12 July 2018: Oromia-based gunmen killed some 50 Somali civilians, what is undoubtedly a response to the Liyu Police’s exactions toward Oromos. According to UNPO Member the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) this would seem to suggest that the strongmen of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the regional governments orchestrate the violence occurring on the border.

5 July 2018:  Ethiopian parliament votes unanimously to remove the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the ‘Ginbot 7’ from the government's “terrorist” list. 

4 July 2018: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes new report ‘We are Like the Dead’: Torture and other Human Rights Abuses in Jail Ogaden, Somali Regional State, Ethiopia,”. This 88-page report describes the relentless and systematic pattern of abuse in the Ogaden region, where victims are imprisoned often never facing charges or trials and must face abuse, torture, rape and humiliation. Often their family members or lawyers are not aware of their condition. The report goes to great lengths to explain the involvement of the regional government as well as state sponsored paramilitary group 'the Liyu police'. Most prisoners are accused of some affiliation with the opposition group Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

23 June 2018: A grenade explodes during a rally in support of Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his reform policies, killing 2 and wounding many. 

18 June 2018: PM Abiy Ahmed makes startling admission in Ethiopian Parliament regarding state-sponsored terrrorism and torture. PM Ahmed stated that the State's unconstitutional use of force to stay in power, is also terrorism. This astonishing admission of the (EPRDF) regime's use of torture and jailing is possibly the first public admission of this kind on the atrocities the government has done.

2 June 2018: The Ethiopian parliament lifted the State of Emergency two months early, originally scheduled to end in August 2018.

21 April 2018: Bashir Makhtal was finally reunited with his family on 21 April 2018 in Toronto, Canada after 11 years of incarceration in an Ethiopian prison. In 2009 Makhtal was sentenced to life imprisonment after being unlawfully deported from the Kenya-Somalia border during a business trip. Makhtal’s life sentence, during what has been deemed an unlawful trial by Amnesty International, was based on “terrorist-related” charges due to his grandfather allegedly being member of the government-banned Ogaden National Liberation Front

2 April 2018: (EPRDF) ruling coalition swore in new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. PM Abiy Ahmed is 42 years old and is Ethiopia's first Oromo prime minister. 

25 March 2018: Ethiopian authorities re-arrested several politicians and journalists who had recently been freed near the capital city of Addis Ababa. Among those arrested are journalists Eskinder Nega and Temesgen Desalegn, politician Andualem Aragie and prominent blogger Befekadu Hailu. This unrest is a direct consequence of the State of Emergency and lawyer Amha Mekonnen explained that the arrests occurred because they were accused of displaying a prohibited national flag as well ad gathering en masse, both violations of the state of emergency rule.

10 March 2018: On 10 March 2018, nine civilians were shot to death and fifteen were wounded by the Ethiopian army in Moyale town, not far from Ethiopia’s border with Kenya. The government responded that security forces acted upon a “mistaken intelligence report” and that the army was pursuing members of the Oromo Liberation Front. However, civilian testimonies argue that they have been shot at close range. This carnage terrified the civilians and over 8,000 Ethiopians fled to Kenyan Moyale town in search for safety. Kenyan schools have closed to host the refugees, including many injured, yet the city is struggling to contain the influx due to a lack of humanitarian assistance. Taye Dendea, Head of Public Relations and Communications for the Oromia Justice Bureau, condemned the Moyale killings as a planned operation which resulted in his arrest on 15 March 2018 and detention in Maekelawi Prison. This episode of violence is yet another concerning episode happening under Ethiopia’s recently re-imposed state of emergency.

5 March 2018: Yonatan Tesfaye was released from Zeway prison in Oromia state after more than 2 years incarcerated. Tesfaye, spokesperson of opposition group Semayawi (Blue Party), was charged and convicted for "inciting violence" and of “associating with a terrorist organization” after criticizing the government on his facebook account.

