Part II: The Plan to Destroy Ethiopia Gradually By Gemechu Aba Biya
Whenever Hizkiel Gebissa is asked about secession, he equivocates,
but he is a committed separatist. He just doesn’t have the decency,
integrity, or honesty to say it openly.He tries to cleverly camouflage
his separatist intention, while actively working with like-minded
individuals, groups, and political organizations to dismantle Ethiopia
gradually, steadily, but systematically.
In 2016, he,along with Tsegaye
Ararssa, and others co-authored the so-called Oromo National Charter. The charter was intended to be a precursor of
the constitution of an independent Oromia, much as the 1991 OLF-TPLF charter was
a prelude to the 1995 EPRDF constitution, but because of bickering among the
various political parties and opposition from academics,
prominent individuals, and ordinary Oromos, the
charter could not be approved as planned. This story was reported by Tamrat Negera, an Oromo journalist.
To bolster the proposed Oromo Charter,
Hizkeil Gebissa and Jawar Mohammed suggested the establishment of an Oromo Transitional
Government and an Oromo army.(See the letter
addressed to them by the concerned Oromos). That too fell apart when the various groups
couldn’t agree on the people who should lead the implementation of the
plan. Some individuals, including Hizkiel,suggested
to appoint the Little Ayatollah as the Supreme
Leader of the Supreme Council, much to the chagrin of the supporters of Dowd
Ibssa. (No, I didn’t make up the word Supreme Council.
Check the link).He has not yet repudiated his separatist proposals.
Today, Hizkiel pretends to support a united and democratic Ethiopia,
while making speeches, giving interviews, issuing statements, and
plotting with others to advance Oromia’s separation. He has never taken
an unequivocal stand on national unity. Every time he is asked about
secession, he tries to be too clever by half by saying that he supports
“self-rule”for the people of Oromo, which can mean an autonomous region
within a united Ethiopia or an independent Oromia. Equivocation
on secession
In 2016, when someone asked him about
secession, he feignsto be incensed by the question: “To be sure, no one Ethiopian group has the moral authority to
administer the litmus test of loyalty to Ethiopia. It is unfathomable that
Oromos have to answer such questions especially in the wake of the sacrifices
the young generation of Oromo have been paying to liberate Ethiopia from
tyrannical rule.”
The false indignation is intended to
divert attention from the question.Yes, in case Hizkiel has not noticed, some
Oromos, including his boss Jawar, are so disloyal to Ethiopia that they have publicly
vowedto destroy it to create an independent Oromia.
He pretends to have never met a separatist Oromo.
Hizkiel Gebissa
Second, the question of secession was
addressed to him personally, not to all Oromos.
We know that the vast majority of the Oromo people oppose separation
from Ethiopia because they realize that separation will be disastrous for the
Oromo peopleand because they are patriotic Ethiopians as well.As usual, Hizkiel,
like his fellow separatists, relies on hyperbole, mendacity, and stealth
statements to advance Oromo separation. (For instance, Asafa Jalata
the OLF
writer falsely claims that Emperor Menelik killed five million Oromos).
If fake outrage, hyperbole, and
emotional manipulation are not enough, he tries obfuscation. Hizkielobfuscates by saying ,“The
issue of secession, for instance, was basically settled when federalism was
chosen as a solution and secession was enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution
as a right in principle.”
This is the kind of non-answer you
expect from aslimy, duplicitous politician, not from an honest, truth-seeking
academic. Someone who cannot give a
simple “yes” or “no”answer to a simple question obviously hides something.
Although he lacks the integrity to say that he
supports secession outright, there is enough indirect evidence from his
statements and actionsto conclude that he is still a separatist. When he was recently asked about article 39 of
the constitution at Mekele University on July 11 , he responded that he supports
it. It is most unlikely that an
individual who supports national unity can in clear conscience also support article
39, unless he is a separatist.Just as you don’t buy a car, unless you intend to
drive it, you don’t endorse article 39, unless you hope to invoke it one day.
To be sure, I recognize Hizkiel’s right to
support separation, but what I detest
is his dishonesty, sleaziness, mendacity, and hate mongering against the Amhara
people to advance the separation of Oromia.
Further, he endorses the confederation
of ethnic states that has recently been proposed by supporters of the TPLFto
replace a sovereign Ethiopia, revealing his secessionist aspirations.Appearing
on Tigray TV on July 13, Hizkeil gleefully asserts that the Killilsare
ready to separate and the process of Ethiopia’s dissolution is underway.
He points out that the Killils have
their own constitution, their own police force, their own army (special forces),
their own flags, and their own presidents.
He could have also added that Oromia and Tigray have their own ethnic national
anthems as well!What is missing, he contends, is international recognition only. And that can come easily once a referendum,
requiring a simple majority vote for separation, is held. He can’t wait to see
that day. Defending the
constitution
Hizkiel defends the constitution
vigorously. One wonders why he bloviates
so much when defending the constitution, both its content and the process by
which it was drafted and approved. The reason is simple: the constitution,
written by the two separatist political organizations the OLF and TPLF, was
conceived to destroy Ethiopia. He must share the same objective.
