Oromia (Oromo: Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people.[3] Under Article 49 of Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The provision of the article maintains special interest of Oromia by utilizing social services and natural resources of Addis Ababa.[4]
In August 2013, the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency projected the 2017 population of Oromia as 35,467,001;[1] making it the largest regional state by population. It is also the largest regional state covering 353,690 square kilometres (136,560sqmi)[5]
History
The Oromo people are one of the oldest Cushitic peoples inhabiting the Horn of Africa. There is still no reliable estimate of the history of their settlement in the region, however, many indications suggest that they have been living in the north of Kenya and south-east Ethiopia for more than 7,000 years, until the great expansion in 1520 when they expanded to the south-west and some areas in the north.[citation needed]
The Oromo remained independent until the last quarter of the 19th century,[6] when they lost their sovereignty. From 1881 to 1886, EmperorMenelik II conducted several unsuccessful invasion campaigns against their territory. The Arsi Oromo demonstrated fierce resistance against this Abyssinian conquest,[7] putting up stiff opposition against an enemy equipped with modern European firearms. They were ultimately defeated in 1886.[7]
In the 1940s some Arsi Oromo together with people from Bale province joined the Harari Kulub movement, an affiliate of the Somali Youth League that opposed Amhara Christian domination of Hararghe. The Ethiopian government violently suppressed these ethno-religious movements.[8][9][10] During the 1970s the Arsi formed alliances with Somalia.[11]
In 1967, the imperial regime of Haile Selassie I outlawed the Mecha and Tulama Self-Help Association (MTSHA), an Oromo social movement, and conducted mass arrests and executions of its members. The group's leader, Colonel General Tadesse Birru, who was a prominent military officer, was among those arrested.[12] The actions by the regime sparked outrage among the Oromo community, ultimately leading to the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front in 1973.[13] The Oromos perceived the rule of Emperor Haile Selassie as oppressive, as the Oromo language was banned from education and use in administration,[14][15][16] and speakers were privately and publicly mocked.[17][18] The Amhara culture dominated throughout the eras of military and monarchic rule.
Both the imperial and the Derg government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia, including the present day Oromia region, in order to alleviate drought in the north of the country.[19] They also served in government administration, courts, church and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic.[20] Further disruption under the Derg regime came through the forced concentration and resettlement of peasant communities in fewer villages.[21] The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity and languages as opposing the expansion of an Ethiopian national identity.[22]
On 28 May 1991, the EPRDF seized power and established a transitional government. The EPRDF and the OLF pledged to work together in the new government; however, they were largely unable to cooperate, as the OLF saw the OPDO as an EPRDF ploy to limit their influence.[23][24] In 1992, the OLF announced that it was withdrawing from the transitional government because of "harassment and [the]assassinations of its members". In response, the EPRDF sent soldiers to destroy OLA camps.[citation needed] Despite initial victories against the EPRDF, the OLF were eventually overwhelmed by the EPRDF's superior numbers and weaponry, forcing OLA soldiers to use guerrilla warfare instead of traditional tactics.[25] In the late 1990s, most of the OLF's leaders had escaped Ethiopia, and the land originally administered by the OLF had been seized by the Ethiopian government, now led by the EPRDF.[26]
Prior to the establishment of present-day Addis Ababa the location was called Finfinne in Oromo, a name which refers to the presence of hot springs. The area was previously inhabited by various Oromo clans.[27]
In 2000, Oromia's capital was moved from Addis Ababa to Adama.[28] Because this move sparked considerable controversy and protests among Oromo students, the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization (OPDO), part of the ruling EPRDF coalition, on 10 June 2005, officially announced plans to move the regional capital back to Addis Ababa.[29]
Further protests sparked on 25 April 2014, against the Addis Ababa Master Plan,[30] then resumed on 12 September 2015 and continued into 2016, when renewed protests broke out across Ethiopia, centering around the Oromia region. Dozens of protesters were killed in the first days of the protests and internet service was cut in many parts of the region.[31] In 2019, the Irreecha festival was celebrated in Addis Ababa after 150 years of being banned.[32][33]