26 February 2018: Less than two weeks after the release of prominent Oromo leader Bekele Gerba along with six of his colleagues, it has been reported that the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) members Bekele Gerba and Merera Gudina were detained again in western Ethiopia. Gerba and his colleague Merera Gudina were touring the region in order to address their supporters, before being stopped by Ethiopian forces near the city of Nekemte. Eventually they were released from custody in Nekemte, but were forced to stop their tour and to return to Addis Ababa.

16 February 2018: The Ethiopian government declares a six-month nationwide state of emergency, invoking a grave threat to the constitutional order. The state of emergency, the second in less than a year, was announced a day after the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in what he described as a bid to "smooth the path for political reform". This declaration gives the government the power to suspend basic human rights and freedoms, such as freedom of assembly, in the name of restoring constitutional order.

14 February 2018: Ethiopian officials freed Oromo opposition leader Bekele Gerba and six of his colleagues of Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) from prison after all charges against the Oromian protesters were dropped. This move is a response to a three-day social boycott that had been going on in the region. Gerba had been detained following the start of protests in November 2015.

12 February 2018: According to the Addis Gazette portal, federal forces opened fired on internall displaced peoples in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, claiming the lives of six people with others sustained varied degrees of injuries. This attack occured in the Hamaressa IDP camp located in the East Hararghe Zone of the Oromia region. 

20 January 2018:  Government security forces opened fire on protesting participants and killed 7 people in a religious ceremony taking place in Woldiya, a small city situated in the Amhara region in northern Ethiopia. The victims were allegedly chanting anti-government songs

17 January 2018: Oromo oppoisition leader  who was imprisoned after giving account of the situation in Oromia to the European Parliament in 2016, Dr Merera Gudina, is released alongside 527 other "political" prisoners.

14 December 2017: In response to increased tensions on the border between the Ogaden and the Oromo region and uprising protests against the Ethiopian government that is said to sponsor violence between various ethnic groups, all social media channels have been shut done. 

8 December 2017: Citizen Lab reports that the Ethiopian government is continuing to use targeted malware attacks in over 20 countries and includes the ISP adresses of the government of Eritrea and the Oromia Media Network.

28 November 2017: The sentence of Oromo activist Yonatan Tesfaye was reduced by three years after the Supreme Court decided to charge him under criminal charges instead of terrorism charges for online activism on Facebook.

22 November 2017: Somalia's Parliament states that the detention and susequent transfer of ONLF leader Mr Abdikarin Sheikh Muse, who was seeking refuge in Somalia, to Ethiopia in August 2017 was a breach of both Somali and international law.

1 November 2017: Following an appeal by state prosecutors, the bail granted to Bekele Gerba was reversed before his release. The official excuse for this backtrack is an admninistrative mix-up, but Gerba's daughter doubts the authorities will release her father while activists continue to claim that his imprisonment is politically-motivated.

30 October 2017: Bekele Gerba was granted bail by a federal supreme court after months of detention. Oromo activists, however, continue to demand that the politically-motivated charges be dropped.

26 October 2017: According to a report from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, 10 people were killed and more than 16 injured by the Agazi forces - federal and special forces tied to the TPLF - in Ambo, Oromia, in the midst of protests triggered by recent shortages of sugar in the country.

18 September 2017: Somalia’s parliament took action on the unlawful transfer of ONLF party leader and Somali national, Abdikarin Sheikh Muse, to Ethiopia. After weeks of international outrage surrounding the arrest, the Somalian parliament officially designated a body of 15 members to open investigation on behalf of Mr Abdikarin. 

23 August 2017: a Somali refugee from the Ogaden region, having been living in Mogadishu, Somalia, for three years, was arrested by the regional security of the Galkacyo, Galmudug regional state in central Somalia. Mr Abdikarin Sheikh Muse, also an executive committee member of UNPO Member Ogaden National Liberation Front, was then transferred to Mogadishu and held by the Somali National Security for a few days before being refouled to Ethiopia. 

