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Ethiopia The Oromo
Created in July 1973, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) set
forth as its goals Oromo liberation from "Ethiopian
colonialism" and the establishment of an independent
Democratic Republic of Oromia in southern Ethiopia (see
Other Movements and Fronts, ch. 4). The following year, the
OLF began an offensive against the Ethiopian army in
Harerge. After the collapse of the imperial regime in 1974,
the OLF increased its military activities after it became
evident that the Mengistu regime would not allow the Oromo
to elect their own representatives to run peasant
associations or to use their own language in schools and
newspapers. However, the OLF had little success in
mobilizing support in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, the OLF experienced a
resurgence. According to spokesmen, the organization had
5,000 fighters and more than 10,000 militia personnel; most
other sources, however, suggested that the OLF's personnel
strength was much lower. In 1985 the OLF overran the goldmining town of Agubela and "freed" about 1,000 mine workers.
The rebels also confiscated coffee valued at approximately
US$2 million from the Ethiopian Coffee Marketing Board.
In early 1988, the Ethiopian army attacked OLF forces in
Welega. Fierce fighting occurred around the garrison towns
in Kelem and Gimbi awraja. Shortly after these battles, the
OLF acknowledged that it had received support from the EPLF
and the TPLF. Despite this activity, however, some Western
observers believed that the OLF was still in the fledgling
stage of its growth. Its chief weakness remained its
inability to mobilize and coordinate the activities of its
eastern wing in Harerge, Bale, Sidamo, and Arsi. As a
result, another organization, the Ogaden National Liberation
Front (ONLF), competed with the OLF for the loyalty and
support of the peoples living in the east (see
The Somali,
this ch.).
On June 10, 1989, the OLF reported that it had "disarmed"
an unspecified number of Ethiopian soldiers and freed more
than 2,000 Oromo prisoners by destroying five "concentration
camps" in Gara Muleta awraja in Harerge. The following
October, the OLF also engaged the Ethiopian army in Welega
and Harerge. From November 10 to November 17, 1989, the OLF
held its second congress in Golelola in Harerge. Besides
adopting many antigovernment resolutions, the congress
promised increased military activities against the Mengistu
regime. A few weeks later, in December, OLF units, with EPLF
support, launched an offensive that eventually resulted in
the capture of the town of Asosa along the EthiopianSudanese border. The OLF also escalated activities in
Harerge after many Ethiopian army units redeployed to other
locations in Ethiopia.
After occupying Asosa in January 1990, the OLF launched no
further offensives against Mengistu's army until the end of
the year, when OLF units saw action at several locations in
western parts of the country. In 1991 the OLF remained
largely in the background as the EPRDF and the EPLF fought
their final battles against government forces. The OLF's
last military action before the demise of the Mengistu
regime occurred at Dembi Dolo in southerwestern Welega, when
some of its units reportedly killed more than 700 government
soldiers.
Relations between the OLF and the EPRDF seem to have been
ambivalent even at the best of times because the Oromo were
deeply suspicious of the ultimate designs of the Tigrayan
leadership. These relations hardly improved during 1990 when
the OLF was confronted by a rival group, the Oromo People's
Democratic Organization (OPDO), sponsored by the TPLF as a
member of the EPRDF umbrella organization. OLF spokesmen
also repeatedly denounced EPRDF claims that it was the EPRDF
that had freed the Oromo from the regime's domination.
Actions such as these further alienated the OLF and helped
account for the rift that developed shortly after the
occupation of Addis Ababa between the OLF and the EPRDF over
the composition of a new government--a disagreement that did
not augur well for the future.
Data as of 1991
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