Oromo people

The Oromo people are native inhabitants of Eastern Africa and the country’s largest ethnic group. Although they prefer to be called Oromo, some literature refers to the group as Galla. While they have their own unique history, culture, language, and civilization, they are related to other groups such as the Afars, Somalis, Sidamas, Agaws, Bilens, Bejas and Kunamas. Historically, the Oromos had a strong military organization, making them one of the strongest ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Though they number about 40 million, the Oromo people have historically suffered widespread oppression, land loss, and marginalization. In the 2000s, this led to the formation of militant groups. The Oromo people’s demonstrations for fair treatment have historically been violently quelled by the Ethiopian government.

Background

The Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, where they number about 40 million, or half the population. Their original homeland is called Oromia and includes most of present-day Ethiopia as well as northern Kenya. During the early twentieth century, they lost their political power to the government of Abyssinia, which resulted in political, economic, and social oppression. For nearly four hundred years, the Oromo people suffered under various Ethiopian powers yet managed to preserve much of their cultural identity. As such, the Oromo people never abandoned their culture in favor of Abyssinian culture.

The Oromo people have a tradition of folklore and believe that Waaqa Tokkicha (the one God) created the world, heaven, and all living and non-living things. They call this god Waaqa Guuracha, which means “The Black God.” According to the Oromo creation myth, Waaqa created the sky, earth, dry land, and a star (to provide light) from water. The star, known as bakkalcha, gave rise to a spiritual connection and sunlight. Waaqa used the light from this star to create all other stars, animals, and plants. The Oromo people also believe in the existence of spirits whom they join when they die. Some Oromo people believe their ancestors have spirits and try to contact them through ceremony. An ancestor’s spirit may appear in the form of a flying animal.

The Oromo people practice three major religions: the original Oromo religion, Islam, and Christianity. The original Oromo religion recognizes Waaqa and interconnects the human, physical, and spiritual worlds. When colonizers reached the Oromo people, they attempted to ban the Oromo religious systems by eliminating Oromo cultural experts and oral historians. In some regions, Eastern Orthodox Christianity was introduced by Ethiopian colonizers. In response, some Oromo people adopted Protestant Christianity as a means of resisting Orthodox Christianity. Turkish and Egyptian colonizers introduced Islam to the Oromo people as well. While some Oromos have chosen to continue practicing their original religion, it has been greatly influenced by Christianity and Islam.

The Oromo people have several rites of passage. Birth is celebrated because a child will one day grow to be a worker and as such is important. Because of the value the Oromos place on children, families tend to be large. Marriage is also an important day because it marks the time when boys and girls officially enter adulthood. Death is another significant event that brings the community together to say goodbye to the deceased.

Overview

The Oromo people are the largest ethnic group in Eastern Africa, with a population of about thirty million in Ethiopia. Additionally, thousands of Oromo people live across the globe in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Norway, England, and Sweden. Despite their numbers, for more than a century, the Oromos have been oppressed, have lost land, and have been marginalized by the Ethiopian government. Oppression was especially harsh under Emperor Haile Silassie, an Amhara leader who ruled from 1930 until he was overthrown in 1974 by the Oromo resistance movement. During his reign, the government banned the Oromo language, and speakers were privately and publicly ridiculed. However, the new Community Military Government continued with the persecution of the Oromo people. In fact, Oromo children were not allowed to study the Oromo language in school until the early 2000s.

The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) is a pro-Oromo militant organization. The government has pointed to the existence of OLF and its actions as reason to suppress the Oromo people. For example, the government arrested 349 Oromo students during a January 2004 protest that pushed for the right to hold an Oromo cultural event at the university. According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, the students were forced to march over gravel barefoot or on their knees for hours. The government has also been known to punish political activists and journalists. Some pro-Oromo organizations, including two other militant groups, The Oromo People’s Libration Front and Islamic Front for the Liberation of the Oromo fight with one another.

More recently, violence and oppression by the government against pro-Oromo groups has persisted. In March 2011, more than two hundred members of the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Oromo People’s Congress (OPC) were arrested. The government’s proposed expansion of the capital city of Addis Ababa leads to ongoing tension for the Oromo people. The expansion would cause the city to spill into the politically autonomous Oromia Region and could lead to the displacement of thousands of Oromo farmers. It could also remove territory from the Oromos. The expansion plan has led to many protests, some of them violent. A December 2015 protest ended with ten dead and several hundred injured. Since the 2015 incident, student protests over the expansion of Addis Ababa have grown consistently, and the government announced that it had canceled its plans in January 2016. Despite this, protests have continued.

War broke out in 2021. The Tigray War was waged from 2020 to 2022. The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) allied with Eritrean forces and Amhara militias (FANO) against the Tigray Defense Force (TDF) and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). An estimated 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, with another 5.1 million displaced. Clashes again broke out in 2023 in the Oromiya region. Violence in the country persists and the Oromo people are often caught between the clashing forces.

According to Brian Yates, associate professor of history at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, the Oromo people are completely integral to Ethiopian society. He compared their historical treatment to how African Americans were largely written out of American history. Even the name Galla that is often used by outsiders has connotations of “God’s Rejects,” he said, adding that much of what we know about the group was crafted by outsiders.

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