4 August 2017: The Ethiopian Parliament voted in favor of lifting the state of emergency imposed in October 2016.

7 July 2017: A letter, co-signed by 38 members of the European Parliament, spanning 6 different political groups, has been sent to Ms Federica Mogherini, calling her to condemns the violence with which the protests in Ethiopia have been met and call for an independent investigation into the conduct of the security forces when dealing with these protests, as well as for the end of sexual violence in Ethiopia.

20 June 2017: Federal prosecutor submitted their objections to Dr Merera Gudina's statement asking that the criminal charges against him be separated from the terrorism charges against the two media organisations OMN and ESAT that were put in the same file. The prosecutors asked that the court dismiss Dr Gudina's objection on the grounds that he had not included this objection along with his preliminary objections and that the three cases are closely interrelated. The court will give its verdict on 7 July 2017.

18 May 2017: The European Parliament passed a resolution calling for a credible, transparent and independent investigation into the killings of hundreds of protesters and the extreme violence that has been used by security forces during demonstrations in 2016. The resolution also renews calls for the release of Ethiopian opposition leader Merera Gudina and urges the Ethiopian government to end the state of emergency and the restrictions it entails, as well as to stop using anti-terrorism legislation to suppress peaceful opposition.

4 May 2017: The prosecutors replied to the preliminary objections raised by Mr Gudina's lawyers on 25 March 2017 and the court adjourned the release of its verdict on these objections to 2 June 2017.

25 April 2017: Dr Merera Gudina, who is charged with alleged terrorism and other criminal offences, has presented preliminary objections to the federal court where he is standing trial, which postponed the case to 4 May in order to give prosecutors the time to respond. According to Dr Gudina, his trip to Brussels and his speech at the European Parliament should not constitute grounds for his continued detention as he never meant to trespass the state of emergency by travelling to Belgium and never granted interviews to anti-government media outlets.

30 March 2017: The Ethiopian government, under the full control of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic front (EPRDF), voted to extend the state of emergency for four more months. This decision signifies the continuation of state-sponsored violence in heavily policed areas such as Oromia, impunity for authorities and the abuse of martial law to target marginalised communities. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa called upon Western powers to condemn the systematic repression and human rights violations happening in Oromia.

16 March 2017: UNPO released a report on human rights in Ethiopia, shedding light on the worrying situation of the Oromo and Ogadeni peoples. With the support of major international donors such as the European Union, Addis Ababa increasingly places economic development and enforced political stability above human rights and civil liberties.To view and download the report, please click here.

8 March 2017: Over the course of three days, more than 300 people died from cholera in Ogaden. Scores more are at high risk of death due to the lack of medical support. It is estimated that since November 2016, more than 2000 have died in rural areas and villages in Ogaden. The ongoing drought and the inaccessibility of food and water puts most of the population at risk.

23 February 2017: Dr Merera Gudina was charged with terrorism by Ethiopian prosecutors, along renowned Oromo activist Jawar Mohammed and executive director of the Oromia Media Network Berhanu Nega.

15 February 2017: On 14 February 2017, Lilesa’s wife and daughter were granted a visa and joined him in the United States. Since he attracted world’s attention on the plight of the Oromo while crossing the finish line of the marathon at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Feyisa Lilesa has not been able to return to Ethiopia for fear of reprisals from the regime.

19 January 2017: Human Rights Watch published a scathing report on the events that took place in 2016 in Ethiopia. The organization identified a string of human rights abuses – including the killing of 400 protesters and others – carried out by security forces and the regime in Addis Ababa. Its report highlights violations of the freedom of assembly and the freedom of expression and association, as well as the use of torture and arbitrary detention.

1 December 2016: Mr Merera Gudina, a high-level Oromo opposition politician, was arrested shortly after his return to Ethiopia after speaking out against the plight of the Oromo people in front of the European Parliament. In his speech from 9 November 2016, he roundly condemned the arrest of thousands of people under the government-imposed, 6-month state of emergency.

