Oromo Rebels

In News

• Ethiopia rebels ‘join forces’ against govt. The two largest rebel groups fighting Ethiopia’s government have “linked up” on a front line about 230 miles north of the capital.

About the war

• Ethiopia: is now at crossroads with two forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) waging an endless war with the federal government led by Abiy Ahmed.
• Tigray region: The war has escalated especially out of the Tigray region and is now becoming a national concern.
• Tigray People’s Liberation Front: The TPLF was formed as a guerrilla army to fight against Ethiopia’s former communist regime.
  • After emerging victorious, it consolidated power and controlled the country for nearly three decades, often brutally suppressing dissent.
• Terrorist organizations: Both the TPLF and OLA were designated terrorist organizations by the government soon after the war began.

Oromo people

• Ethnic group: The Oromo people are an ethnic group who predominantly inhabit Oromia and Ethiopia, along with communities in neighboring Kenya and Somalia.
  • They are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa.
• Colonised by Abyssinia: The Oromo remained independent until the last decade of the 19th century, when they were colonised by Abyssinia.

Oromo conflict

• Armed conflict: The Oromo conflict is an armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government.
• Oromia state: The Oromo Liberation Front was formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent Oromia state.
• The conflict: began in 1973, when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).
• Haile Selassie regime: Under the Haile Selassie regime, the Oromo language was banned from use in education and in administrative matters.

Conflicted region through map

The Oromo Liberation Front

• Oromo Liberation Front: It is an Ethiopian political party established in 1973 by Oromo nationalists to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today’s Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in Amhara Region territory.
• Tigray War: In 2021 during the Tigray War, a division of the ENDF and EDF left Tigray Region and arrived in Oromia Region to fight against the OLA, according to Freedom Friday.

Source: TH