Dear Star Tribune
Minnesota, USA
I read your piece on the Ethiopian Prime Minister visit at your city on July 30, 2018.
This schedule is in addition to his official schedule of July 28 and 29 at Washington DC and Los Angeles respectively.
The Minnesota City Council calls for Abyi Ahmed to stop the bloodshed between the Oromo and Somali ethnic nationalities in Ethiopia is commendable.
That tension should have affected the two communities in Minnesota too and it is appropriate for the city council asking the prime minister for his intervention.
Those of us who follow Ethiopia have been calling for the last 27 years the USA government not to endorse Ethnic Federalism because it is very dangerous for Ethiopia more than 80 ethnic nationalities to be put into nine Ethnic Kilils/states.
The Somali Kilil has ethnically cleansed almost one million Oromos this year.
More than 800 thousand Gedeo nationalities were forced out from Oromo Kilil few months ago.
Such ethnic cleansing started in Gonder and Wolo north Ethiopia to create the currentTigray Kilil by incorporating fertile land more than 25 years ago.
What we witness now is a continuation of the disastrous Ethnic Federalism imposed on people of Ethiopia by four ethnic paries of EPRDF.Abyi Ahmed took over the leadership more than four months ago.
The Oromo diaspora in Minnesota supports ethnic federalism using their satellite TV OMN spreading news to strength their future independent country called Oromya.
Regarding the Oromos displaced they accused the Somali police led by Abdi Illy disregarding similar operation by Oromo militia on the Gedeo nationalities.
They are now spreading news on how to reclaim Addis Ababa as their capitalto be renamed Finfine.
The five million Addis Ababeans have no right other than submit to Oromo takeover according to the OMN director Jawar Mohammed this month warning.
Prime Minister Abyi popularity throughout Ethiopia is because of his call for Ethiopian identity first before ethnicity.
I am going to Washington DC on July 28 to support Prime Minster Abyi Ahmed after denouncing his predecessors ethnic politics for 27 years.
Minnesota city council call for peace between Oromo and Somali communities is undermined by Tribal media like OMN which are endangering Ethiopia and more than 100 million citizens by calling for Creation of a new Oromo Republic by brute force. They should be stopped !!!!!!
Regarding this article:
Typical old school perspective common among the older generation of the 1960s and 1970s, politicians.”Only my opinion matters, Stop the others” mentality.
This approach simply is bad and is not acceptable among the well informed social media savvy millennial generation.
We may not agree with them in everything they say but activists such as Jawar and Tamagne as well as media outlets such as OMN and ESAT are the driving forces behind positive changes currently happening in Ethiopia.
Dear Mr. Tedla Asfaw:
We can accomodate differences and different ideas. We can tolerate each other and find middle ground to shape our common future in Ethiopia.
We ask the Old generation to retire with Grace and let we the youth shape our future, for us and our children. We will call on you if and when we need your advice and your wisdom.
One thing we shall not take from you though is intolerance towards the slightest difference in ideas from our own.
Today”s youth are more pragmatic and forward looking, focused on results. Abiy Ahmed is the result of this generation.
Your generation had a chance, and you failed us miserably and got us where we are today.
Now, Do us a favor by staying out, let us work it out and shape our future.
And I guarantee you we will work it out among ourselves along ethnic, religious and geographic lines to propel our beloved country Ethiopia to the front of the line among the most successful countries on the planet.
Respectfully:
Abiy B.