16 October 2016: The Ethiopian Government imposes a whole host of measures within the scope of the one-week old state of emergency impinging severely on the population’s civil liberties. Those measures include a 6pm to 6am curfew; the right to stop and search suspects; to search private residences without prior court order and forbidding diplomats to travel further than a 40 km radius around the capital. Opposition organizations regarded as “terrorist groups” by the regime have, moreover, been put under a total media blackout, prohibiting them to release any statements as well as banning anyone from establishing contact with them. Since then, the Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 1,600 people, mainly from the Oromia and Amhara regions. 

14 October 2016: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, speaks in a telephone call to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. In the conversation, she expresses the EU’s worries about the recently imposed state of emergency. The High Representative highlights the slippery slope that a state of emergency brings about for the compliance with civil liberties and urges the Prime Minister to comply with human rights standards as provided for by the Ethiopian constitution.

12 October 2016: The European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the EP Committee on Development jointly hold a hearing addressing the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia. During the meeting, Members of the European Parliament, human rights experts and representatives of the Ethiopian Government had a chance to express their concerns and points of view. Although several MEPs call for the EU to review its strategic partnership with Addis Ababa, denouncing its appalling human rights record, the EU Commission and its External Action Service insist on a dialogue and collaboration with the incumbent government. Ms Barbara Lochbihler MEP extended the debate to the precarious situation of the Ogaden people, who have been subjected to the same kind of rights abuses as the Oromo over the past years. Ms Linda McAvan MEP and Chair of the EP Committee on Development, in turn, adds that the EU would need a reliable and stable partner in the region who respects the rights of political minorities.

10 October 2016: UN human rights experts call for an independent investigation of the ongoing government-directed violence in Ethiopia. The experts would like to see an international commission of inquiry established in order to bring to justice those responsible for the severe human rights violations. While still persistently under-reporting the number of people fallen victim to government-sponsored killing squads, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association as well as the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions do strongly condemn the Ethiopian Government’s violent reaction to peaceful demonstrations. The human rights experts, further, highlight a few choice words on the current Ethiopian anti-terrorism legislation, which they describe as conducive to acts leading to extrajudicial executions.

8 October 2016: The Ethiopian Government declares a six-month state of emergency. In response to ongoing protests after the Irrecha massacre, the Prime Minister decries the peaceful Oromo protests as a danger to the Ethiopian people and institutes the state of emergency.

6 October 2016: The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) send their condolences to the families of the Irrecha massacre victims. The ONLF call the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) Government’s horrific disregard for human rights crimes against humanity and demand the government to put an end to the impunity under which their killing squads keep murdering unarmed civilians. Furthermore, the ONLF  states that they regard the Oromo’s and all other oppressed Ethiopian people’s struggle for justice in the face of the TPLF-sponsored violation of their basic dignity as their own.

5 October 2016: The Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), while condemning the regime’s increasing paranoia, extends an invitation for collaboration with other civil society organizations. In a statement on the 2 October Irrecha mass killing, the PAFD invites all civil society groups, NGOs or opposition parties working for the respect of human rights to collaborate and join forces with them to put a stop to the government’s harassment of its people and to find a way for all Ethiopians to live together in peace. This is proposed to be achieved by a concerted effort to draw up a transitional mechanism for a peaceful shift in power towards an inclusive government for all people of Ethiopia.

5 October 2016: The EU External Action Service fails to adequately condemn the 2 October Oromo mass killing. Disappointingly, they fail to mention the perpetrators of the horrific events, which is the Agazi killing squad, as well as the Ethiopian people’s most immediate needs, which are to live freely in a democratic country and to have a say in the matters affecting their regions and communities.

