, and contemporary Oromo politics often appear recondite and discordant. When Abiy Ahmed came to power as the new Prime Minister in April 2018 as the first Oromo politician entering the former imperial palace, many believed it was the Oromo’s turn to rule. Developments since then have, however, revealed a far more complex picture, where previous internal divisions have resurfaced, and where the inherently fragmented nature of Oromo politics seems to have prevailed. Drawing on recent interviews, in this article, we argue that the current divisions and positions in Oromo politics may be made explicable by applying a multilayered ethnographic approach to identify their provenance and grassroots anchoring. With the three main positions found within Oromo politics – the unitarist, secessionist, and federalist – as our point of departure, we unveil the deeper connections between the current political positioning and their historical trajectories and ethnographic anchoring, and we capture overlooked and competing power discourses informing Oromo politics.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 See for example Lata, The Ethiopian State at the Crossroad; Jalata, ed., Oromo Nationalism and the Ethiopian Discourse; Sorensen, Imagining Ethiopia; Hultin et al. eds., Being and Becoming Oromo.
2 Yates, The Other Abyssinians.
3 We are grateful to Muhammad Jemal from Medda Welabu University for collecting valuable data from Bale.
4 See Tronvoll, War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia.
5 Conversations with Leenco Lata during his exile in Norway.
6 Levine, Greater Ethiopia, 146.
7 Ibid., 84–5.
8 Megersa, “Oromumma”; Bulcha, “The Survival and Reconstruction of Oromo National Identity.”
9 Hultin et al. eds., Being and Becoming Oromo, 9.
10 Jalata, Oromummaa, 12.
11 Bekele, Locating Politics in Ethiopia’s Irreecha Ritual, 68–9.
12 Østebø, Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia.
13 Brow, “Community, Hegemony, and the Uses of the Past,” 3.
14 Tronvoll, “Ambiguous Elections.”
15 Donham and James, eds., The Southern marches of Imperial Ethiopia.
16 Gnamo, Conquest and Resistance in the Ethiopian Empire.
17 Østebø, Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia; Tareke, Power and Protest.
18 Zoga, Gezetena Gezot; Hassan, “Review Essay.”
19 On the establishment of EPRDF and the development of structures of governance and control in post-1991 Ethiopia, see Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power in Contemporary Ethiopian Life, 115f.
20 A stampeded occurred during the Irrecha ceremony on 2 October, 2016. According to government sources 55 people died, but other sources put the death toll much higher, possibly as many as 500.
21 Terje Østebø, “Analysis: The Role of the Qeerroo in Future Oromo Politics”, Addis Standard, 26 May 2020. https://addisstandard.com/analysis-the-role-of-the-qeerroo-in-future-oromo-politics/ (accessed 13 June 2020).
22 Kjetil Tronvoll (2019) “Opinion: Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again: The Restoration of EPRDF?” Addis Standard, 26 March 2020. https://addisstandard.com/opinion-putting-humpty-dumpty-together-again-the-restoration-of-eprdf/ (accessed June 14 2020).
23 Forsén and Tronvoll, “Protest and Political Change in Ethiopia.”
24 The Economist, “Ethiopians are Going Wild for Abiy Ahmed”, 18 August 2018. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/08/18/ethiopians-are-going-wild-for-abiy-ahmed (accessed 2 March 2020).
25 The OLA formally broke from the OLF when they restarted the insurgency, likely in order to protect the OLF leadership and member base from being accused of destabilizing the state and becoming vulnerable for arrests.
26 The Medemer webpage; https://medemer.et (accessed 3 March 2020).
27 Linda Yohannes, “Abiy’s Homespun Balancing Act: Medemer Reviewed”, Ethiopia Insight, 26 January 2020. https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2020/01/26/abiys-homespun-balancing-act-medemer-reviewed/ (accessed 3 March 2020).
28 “Prosperity Party Bylaws”, unofficial translation, https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/PP-bylaws-2.pdf (accessed 3 March 2020).
29 Salem Solomon, “Efforts to End Ethiopia’s Ruling Party Draw Criticism from Within”, VOA News, 4 December 2019. https://www.voanews.com/africa/efforts-end-ethiopias-ruling-party-draw-criticism-within (accessed 28 March 2020).
30 After his public statement of disagreement on VOA, pressure was reportedly put to bear on Lemma Megersa and in a short statement in late 2019, it was declared that the two had reconciled their differences, without disclosing any substance of the talks. See Ezega, “Lemma Megersa Has Narrowed His Differences with Abiy Ahmed: Oromia Bureau”, 23 December 2019. https://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails/7584/Lemma-Megersa-Has-Narrowed-His-Differences-with-Abiy-Ahmed-Oromia-Bureau (accessed 28 March 2020).
31 Repeated interviews with Jawar Mohammed in Addis Ababa, 2019-2020.
32 Woldemariam, Insurgent Fragmentation in the Horn of Africa, 198.
33 Dawit Endeshaw, “Lemma Removes Oromia Security Chief”, The Reporter Ethiopia, 3 April 2019. https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/article/lemma-removes-oromia-security-chief (accessed 2 April 2020).
34 Article 8 The Vision, Mission and Values of the Party, sub-article 1.a. (Unofficial translation of Prosperity Party by-laws.) See also Prosperity Party Political Program, chapter 2 “To build a strong and accepted long-lasting government system”.
