SENPIM Press Release
Please Read Me patiently!
Freedom before the Country!
The Truth Shall Set You Free!
SENPIM (The Southwestern Ethiopia Nilotic-Omotic Peoples Independent Movement) is a liberation movement that identifies the over 4 million people drawn mainly from 27 indigenous tribes of the Southwestern region. These tribes include; Anyuak, Arebore, Berta, Bodi, Bena, Bale, Brile, Bacha, Dasenach, Gumuz, Hamer, Kwegu, Kara, Komo, Majenger, Mursi, Minit, Murle, Male, Mao, Nuer, Nyangatom, Opo, Suri, Sheko-Majenger, Tsmayeko and Tirma. The movement is an independent political organizationformed by the merger of three political parties i.e GNUM (Gambella Nilotes United Movement) of the Gambella region, SNOPM (Southern Nilotic-Omotic Peoples Movement) of Lower Omo Valley in SNNPR region and BNPM (Beneshangul/Gumuz Nilotic Peoples Movement) of Beneshangul/Gumuz region.
Ethiopia like most countries in Africa is a multi-ethnic state, with more than 80 different ethnic groups, each with its own language, culture, custom, and tradition. Based on their linguistic patterns, they are broadly classified into Semitic, Cushitic, Omotic, and Nilo-Saharan peoples. While the Semitic group mainly occupies the northern and the central part, the Cushitic spread in most parts of the country. The Nilotic and the Nilotic family related of Omotic people of the Lower-Omo-Valley, inhabit the southwestern part of the Ethiopia stretching out from Lake Turkana area near Kenyan border via the Gambella Region to Metekel zone of Beneshangul/Gumuz Region.
Even though the southwestern regions of Ethiopia is highly endowed with rich natural resources, the indigenous Nilotes remain the most deprived and impoverished peoples in the land. They are increasingly marginalized and as a consequence the people are getting poorer with no secure future to live asdignified humans in their ancestral lands. Their livelihood is worsening being affected with systematic extinction measureswhose causes are intentionally perpetuated by the continued lack of interest from the Ethiopian regimes under highly centralized Northern-Dominant-Ethiopian colonialism and occupations that perceive southwestern regions as a reserved land inhibited by slaves, and yet, to be settled and occupied by the highlanders mainly from the North.
Ethiopia like Liberia is said to be not to have been colonized by the westerns world, butlittle is known about its internal colonization by the monarchies whose legacy still persists to deny the recognition of majority Ethiopians rights and freedom in the country. The central power as manifested in all Monarchies, Military regime, and the current Ethnic Federalismhas been dominated by the Northern leaders and served asa stronghold to promote the Northern socio-political and economic dominance, racial superiority, settlements and occupations in the other regions such as SNNPR, Gambella, Beneshangul/Gumuz, Oromia, Afar, etc. This trend has created deephierarchical citizenships in the relationships of which the indigenous Nilotes felt they are being treated as fourth or fifth class citizens in the country. The increasing atrocities, grand human right abuses, imprisonments, mass killings,poisonings, and displacements virtually facing all the non-northerner tribes including southwestern indigenous Nilotes, are of intentional plans and practices built overtime by the northernerleaders using centralism as means to mobilize military, political and economic powers to serve thenorthern interests.
SENPIM therefore, addresses the fundamental historical injustices, land grabs, recurring mass killings, the increasing human right abuses and the extinction measures facing the indigenous populations in the Ethiopia.
Brief Historical Review and Events
Monarchies
The southwesternregions’ subjugation into Ethiopian domain was the dream passed on by Emperor Yohannes (1872 – 1889),who reminds us of what he, expressed in 1870s (or thereabout) when he told the Czar of Russia that his mission was to subjugate and civilize the peripheral peoples. The Emperor Menelik (1889 – 1913) captured this imagination and pursued it with strong ambition to extend it farther. Apparently he even had a dream to extend his territory up to Kilimanjaro and Nuba Mountains to enlarge his subjects for tributesin the form of ivory and slaves to strengthenthe Addis Ababa hegemony. Proxy wars fought against the southwestern Nilotes in demand to tributes (ivory, slaves, etc,) claimedmany lives.
The Empress Zawditu (1916–1930) who was successor to the throne by her birth, as the daughter of Menelik, the history summed up her central and peripheral rulingsas ineffectual. Nevertheless, her governors in the southwestern regions continued to raid southwestern Nilotes. The Emperor Haile Sellassie (1930 -1974) pursued the same ambition.He launched manyproxy wars against the indigenous populations to subjugate southwestern regions, and many villages were even wiped off as a result. The wars, for instance, launched inthe Gambella region in demand to tributes (slaves, ivory, gold, etc) against villages namely Ogol, Obil, Pikumo (Birhaneselam), Pokedi Alworo, Gog, Thoo, Ogin, etc, claimed many lives and many had been taken to highlands as slaves.