Oromia includes the former Arsi Province along with portions of the former Bale, Illubabor, Kaffa, Shewa and Sidamo provinces.[citation needed] Oromia shares a boundary with almost every region of Ethiopia except for the Tigray Region. These boundaries have been disputed in a number of cases, most notably between Oromia and the Somali Region. One attempt to resolve the dispute between the two regions was the October 2004 referendum held in about 420 kebeles in 12 districts across five zones of the Somali Region. According to the official results of the referendum, about 80% of the disputed areas have fallen under Oromia administration, though there were allegations of voting irregularities in many of them.[34] The results led over the following weeks to minorities in these kebeles being pressured to leave. In Oromiya, estimates based on figures given by local district and kebele authorities suggest that 21,520 people have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) in border districts, namely Mieso, Doba, and Erer in the West Hararghe Zone and East Hararghe Zones. Federal authorities believe that this number may be overstated by as much as 11,000. In Doba, the Ministry of Federal Affairs put the number of IDPs at 6,000. There are also more than 2,500 displaced persons in Mieso.[35] In addition, there were reports of people being displaced in the border area of Moyale and Borena zones due to this conflict.[36]
At the time of the 2007 census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Oromia region had a total population of 26,993,933, consisting of 13,595,006 men and 13,398,927 women;[38] urban inhabitants numbered 3,317,460 or 11.3% of the population. With an estimated area of 353,006.81 square kilometres (136,296.69sqmi), the region had an estimated population density of 76.93 inhabitants per square kilometre (199.2/sqmi). For the entire region 5,590,530 households were counted, which resulted in an average for the region of 4.8 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 3.8 and rural households 5.0 people. The projected population for 2017 was 35,467,001.[1]
In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 17,088,136; urban inhabitants number 621,210 or 14% of the population.[citation needed]
According to the CSA, as of 2004[update], 32% of the population had access to safe drinking water, of whom 23.7% were rural inhabitants and 91.03% were urban.[39] Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Oromia as of 2005[update] include the following: 19.9% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 61.5% and for women 29.5%; and the regional infant mortality rate is 76 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is about the same as the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants' first month of life.[40]
Oromo is written with Latin characters known as Qubee, only formally adopted in 1991[45] after various other Latin-based orthographies had been used previously.
Oromo is one of the official working languages of Ethiopia[46] and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia,[47]Harari and Dire Dawa regional states and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. It is a language of primary education in Oromia, Harari and of the Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region. It is used as an internet language for federal websites along with Tigrinya.[48]
There are more than 33.8% Oromo speakers in Ethiopia and it is considered the most widely spoken language in Ethiopia.[47] It is also the most widely spoken Cushitic language and the fourth-most widely spoken language of Africa, after Arabic, Hausa and Swahili languages.[49] Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 35 million Oromo people in Ethiopia and by an additional half-million in parts of northern and eastern Kenya.[50] It is also spoken by smaller numbers of emigrants in other African countries such as South Africa, Libya, Egypt and Sudan. Besides first language speakers, a number of members of other ethnicities who are in contact with the Oromo speak it as a second language. See, for example, Harari, Omotic-speaking Bambassi and the Nilo-Saharan-speaking Kwama in northwestern, eastern and south Oromia.[51]
Oromia is a major contributor to Ethiopia's main exports - gold, coffee, khat and cattle. Lega Dembi in Guji Zone, owned by MIDROC has exported more than 5000 kilograms of gold,[52] followed by Tulu Kapi gold deposit in West Welega Zone.[53] Awoday in East Hararghe Zone is the biggest market of khat exporting to Djibouti and Somalia.[54] Oromia also has more abundant livestock than any other region of Ethiopia, including camels. It is also the largest producer of cereals and coffee.