The constitution created the Killils,
ethnic enclaves,with huge imbalances in the distribution of resources, economic
power, and political influence, an unworkable federal arrangement in the long
run. It enshrined secession.It undermines
Ethiopia’s national identity. It created indigenes and non-indigeneswithin each
Killil who are subject to unequal rights. It includes provisions that incitecontinuousconflicts
in each Killil. (Kebeles demanding to be woredas, woredas demanding to be zones,
and zones demanding to be Killils, and Killils eventually demanding to be
countries).
Because of these and other features,
the constitution fosters perpetual political crises and the eventual collapse
of Ethiopia. Nobody could have designed a
better constitution than the OLF-TPLF constitution for a countryto
self-annihilate. And this is the
constitution that Hizkiel defends as being perfect
for Ethiopia. Indeed, it is a
perfect constitution for the destruction
of Ethiopia.
That’s why separatists like Hizkiel threatenviolence,
bloodshed, civil war whenever you suggest to change the constitution. This is intellectual bullying, the hallmark
of someone who has no valid argumentsto defend atenuous position.
If the constitution provides the legal
framework for the separationof Oromia in the future, then the ground political
work must start now. The separatistsare
working to gradually dismantle Ethiopia, with the apparent connivance of the
Abiy government.
Hizkiel, Jawar, and Bekele are now collaborating
closely with the TPLF separatists. They
have formed an unholy alliance with the former oppressors, torturers, and killers
of the Oromo people. Hizkiel used to
condemn the Woyane regime incessantly for its crimes against the Oromo people,
but on August 7 he denies ever using the word “Woyane”!
Come again? A cursory look at his video
clips over the last two decades shows he has profusely used the word “Woyane”. The man a pathological liar.
Two years ago, Hizkiel was telling us
the alliance between the Amhara and Oromo people, deeply rooted in history, was
essential for a united, democratic, and prosperous Ethiopia. Now, he tells us that the alliance was simply
tactical and that there can never be a strategic alliance between the two people.
The strategic alliance,he argues,
should be among the Cushitic people of Ethiopia, under the hegemony of the
Oromos. That has been
his long-held position. This means, when he was preaching the alliance
of the two people, he was lying all along.
Now he wants to con the Cushitic people of Ethiopia, but they know him well
enough not to be duped.
The man tells consistently contradictory
stories, depending on whether he is speaking in Bale or Mekele, in Amharic or
Afan Oromo, on Amhara TV or OMN TV, on Tigray TV or on Walta TV. In Harar, he was advancing Oromo hegemony; in Mekele,
he denounces it.
On Tigray TV, the thieves are the EPRDF leaders;
on Walta TV, no it is the TPLF leaders.
And so on. Which is the true story?
For Hizkiel, truth is some kind of
play dough to be arranged into different forms, patterns, and shapes; to be
packaged, labelled, and sold to a particular audience. The man has a serious problem of credibility,
to put it politely. The
great expanded Oromia?
The current configuration of Oromia is
not economically conducive for an independent Oromia. To be viable, it must incorporate the
SNNPR. To that end, Hizkiel and Jawar
have been agitating for the fragmentation of the South not because they support
the constitutional right of the people in the South, but because a divided,
fragmented, and weakened South will be easy to dominate, to Oromize,and to eventually
incorporate into Oromia.
When Hizkiel and Jawar assert that
Oromia is composed of different “nations, nationalities, and peoples”, they are
not referring to the Amharas, Gurages, Tigrayans, and other ethnic groups
living in Oromia today. They are referring to the people of the South. Hizkiel wants to fragment the South but plans
to expand Oromiaby incorporating Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Shewa, the South, Wollo,
and substantial areas of the other regions.
Unless you’re a separatist who dreams to establish a Great Oromiaone
day, why would you want to expand Oromia?
Further, he relentlessly attacks
Ethiopia’s national identity, spews ethnic hatred against the Amharas, strategizes
to weaken the Amhara region, advocates the Oromization of non-Oromos, and instigates
political crises by raising wedge issues (think of Finfinen Kegna and now
Wollon Kenga). None of these advance national unity. In fact, they are designed
to kill Ethiopia by a thousand cuts.
I doubt if the strategy of gradually
weakening Ethiopia to destroy it,while strengthening Oromia economically,
politically, and militarilyto make it an independent country will work because the
Oromo people are beginning to realize the treachery of people like Hizkeil and
Jawar and that separation is a mutually destructive option for all Ethiopians.
There is no guarantee that an
independent Oromia would remain intact, given the cultural, political,
regional, and religious differences of the Killil. Still, we have to be vigilant about intellectually
dishonest individuals like Hizkeil who pretend to support national unity while
actively trying to destroy Ethiopia.
It’s our duty to expose such political hacks, charlatans, and carnival
barkers.