As Ethiopian centralism was primarily built on slave trade economy the history provides us with sufficient evidence that the old towns in the southwestern regions such as Maji, Tepi, Gore, Dimbi dolo (Seyo) and Gidami served as roots to supply the slaves (mainly the Nilotes) to the centre to strengthen the Addis Ababa hegemony. The legacy of slave trade/raids and subjugation of the southwestern regions into Ethiopian Monarchies, continued to affect lives of the indigenous Nilotes with many factors contributing to the present deprivation and marginalization: the deep hatred attached to dark-skin complexion and perceives any dark-skin African to be slave (baria) by derogatory terms; treating all Nilotes and Nilotic family related of lower-Omo-valley’s Omotic peoples as fourth and fifth citizens in the country; the continuing isolations to accept the indigenous Nilotes in the wider Ethiopian society; the increase plundering of the indigenous resources without reciprocity; maintaining the exploitative relationships in the interest of northern Ethiopian highlanders; the settlements of Ethiopian highlanders specially northerners in the southwest regions withspecial military, economic, and political backups to evict the indigenous Nilotic populations from their ancestral lands; and lack of interest to allow any single an indigenous member to prosper in their land and the dismissal of any development initiative in terms of business, individual and association, are few examples thatcan precisely define the effect of continuing subjugation of the southwestern regions into Ethiopian. They explain the level of historic injustices played by the Ethiopian racism and marginalization against the indigenous populations of the Southwestern regions.
Little may be known about the northern leaders how they have inflicted the non-northerners in the country.The Emperor Haile Sellasse for example who was highly spoken in Pan Africanism and formation of UN convention, buthe was ironically tyranny and the most enemy to black African nations inside the country. He identified himself as Lion of Juda and King of Kings with high disregard and contempt to other non-northerners. Many would agree that untold history testifies he was men-slaughtered. Some evidences testify that every year he used to slaughtermen with special eye lash along Lake Bishoftu in Debrezet town as part of kind of his Christian religious rituals.
He intended to clean up the country with people he disregarded inferior. He was very brutal, not better than Amin Dada of Uganda. The event he invited all the disabled people for feasts in Addis Yihiwot town drawn from areas called Awasha Arba, Metara, Nazeret, etc, and burned them alive in sealed houses, was quite horrible which tells his brutality and cruelty against the non-northerners. The Shogole community ofdark-skin people who originally inhibited Addis Ababa area had been wiped out systematically, and stillthe name shogole (area) remains as evidenceto this claim in GuleleSefer (area).
Moreover, the Emperor was against the education and civilization for the indigenous Nilotes. He was hesitant to allow missionaries to enter the country to evangelize and educate the tribes. These events explain only the smallest picture of his racist governing and lack of interest to improve the lives of the indigenous people in Ethiopia.He was hypocriteto pioneer Pan Africanism and win western favor while he was not in the country.
Military Regime
Military Regime was not better than Monarchies. Mengistu Haile Mariam (1974 – 1992) although his family background and upbringing remained concealed and mysterious to the Ethiopian public, he was Northerner by father, and his military ruling was pro highlander settlements in the indigenous southwesternregions. His father was known as Prince Kassa and mother called Totit of Welita, was a slave servant in the royal family. As it was regarded as total defile to the royal blood according to them, Haile Mariamwho was a guard at the time in the palace was forced to marry Totit to disguise the birth of Mengistu as his son. Mengistu was then brought up in the palace by Prince Kassa as slave son and later seized opportunity to be trained in Korea in military science which enabled him to excel in Ethiopian top leadership. The rejection in his upbringingcombined with the slave insult he endured in the palace as slave son might had contributed to eliminate the Emperor Haile Sellassie from his throne without mercy and marked an end to the Monarch systems in the Ethiopia.
The Military regime came to power with initial promises that seemingly attractive to the oppressed and the poor in the country, but subsequently turn out to be the most disastrous dictatorial and mass-slaughtered government. Mengistu’s government was known with red terror in killing massive dissidents and innocent people but little was known to the world the damage he inflicted the indigenous populations in particular in the southwest regions. Although he endured slave’ (Baria) insult in his governing for being the first dark-skin leader in Ethiopian historyand for his half blood from inferior race of Welitaas they called it, he surprisingly played his politics into Northern interestby settling massive highlanders mainly from the North to the southwestern regions. He mobilized huge government machineries including military, economic and political powers against the indigenous resistance, to ensure the highlanders were settled in peace and good security in the indigenous lands. The subsequent mass killings of the indigenous Nilotes in exchange to empower the highlander settlers in the southwestern regions are still remembered among the indigenous populations with anguish.
For example, the massacresof Gumuz tribe in Metekel zone of the present Beneshangul/Gumuz region, where unconfirmed huge number of Gumuz men were hunted and dragged out from their homes/families and slaughtered them in the middle of nights to exterminate the tribe from the land, in exchange to the Northerners settlements and occupations in the area; the chronological Anyuak and Majenger massacres in the Gambella region:the killings of Anyuaks where they were buried by Bulldozersin Pinyudo, Gambella town mostly in the military barrack (Terb); the recurring Anyuaks and Majengers killings in Abobo, Okunna, Itang, Tepi, Meti, etc.