The CSA reported that, from 2004 to 2005, 115,083 tons of coffee were produced in Oromia, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority. This represents 50.7% of the total production in Ethiopia. Farmers in the Region had an estimated total of 17,214,540 cattle (representing 44.4% of Ethiopia's total cattle), 6,905,370 sheep (39.6), 4,849,060 goats (37.4%), 959,710 horses (63.25%), 63,460 mules (43.1%), 278,440 asses (11.1%), 139,830 camels (30.6%), 11,637,070 poultry of all species (37.7%), and 2,513,790 beehives (57.73%).[55]
According to a March 2003 World Bank publication, the average rural household has 1.14 hectares of land compared to the national average of 1.01 hectares. 24% of the population work in non-farm related jobs compared to the national average of 25%.[56]
The Oromo people are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Oromia region of Ethiopia and parts of Northern Kenya. They speak the Oromo language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. According to the last Ethiopian census of 2007, the Oromo numbered 25,488,344 people or 34.5% of the Ethiopian population. Recent estimates have the Oromo comprising 45,000,000 people, or 35.8% of the total Ethiopian population estimated at 116,000,000.
The government of Ethiopia is the federal government of Ethiopia. It is structured in a framework of a federal parliamentary republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. The prime minister is chosen by the lower chamber of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. The judiciary is more or less independent of the executive and the legislature. They are governed under the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia. There is a bicameral parliament made of the 108-seat House of Federation and the 547-seat House of Peoples' Representatives. The House of Federation has members chosen by the regional councils to serve five-year terms. The House of Peoples' Representatives is elected by direct election, who in turn elect the president for a six-year term.
Arsi is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after a clan of the Oromo, who inhabit in the area.
Adama, formerly Nazreth, is a one of the cities of Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone 99 km (62 mi) southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, the city sits between the base of an escarpment to the west, and the Great Rift Valley to the east.
The languages of Ethiopia include the official languages of Ethiopia, its national and regional languages, and a large number of minority languages, as well as foreign languages.
Bale Zone is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Bale is bordered on the south by the Ganale Dorya River which separates it from Guji Zone, on the west by the West Arsi Zone, on the north by Arsi Zone, on the northeast by the Shebelle River which separates it from West Hararghe Zone and East Hararghe Zone, and on the east by the Somali Region.
West Hararge is a zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. West Hararghe takes its name from the former province of Hararghe. West Harerge is bordered on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from Bale, on the southwest by Arsi, on the northwest by the Afar Region, on the north by the Somali Region and on the east by East Hararghe. Towns in West Hararghe include Chiro, Badessa, Gelemso, and Mieso, Asebot.
East Hararghe is a zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Hararghe Zone is bordered on the southwest by Bale, on the west by West Hararghe Zone, on the north by Dire Dawa and on the north and east by the Somali Region. The Harari Region is an enclave inside this zone
Most inhabited by Somalis
Barento is one of the two major subgroups of the Oromo people, a Cushitic ethnic group. They live in the West Hararghe Zone, East Hararghe Zone, Arsi zone, of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia while the other subgroup named Borana Oromo inhabiting Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Addis Ababa, West Shewa Zone, West Welega Zone and Borena Zone of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia.
The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa, Washington, D.C., and Berlin, from which it operates radio stations that broadcast in Amharic and Oromo.
Galamso, is a town in West Haraghe of Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Gelemso is located in eastern Ethiopian and is far from country capital by 301 km and second way 413 km in the western periphery of the highly networked mountain chain referred to by the natives as Fugug and by geographers as the Ahmar Mountains. Most people say that it is the city of love locally [Biyyaa Jaalala]. Gelemso on 2013 EC became separate woreda in the West Hararghe Zone of the Oromia Regional State, it has a latitude and longitude of 8°49′N40°31′E. Gelemso is the origin of a variety of Jimaa called by the same name (Gelemso).
