Posted on (OPride) — Ethiopia’s leaders continue to improvise a workable response to the popular uprising in Oromia state. An estimated 400 people have been killed and tens of thousands arrested in the ongoing upsurge in Oromo protests that broke out last November. Initially, Ethiopian authorities pointed fingers at the usual scapegoats, “anti-peace elements” and armed opposition groups operating from archrival Eritrea.

Seenaa Afaan Oromoo Akkuma uummanni oromoo aadaaf seenaa mataa ofii qabu afaan oromoollee seenaa mataa isaa kan qabu dha.haaluma kanaan akkaata yaada kitaaba barnootaa tokko irraa argametti afaan seenaa armaan gadii kana qaba Afaan Oromoo akkuma afaanota biroo seenaa mataa ofii ni qaba.

As the size of the protesters swelled, officials started to admit — albeit timidly and tangentially — that the protesters’ grievances are legitimate. As the death toll rose inflaming the populace, the authorities stated that the disproportionate use of force was a mistake, an admission made to a visiting U.S. State department delegation in January. Next, federal authorities and their surrogates tried to lay all the blame at the feet of the governing Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO). The latter, meeting in an emergency session, reversed course by canceling the implementation of the controversial Addis Ababa Master Plan that triggered the protests and promised to address the people’s grievances.

After months of muddling, threats of stern action and confusing bluster, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn — addressing the country’s rubber stamp one-party parliament — on March 16 offered to pay compensation for victims’ families and made a vague apology for failing to heed the people’s grievances. Little has been said about the sheer lack of accountability and impunity for security forces. [Please see a detailed timeline of Ethiopia’s convoluted response to Oromo protests at the end of this article.] On March 22, the Voice of America reported that the OPDO is purging more than 300 local government officials. And that some may soon face criminal charges.

The mass purge follows the demotion in early March of two senior OPDO officials:Dhaba Dabale, Head of Party Office, and Zelalem Nemaneh, Head of the Natural Resource Bureau of the Oromia Regional State Government, both members of the Executive Committees of OPDO as well as EPRDF. Keygen free download. The sacking of OPDO officials is not unexpected. The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) faces unprecedented opposition from Oromos in all walks of life, including the nationalist regional leaders, police, and the local militia.

Yet Desalegn and his party want to reduce the question of good governance to whether the local government officials that citizens come in contact with to meet their public service need is corrupt or not. The fact of the matter is the entire system is riddled with corruption. And a majority did notgo on the streets in reaction to abuses suffered in their interactions with local officials.

In fact, the protesters had little to no altercation with one such local officialdom, the regional police. Neither are they grieving about the quality of public service provided by local officials, poor as that is. In fact, one doesn’t need to come in direct contact with a government official to feel the influence of the state.