2 October 2016: The Irrecha Festival Massacre. At the Oromo Festival of thanksgiving, the government-sponsored Agazi killing squad fires rubber bullets and live ammunition into a large crowd of Oromos, who were also protesting the government’s exploitation of their sacred festival for their own political agenda, causing the death of at least 600 peaceful demonstrators. The deployment of armoured vehicles and a combat helicopter, moreover, triggered a stampede on top of the already appalling tragedy.

20 September 2016: The European Union’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2015 shines a light on the precarious human rights situation in Oromia. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) welcomes the clear stand the EU is taking on the protection of human rights but remarks the scarcity of reliable sources on Oromia used in the report.

Mid-September 2016: 300 Benishangul were arrested during land rights protests. The locals of the town of Gizan in Benishangul-Gumuz refused to leave their land after it had been sold for gold prospecting to government and army officials from Tigray; over a dozen of them are claimed to have died in detention.

6 September 2016: The European Commission assures in an emailed statement that no money from its Emergency Trust Fund is being channelled through the Ethiopian Government or any of its agencies.

23 August 2016: The crowdfunding campaign instituted by Abdi Fite, Lalisaa Hikaa and Solomon Ungashe on the day after Feyisa Lilesa’s silver medal success to support his claim of asylum surpassed $100,000 in just two days.

21 August 2016: The Oromo athlete Feyisa Lilesa finishes second in Rio’s Olympic marathon event and signals his support for Oromo protests while crossing the finish line. The Olympic athlete crosses his arms with his fists closed over his head as a sign of protest against the Ethiopian Government’s treatment of his people. Despite government statements calling him an Ethiopian hero, Lilesa fears to be killed if he were to return home.

16 August 2016: The Ethiopian Government dismisses the OHCHR’s plea for an independent investigation of the latest violent crackdowns on peaceful Oromo and Amhara protesters. In his statement the government spokesperson appears unwilling to allow any opposition to the regime’s policies to be voiced at all.

10 August 2016: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urges the Ethiopian Government to grant access to independent investigators to all conflict zones. The OHCHR demands that human rights experts be allowed to transparently assess the most recent state-sponsored violations of the freedom to peaceful assembly that have verberated especially the Oromo region since late 2015, so far, culminating in the 6-7 August indiscriminate killing of one hundred unarmed protesters.

6 and 7 August 2016: Approximately 100 people have been killed when security forces used excessive force against Oromo and Amhara protesters. All across Oromia and in several parts of Amhara people went out on the streets to demand political reform, respect for the rule of law and an end to the persecution of people with dissenting opinions from that of the government.

21 July 2016: Two Oromo die in a self-immolation in front of the UNHCR’s offices in Cairo. The two asylum seekers set themselves ablaze over desperate frustration with the UN officials’ slow processing and frequent rejection of Oromo’s claims for asylum, which currently leaves over 10,000 Oromo asylum seekers in limbo in Egypt alone.

28 June 2016: Julie Ward MEP and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) enable the newly founded Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) to present themselves at the European Parliament. During a roundtable discussion, the PAFD explained their agenda, which covers topics such as the potential for peaceful dialogue and cooperation between all oppressed ethnic groups.

UNPO General Secretary Marino Busdachin, further, stresses the importance to ensure that EU development funds reach the affected people and are not being embezzled by Government officials. Ms  Ward and her colleague Ana Gomes MEP agree that the EU could do more to raise awareness for the deplorable human rights conditions that Ethiopian minorities are facing; the European Parliament’s resolution of January 2016 condemning the crackdown on peaceful Oromo protests had been an urgently needed first step in the right direction, but only unwavering support for a coalition of local stakeholders could bring sustainable prosperity to Ethiopia.

22 and 23 June 2016: Two side-events to the XXXII Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva deal with the relationship of business ventures and human rights in Ogaden and the repeated violent suppression of peaceful Oromo protests since November 2015. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), in cooperation with the Nonviolent Radical Party (PRNTT), the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa and the Ogaden People's Rights Organization organized both events, which were directed at an audience of human rights defenders, diplomats, politicians, journalists and academics from all over the world.

