“The Establishment of the Regional Solidarity Committee & The War in Ethiopia”
25/10/2022
On the 17th of September, 2022, Walaboomuu in collaboration with the Nairobi chapter of the revolutionary Socialist League hosted a full-day forum at Cheche bookstore, Nairobi, Kenya, on the topic “Pan-Africanism, Ethiopia’s historical context, current struggles of self-determination, political solutions and more”.
We consider our efforts on the 17th of September to have been a great success as we saw critical engagement in the discussion by all participants and a great sense of solidarity form between Oromo’s and Kenya alike. In the wake of this event, it was expressed that our efforts to organize together should continue and that we should invest in building a long-term relationship of solidarity.
In light of these sentiments, it is with great excitement that we announce that Mathare Social Justice Centre, Oromo Youth Association (Nairobi), Revolutionary Socialist League, and Walaboomuu have established the Regional Solidarity Committee (RSC).
The main aim of the RSC is to bring Kenyans and Oromos together in our respective organizing efforts, standing in solidarity with each other in our pursuits for justice and liberation, while finding ways to act collectively towards a shared liberation. In the future, we hope to broaden the representation in our committee to include other struggles for libration present in the horn of Africa.
As we announce the establishment of the RSC, we would like to take this opportunity to address the current war in Ethiopia.
The human cost of the ongoing war in both the north and south of Ethiopia is alarming. Every single life lost in this war is a devastating loss and the continuation of bloodshed is something that should be immediately averted. We recognize the goodwill expressed by the regional and wider African community, and the international community, in organizing peace talks to see an end to the war. In light of the latter and in light of the nature of the war in Ethiopia overall, we make the following assertions:
The current AU led peace talks will not enter Ethiopia into a post-war era as they are solely focused on the war in Tigray, with no attention given to the war in Oromia. Given the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, achieving a ceasefire in Tigray and opening up a humanitarian corridor into the region would be a welcome and celebrated success. Still, the narrative of a “post-war era” in Ethiopia can not be claimed until the active war in Oromia is addressed, and the consequences of isolating the peace talks to only part of the war must be recognised as having severe consequences.
In both the Oromia and Tigray, we recognize the Ethiopian government forces and its collaborators, including Eritrean forces, Fano militia, and the Amhara Special Fores to be the aggressor party, and thus, we can not ethically call on the people of Oromia and the people of Tigray to lay down arms until the aggressors have made it unequivocally clear that they will cease to pursue the control of territory, political and military administration in both Oromia and Tigray. The question that we pose to all, is, which party, if they stop fighting, will continue to die or be subjected to oppressive daily social, political, and economic life, at the hands of the Ethiopian state?
The level of human rights violations that have occurred in this war amount to war crimes. All cases of human rights violations must be independently investigated.
The only long-term solution that has the possibility to usher in true peace and stability in Ethiopia and the wider region is a solution that addresses, at the heart of this war, are questions of political and self-determination.