35 Interview, Ambo, 14 February 2020.
36 See Ethiopia Insight for a review of the book Medemer outlining the way of thinking on Ethiopian unity: Linda Yohannes, “Abiy’s Homespun Balancing act: Medemer Reviewed”, Ethiopia Insight, 26 January 2020. https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2020/01/26/abiys-homespun-balancing-act-medemer-reviewed/ (accessed 28 March 2020).
37 Interview, Robe, 19 February 2020.
38 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
39 “The Interview: ‘We Think We Will Win a Majority in Oromia and Win Significant Seats in the Federal Parliament,’ Dawud Ibsa”, Addis Standard, 3 December 2019. https://addisstandard.com/the-interview-we-think-we-will-win-a-majority-in-oromia-and-win-significant-seats-in-the-federal-parliament-dawud-ibsa/ (accessed 28 March 2020).
40 Interview, Ambo, 16 February 2020.
41 Interview, Robe, 15 February 2020.
42 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
43 Addis Standard, “Interview: ‘I Have Always Said That There is Really No Ideological Difference Between Oromo Political Parties’ Jawar Mohammed”, 31 December 2019. https://addisstandard.com/interview-i-have-always-said-that-there-is-really-no-ideological-difference-between-oromo-political-parties-jawar-mohammed/ (accessed 2 March 2020).
44 Tronvoll, War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia.
45 Signs of emerging internal fractions appeared in June 2020, when Kemal Galchu went public criticizing what he saw as the dominance of Jawar Mohammed.
46 Jalata, Oromummaa, 146.
47 Østebø, Localising Salafism, 293; Østebø, Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia.
48 Baxter, “Boran Age-Sets and Warfare”; Bartels, Oromo religion, 81, 85; Schlee and Shongolo, “Local war and its impact.”
49 Salviac, An Ancient People in the State of Menelik, 226.
50 Interview, Ambo, 14 February 2020.
51 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
52 Interview, Ambo, 14 February 2020.
53 Oromo Affairs, “Kemal Gelchu & Co.: ‘OLF’ Trojan Horse? Part 1”, 7 January 2012. https://oromoaffairs.blogspot.com/2012/01/kemal-gelchu-co-olf-trojan-horse-part-i.html (accessed 5 March 2020).
54 Interview, Addis Ababa, 12 January 2020.
55 Interview, Robe, 19 February 2020.
56 Interview, Addis Ababa, 30 July 2011.
57 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
58 Interview, Robe, 15 February 2020.
59 Phone interview, 10 July 2020.
60 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
61 Interview, Haramaya, 12 February 2020.
62 Interview, Haramaya, 12 February 2020.
63 Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi was a military leader of the 16th century Sultanate of Adal, whose forces defeated the Ethiopian imperial army and fractured the Ethiopian state. Phone interview, 11 July 2020.
64 Interview, Haramaya, 12 February 2020.
65 The Times of Axum, “Radical Islamist Leader Denies Yemeni Ties”, 17 September 2019. https://timesofaxum.com/radical-islamist-leader-denies-yemeni-ties/ ; ECADF, “Jawar Mohammed is the Al-Baghdadi of Addis Not an Oromo Activist!”, 24 November 2019. https://ecadforum.com/2019/11/24/jawar-mohammed-is-the-al-baghdadi-of-addis-not-an-oromo-activist/ (accessed 19 March 2020).
66 Interview, Addis Ababa, 17 February 2020.
67 It needs to be added that Emperor Menelik gave Shoa Oromo land in Arsi at the end of the 19th century as a reward for their contributions during the Arsi campaign.
68 Blackhurst, “A Community of Shoa Galla in Southern Ethiopia.”
69 Østebø, Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia.
70 Østebø, Localising Salafism, 287f.
71 Sirna Araaraa Arsii Baalee fi Tuulama Baalee [Reconciliation Decision among the Arsi of Bale and the Tulama of Bale], unpublished document, 11 November 2019.
72 Østebø, Localising Salafism, 291.
73 This is because migration to Arsi started earlier and was more extensive.
74 Field-log, 17 January 2020.
75 Interview, Haramaya, 12 February 2020.
76 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020.
77 Interview, Dirre Dawa, 10 February 2020. The Oda tree refers to the sacred Sycamore tree and Anole is a place in Arsi – remembered as a site where Menelik’s forces massacred a large number of Oromo in the late 19th century.
78 Abebe, “Lost futures?”
79 Di Nunzio, The Act of Living.
80 Interview, Ambo, 15 February 2020.
81 “The World Factbook”, Central Intelligence Agency, 2020. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html (accessed 24 March 2020).
82 Abbink, “Being Young in Africa,” 7; Diouf, “Engaging Postcolonial Cultures,” 2.
83 Donham, Marxist Modern; Østebø, “Being Young, Being Muslim in Bale.”
84 See Ranger and Hobsbawm, eds., The Invention of Tradition.
85 See Serawit Bekele, Locating Politics in Ethiopia’s Irreecha Ritual; Finfinne Tribune, “Founding Congress of the Oromo Abbaa Gadaa’s Council (Gumii Abbooti Gadaa)”, 9 October 2014. http://gadaa.net/FinfinneTribune/2014/10/in-photos-founding-congress-of-the-oromo-abbaa-gadaas-council-gumii-abbooti-gadaa/ (accessed 23 March 2020).
86 See Baxter, “Towards a Comparative Ethnography of the Oromo,” 179.
87 Interview, Harar, 12 February 2020.
88 Interview, Ambo, 14 February 2020.