The June 22 event culminated in the premiere of Mr Graham Peebles’ investigative documentary entitled: “Ogaden: Ethiopia's Hidden Shame”, portraying the Ethiopian security forces’ reckless methods of torture, rape and other excessive forms of violence as described by victims now staying at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. The second side-event on June 23 saw the presentation of the latest Human Rights Watch report on the situation of Oromo in Ethiopia, published on June 16 (see below), and an in-depth analysis of the background to the Oromo protests expounded by Mr Garoma Wakessa, Director of the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa. Both side-events achieved the aim of convincingly disenchanting the West’s view of Ethiopia as a role model for a well-developing African democracy or as an anchor of stability for the region.

16 June 2016: The Senior Human Rights Watch Researcher on the Horn of Africa, Felix Horne, publishes his latest report on the Ethiopian Government’s human rights record. The report is entitled "'Such a Brutal Crackdown': Killings and Arrests in Response to Ethiopia's Oromo Protests" and gives a detailed account of the excessive force used by government-backed militias in extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and maltreatment in detention. It is comprised of 125 eyewitness testimonies and victims’ accounts gathered between the start of the Oromo protests in November 2015 and May 2016; it finds severe violations of the freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and access to information.

15 June 2016: The founder of the Semayawi Party, Samuel Aweke, is found dead after openly criticizing the government. He reportedly received ominous threats from security officials following the publication of a critical article on the behaviour of Ethiopian security forces during the 2016 national elections. Since his murder, an alleged perpetrator has been convicted of the crime, notwithstanding trial observers calling the proceedings a sham.

5 June 2016: 51 unarmed civilians have been killed in an indiscriminate Ethiopian army attack in Ogaden. After murdering scores of inhabitants of the village of Jama’ Dubad near Gashamo in the Ogaden region, the army forces kidnapped a dozen community elders and burnt the village to the ground, making sure to completely destroy the villagers’ livelihoods in the process.

3 May 2016: A delegation from the Ogaden People’s Rights Organization raises awareness at meetings with UN officials for the most recent Ethiopian State-sponsored human rights violations. The visit to the Palais des Nations in Geneva has been facilitated by UNPO and is designed to increase pressure on the Ethiopian Government to grant unlimited access to humanitarian agencies to the country and to allow for an independent investigation of the ongoing severe human rights violations, as previous appeals by the international community have gone unheeded.

2 May 2016: The White House forcefully condemns the indictment of Oromo opposition politician Bekele Gerba. The Obama administration calls on the Ethiopian Government to cease using its anti-terrorism legislation to prosecute journalists, politicians and human rights defenders.

26 April 2016: 22 dissidents appear in front of the Ethiopian Federal High Court. After being held incommunicado, without access to legal counsel and under deplorable hygienic conditions for four days, the 22 human rights activists and opposition politicians charged on April 22 under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (see below) have been presented to their judges. Four of the prisoners of conscience – including the Oromo Federalist Congress’s First General Secretary, Bekele Gerba – had, additionally, been placed under dark solitary confinement after refusing to take ominous pills administered to them by prison authorities.

22 April 2016: 22 civil society activists and opposition politicians have been arrested and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. They are being accused of inciting violence and being members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front; among the detained is the globally respected Oromo Federalist Congress politician Bekele Gerba, who had just been released from prison earlier in 2016.

27 March 2016: Almost 300 Oromo asylum seekers gather in protest in front of the UNHCR building in Cairo. The protesters are trying to raise awareness for the long wait for their applications to be processed and for the high number of rejected claims for asylum.

21 to 25 March 2016: The Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) holds its first general congress. The Alliance, which is made up of five organizations representing five different oppressed Ethiopian peoples – among them the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front – besides organizational issues, addressed the state of the member organizations’ collective struggle against the oppressive regime and invited all Ethiopian ethnicities to join their cause.