Arsi Oromo is an ethnic Oromo branch, inhabiting the Arsi, West Arsi and Bale Zones of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, as well as in the Adami Tullu and Jido Kombolcha woreda of East Shewa Zone.The Arsi are made up of the Sikkoo-Mandoo branch of Barento Oromo. The Arsi in all zones speaks Oromo share the same culture, traditions and identity with other subgroup Oromo.
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. During the transitional period, Meles Zenawi served as the president of the TGE while Tamrat Layne was prime minister. Among other major shifts in the country's political institutions, it was under the authority of the TGE that the realignment of provincial boundaries on the basis of ethnolinguistic identity occurred. The TGE was in power until 1995, when it transitioned into the reconstituted Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia that remains today.
The Oromo conflict is a protracted conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government. The Oromo Liberation Front formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent state of Oromia. The conflict began in 1973, when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). These groups formed in response to prejudice against the Oromo people during the Haile Selassie and Derg era, when their language was banned from public administration, courts, church and schools, and the stereotype of Oromo people as a hindrance to expanding Ethiopian national identity.
The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.
Ethnic discrimination in Ethiopia during and since the Haile Selassie epoch has been described using terms including "racism", "ethnification", "ethnic identification, ethnic hatred, ethnicization", and "ethnic profiling". During the Haile Selassie period, Amhara elites perceived the southern minority languages as an obstacle to the development of an Ethiopian national identity. Ethnic discrimination occurred during the Haile Selassie and Mengistu Haile Mariam epochs against Hararis, Afars, Tigrayans, Eritreans, Somalis and Oromos. Ethnic federalism was implemented by Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) leader Meles Zenawi and discrimination against Amharas, Ogaden, Oromos and other ethnic groups continued during TPLF rule. Liberalisation of the media after Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018 led to strengthening of media diversity and strengthening of ethnically focussed hate speech. Ethnic profiling targeting Tigrayans occurred during the Tigray War that started in November 2020.
The OLA insurgency is an armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018, and the Ethiopian government, continuing in the context of the long-term Oromo conflict, typically dated to have started with the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front in 1973.
Since the 1990s, the Amhara people of Ethiopia have been subject to ethnic violence, including massacres by Tigrayan, Oromo and Gumuz ethnic groups among others, which some have characterized as a genocide. Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country. In most of the cases, the mass murders were silent with perpetrators from various ethno-militant groups—from TPLF/TDF, OLF–OLA, and Gumuz armed groups.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
The relations between Oromia and Addis Ababa has been great controversy as the subject sparked historical revisionism in the linkage of history of Addis Ababa. The area in the present day Addis Ababa called Finfinne where various Oromo pastoralists inhabited the region, and the emergence of Abyssinian expansionism under Emperor Menelik II which renamed the area as Addis Ababa in 1886. Throughout the 20th century, Addis Ababa was governed as the capital city of the Ethiopia under urban influence.
↑ Ali-Dinar, Ali B. (26 May 1995). "Facts about the Oromo of East Africa". africa.upenn.edu. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
↑ Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) (12 February 2015). "Oromo". unpo.org. Brussels, Belgium: Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
↑ Omura, Susan; Mamo Argo; Teshome Bayu; Meti Duressa; Sheiko Nagawo; Taha Roba (1 February 1994). "Oromo". ethnomed.org. Seattle, WA: Ethnomed. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
↑ United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (1 March 1993). "Ethiopia. Status of Amharas". refworld.org. United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
↑ "Oromo Continue to Flee Violence". Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. No.5–3. Cambridge, MA: Cultural Survival. September 1981. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
↑ Samia Zekaria (2007). "Table 2.9 Population by Urban-Rural Residence, Sex, and Single Years of Age: 2007". The 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Statistical Report at National Level. Addis Ababa: Central Statistics Agency. p.71.
↑ The West Guji Zone was created by nine districts and two towns taken from the Borena Zone and Guji Zone. Its area and 2022 population are included in the figures for those Zones.
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