Falls Church, Virginia (4/30/2021) — Today, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Ed Markey (D-MA) submitted a letter to the U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, urging Feltman to champion the cause of all people in Ethiopia who are suffering from conflict—not only those in Tigray. The Oromo Legacy, Leadership, and Advocacy Association (OLLAA) applauds this group of senators for their letter to Special Envoy Feltman and joins the Senate in its appeal.
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On Friday, the U.S. Department of State announced that Feltman will serve as the first U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, where he will lead U.S. diplomatic engagement on the current volatile situation in Ethiopia, including the Tigray conflict. While this appointment of a U.S. Special Envoy is urgently needed, the Oromo diaspora community was alarmed to learn that Feltman’s mandate might neglect other crises in the country.
Across Ethiopia, several other regions in addition to Tigray are currently suffering from violent and deadly conflicts. For instance, in late March, Amhara special forces soldiers invaded parts of the Oromia Special Zone (Wollo), causing devastating loss of life. As of now, hundreds of civilians have died and over 80,000 people have been forcibly displaced. The humanitarian situation is dire. Injured civilians are being denied medical care or pulled from ambulances and murdered on account of their Oromo ethnicity. The majority of the 80,000 displaced are Oromo women and children under the age of 5, who now have no safe shelter or means of livelihood.
Meanwhile, conflict has restarted in the Central Gondar Zone, where at least 130 ethnic Kemant people have been killed and hundreds remain missing. In addition, the federal government has sent thousands of federal forces into Wollega where they have continued to commit extrajudicial killings, mass arrest and torture.
These ongoing conflicts are interconnected with the Tigray war and reveal the Ethiopian government’s and the Amhara regional forces’ pattern of attacking its own civilians with complete disregard for human rights. It is imperative that the new U.S. Special Envoy Feltman includes these regional conflicts in his efforts to secure peace and stability within Ethiopia.
Following key advocacy from OLLAA and the broader Oromo diaspora, this group of senators has listened to these concerns and taken action by sending this letter to Special Envoy Feltman, requesting his commitment to the people of Oromia, Tigray, Kimant and every area of Ethiopia where innocent people suffer.
OLLAA urges members of the House of Representatives to follow the Senate’s lead and ensure that the new Special Envoy focuses on these larger issues within Ethiopia before they further destabilize the region and develop into a full-blown civil war.
OLLAA looks forward to Special Envoy Feltman’s leadership on Ethiopia and thanks Sen. Cardin for his commitment to peace.
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that represents dozens of Oromo communities around the world.