15 March 2016: The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) is worried about the Ogaden people’s right to self-determination in the face of an Ethiopia-China gas deal. For the implementation of the recently agreed natural gas deal, UNPO calls, particularly, on the European Parliament to make sure that the local Ogaden population will be involved in the decision making process connected to all environmental and land rights side effects that are to be expected.

10 March 2016: The Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) releases a statement expressing its concern about a multi-billion dollar natural gas project. The business venture between the Ethiopian and Djibouti Governments and a Chinese investor is designed to exploit Ogaden’s natural gas resources. Judging from earlier experiences – particularly forced displacements of whole communities without adequate compensation, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances – the PAFD fears that the people of Ogaden will come out at the short end of the deal.

3 March 2016: Two foreign journalists and their interpreter have been arbitrarily detained for 24 hours. A government spokesperson claimed the two journalists, who had reported on the most recent Oromo protests, were in violation of their press accreditation – in other words, reporting on events they were not supposed to report on. Their translator was detained, according to the spokesperson, because of his affiliation with an opposition group.

Early March 2016: Facebook Messenger, Twitter and WhatsApp are being blocked in Oromia and other regions of Ethiopia. The social media sites have remained inaccessible for months to come. The government-enforced social media blackout, enabled by Ethio Telecom, who is the only telecommunications provider in Ethiopia, has been denied to be intentional by the government and has not been commented on by Ethio Telecom. The ban on social media does, however, match known patterns of practices by the Ethiopian regime to undermine the free flow of information on people trying to make their grievances heard.

26 February 2016: The Ethiopian Government de facto declares martial law over Oromia. By removing all civil administrators of Oromia from office and replacing them with members of the federal intelligence and military officers, the government de facto declares martial law over the Ethiopian heartland.

February 2016: Ethiopian forces carry out a gruesome mass killing of 300 villagers in Ogaden. The whole community of Labarbar village near Shilaabo in Ogaden is reported to have been completely destroyed by the Ethiopian army, supported by the infamous Liyu Police militia, apparently due to its vicinity to the Jeexdin (Calub) natural gas field.

29 January 2016: Seven inmates have been tortured for hours at an Addis Ababa prison. Overnight, seven inmates at Kalitti prison in Addis Ababa have been severely beaten by prison officials, reportedly receiving broken limbs, cuts and open wounds, leaving their naked bodies smeared in blood. They were, subsequently, subjected to an unknown period of dark solitary confinement. One prisoner, who was separated from the others and whose injuries are reported to have been exceptionally severe, is feared dead.

27 January 2016: More than 50 Anuak civilians have been indiscriminately shot dead by regional security forces and local militia in villages all over the Gambella region in what has been described as an “ethnic cleansing” campaign by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). The premeditated raids appear to be in connection with government-suspicions against members of the Anuak ethnicity of affiliations with the Gambella Peoples’ Liberation Movement, a founding member of the Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD).

27 January 2016: 20 Oromo protesters have been injured in a demonstration. Security forces hit protesters with batons and iron rods to the head and legs in a police operation to crackdown on a peaceful demonstration in Addis Ababa.

21 January 2016: The European Parliament (EP) issues a resolution on the situation in Ethiopia. The EP calls for an independent investigation of the latest crackdowns on peaceful Oromo protesters by government-sponsored militias. At the same time, the Parliamentarians do not neglect to appropriately mention the deplorable human rights conditions from which the Ogaden people keep suffering; the resolution outspokenly criticises the government-imposed ban on media coverage and any kind of impartial investigation of the war crimes and serious human rights violations committed by the Ethiopian army and government paramilitary forces in Ogaden. The European institution, further, pledges to keep a close eye on the use of funds from European development assistance, making sure that none of it trickles off to the central government to be used to prolong the suppression of its own people. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) welcomes the resolution as a necessary step towards human rights protection and democracy in Ethiopia.

