OLF declares a merge between OLF-QC and OLF-SG
June 28, 2014 (Oromo Liberation Front) — It is with great pleasure that we announce to our people and the supporters of our struggle for freedom the good news that, based on the accord they made in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2012, the two organizations of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) known as OLF Shanee Gumii (”OLF National Council”) and OLF Qaama Ce’umsaa (”OLF Transitional Authority”) have resolved our differences and agreed to combine our two leaderships, unify our members, merge our organizational structures and inaugurate a reunified OLF. Although OLF has encountered many obstacles during the last forty years, there was no time when it has stopped the struggle that it was established to lead. No one can deny the fact that the national struggle led by the OLF has scored many victories and made many significant achievements that have taken the Oromo people a long way toward the national goal of independence. Among these great achievements is the level of political awareness of our people.
At the same time, we witness that the Oromo people are being targeted for extinction more than any time before. Oppression has reached intolerable levels making our people to rise up in defiance of tyranny, protesting peacefully in all corners of Oromia. But, as witnessed in the killings of students and others in many places in Oromia, the TPLF regime is responding violently to their lawful demands. Defying enemy atrocities, imprisonment, and torture the young Oromo generation are making it known to the world that they will not tolerate humiliation and oppression anymore and that they will make the necessary sacrifices to liberate their people and homeland from alien oppressors. The OLF extends its condolences to families who lost their beloved sons daughters and expresses its admiration for the courage and bravery they have shown by the young Oromo generation to defend their people’s legitimate rights. As the vanguard of the Oromo struggle for freedom, we re-iterate our determination to continue the struggle until our people become masters of their destiny.
The re-unification of the two organizations of the OLF is a great step that will strengthen the Oromo struggle for freedom. United under one leadership, we are resolute to realize the principal objective of our struggle, namely the liberation of our people and the independence of our homeland Oromia. There is no question about the popularity of the goal of OLF-led liberation struggle among the Oromo people. Therefore, it is with determination that we pledge to make the necessary sacrifices, withstand the challenges ahead and carry through the Oromo national struggle to the ultimate goal of independence.
We are well aware that there are Oromo nationals who are organized separately under other names to advance our people’s legitimate rights. We will do all we can to coordinate our efforts with them to achieve the common goal. The OLF leadership states its decision and commitment to continue to work and conclude the ongoing talks with other forces committed to the same goal. Hence we call on all Oromo organizations that uphold our people’s right to self-determination and independence to join us in carrying out this sacred mission.
We also take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the oppressed nations, nationalities and peoples who are struggling for justice against the same tyrannical regime, and call upon them to join us in the common struggle for basic human and democratic rights.
The TPLF-led regime’s violence against the Oromo people is abetted by military, political and economic assistance from external powers. The OLF appeals again to governments, both in the West and East to strike a balance between their national interests and their international obligation of protecting human rights and stop giving economic, military and political support to a brutal regime that is evicting our people and others from their land and killing innocent civilian who are peacefully demanding their legitimate rights.
Victory to the Oromo People!
Oromo Liberation Front
June 28, 2014