Federalism
Designed on racist motives to squarely single out the smaller group of the Tigray Region (Northerners) of the TPLF,for advancedeconomic prosperity, political upper-hand, and racial domination, the Ethiopian Federalismled by the late PM Meles Zenawi, proved to be the most fakery and deceptive government to Ethiopians. It is the crafty and the most racist government of its kindthat the Ethiopians never experiencedin their lives.
In the first place, it assumed power by exposing the flaws of Amhara people (Northerners) the former dominant ruling class of Northerners,to attractthe majority non-northerner Ethiopians to accept ethnic federalism. Invoked specially by the constitution which has been beautifully painted at a cover but in practice not,inparticular to article 39: 1, which provides nominal and unconditional right to self determination, including the right to secession, the TPLF/EPRDF government seemingly appeared so attractive to entire oppressed Ethiopians, as the only way forward to heal the historical injustices in the country. However, it appears ironic in using approaches that conceal its craftiness and racist practices to adopt what is now in place called the Ethiopian Ethnic federalism,only designed to favor the small northerners of Tigray region represented by the TPLF.
The ideological frameworks laid on ethnic federalismand the revolutionary democracy contains huge racial discriminatory and marginalization packages to the indigenous Nilotes and the rest of non-Northerner Ethiopians. The former as stated earlier paves the way to provide economic prosperity and political upper-hand for Northern Tigray people, and fosters also racial superiority that continue to look down on those non-northerners to maintain the status quo in the country. The latter disregards the minority rights and interest in major decisions makingincluding decisions on the indigenous land appropriation issues to suppress their free will and livelihood.
Wrapped up in the globalization policies to attractand bring on board the western world and the Africans,the practices of these ideological frameworks in the southwestern regions have proven gravies to theindigenous populations. They have been drivenon majority decisions and programmes in favor of highlanders (Northerners) well represented by the TPLF/EPRDF at the central government in Addis Ababa. The programmes are characterized by labor intensive projects including big agricultural investments, dam constructions, irrigation projects, etc, to attract huge number of highlanders (Northerners) tosettle and occupy lands of the indigenous populations directly or indirectly. As these projects attract many foreign investors,and the domestic and diaspora investors who have proven to bedominantly Northerners from the Tigray Region, they are designed to attract big number of northerners to settle the indigenous lands.
The practices are quite concealed to the outsiders. For example, in the Gambella region, the investment office has been overwhelmingly staffed by Tigraians (northern staffs) to allocate the best indigenous fertile land to their own people. The domestic and diaspora investors thatconstitute 99%in the Gambella region from Tigray region has come about as a result of such crafty policy to eliminate the locals. It servesas tool to uproot and extinct the indigenous populations. It is a new way of northern indirect settlements and occupations in the southwestern regions thatthey previously perceivedasreserved lands(no man land as they called it), but yet to be resettled by the pure Ethiopians (northerners as they call themselves). The indigenous peoples are not in focus but only theirresources; and they are totally disregardedin the system waiting to disappear for good from the face of the world. It is as if you are buried alive in your own ancestral land!
The globalization policy as it has captured the TPLF government and the late PM Meles’ vision to attract foreign investment and the deployment of the northerners Tigray people to settle southwestern regions, insulates the real picture of Ethiopian racist practices, and served as tool for the internal zealand colonizationof Northern-dominant Ethiopian regimes to acquire the indigenous lands of southwestern regions,by manipulating the useof military, economic and political sovereign powers against any indigenous resistance. In one hand buying weapons and recruits more military forces with donors’ money to suppress the indigenous resistance, in other it serves to evict the indigenous populations to settle highlanders in the regions.The stakes are very heavy for the indigenous populations to bear.
It affirms that the pronounced economic transformation and prosperity in Ethiopia are in the hand of Northerners without freedom to Non-Northerner tribes including the indigenous populations. It also affirms that economic transformation alone is not the first priority solution to Ethiopians but it equally required social transformationthat would heal the chronic wounds of historical injustices for the freedom of everyEthiopian in the country, not only few to enjoy that privileges at the expense of the majority tribes of Non-Northerners.
In another word the present development strategies and practices induced by a huge commercial investment for long term benefit to the national and the highlanders (settlers) are deadly weapons to outnumber and overpower the indigenous populations who have no preliminary socio-political and economic coping mechanisms to resist the exploitations of Northern-dominant governments.They are kinds of development strategies and practices driven by the national greed and jealousy, to export the northern poverty to southwestern regions in exchange to the death of the Nilotes and Omotic peoples. It is another way of subjugation aligns in vision of the Emperor Johannes and the rest of Monarchies, including the Military regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam to acquire the southwest indigenous land.