21 January 2016: UN human rights experts are welcome  the abandonment of the “Addis Ababa Master Plan”. UN experts on communicative freedoms and on enforced disappearances express their satisfaction with the abandonment of the “Master Plan”, but urge the Ethiopian Government to also put an end to the violent suppression of peaceful protests.

17 to 20 January 2016: Despite the cancellation of the “Master Plan”, at least 12 protesters are killed during several peaceful demonstrations all over Oromia.

14 January 2016: Oromo protest in front of the European Parliament. Oromo communities from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany raise awareness in Brussels for the Ethiopian Government’s repeated brutal crackdowns on peaceful Oromo demonstrations. The protesters also demand that the EU cut all development assistance from which the Ethiopian Government would benefit until a peaceful solution to the current human rights crisis has been found. The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) fully supports the Oromo’s demand to have the Ethiopian Government held responsible for the crimes they committed.

12 January 2016: The Ethiopian Government calls off its “Master Plan”. After the violent deaths of more than 140 Oromo protesters since November 2015, the Ethiopian Government finally halts its “Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan”. The decision was reached after three days of talks between government officials and representatives from local Oromo communities. Oromo activists, however, regard the government’s concessions as “too little too late”, as the grievances voiced by the demonstrators have long since exceeded this single concern and spread to more fundamental demands of good governance, political participation and the end of ethnically motivated persecution of Oromos and many other Ethiopian peoples.

December 2015: The number of deaths related to the use of excessive force by security forces during the crackdown of peaceful protests keeps increasing. Until the end of December, well-known patterns of excessive force used by federal police or the ruthless Liyu security forces – all controlled by the central Tigrean-dominated Government – have been reported by Human Rights Watch in 62 separate incidents all over Oromia, leading to 27 confirmed deaths of protesters and arrests of pupils as young as 8, while local human rights organizations claim hundreds more (at least 143) have fallen victim to the Ethiopian security forces’ unyielding violence.

Last Week of November 2015: Four Oromo students die at a protest rally at Haramaya University in Oromia. The Ethiopian Government’s federal police, known as “Agazi”, opened fire on peaceful demonstrators at Haramaya University in Dire Dawa, a town located in eastern Oromia. The students – like many Oromo these days – were protesting the “Addis Ababa Master Plan”, which embodies for them the ruling Tigrean elite’s disregard for Oromo farmers’ land rights and stands emblematically for the Government’s persecutory policies directed against most Ethiopian peoples, including the Oromo and Ogaden.

Mid-November 2015 (starting on 12 November): Oromo protests against the so-called “Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan” keep intensifying.

Oromia sees increasing protest against the “Addis Ababa Master Plan”, which has been designed to accommodate the concerns of the growing Ethiopian capital city by integrating large swathes of the surrounding Oromia region into the city, in the process dispossessing countless Oromo farmers’ agricultural land. The Oromo make up the largest ethnic group of Ethiopia and account for around 35% of its total population, inhabiting the heartland of the country all around the capital city. The first demonstrations against the “Master Plan” had already occurred in April 2014, when its implementation began, and during which security forces (or “Liyu” police) already killed several dozen protesters.

During the first protests of November 2016, which were mostly organized by university and school students as well as those farmers directly affected by the plan, the police used teargas when the demonstrators refused to disperse and arrested many participants of the peaceful assembly. In ensuing protests the federal police (or “Agazi” – an infamous government-sponsored killing squad) did not stop at firing tear gas at the protesters but, after firing warning shots into the air, started shooting indiscriminately into the crowd, killing scores of unarmed demonstrators.

23 October 2015:

After a two-day meeting in Oslo, Norway, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), the Gambella People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM) and the Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF) found a political alliance, named Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), which is designed to unite the peaceful efforts of the participating ethnicities in working together towards ending the persistent and severe human rights violations committed by successive central Ethiopian Governments.

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) calls the establishment of the PAFD “a milestone for the struggle for human rights and democracy in Ethiopia”; the equal footing on which the different ethnic organizations have met is regarded as the best hope for an all-inclusive process of national reconciliation.