United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa (ULFO)

March 27, 2010 - Press Release

For decades, the Oromo nation has been calling and yearning for a unified national organization committed to and endeavoring for the fulfillment of the aspiration of the nation bilisummaa/Walabummaa - the freedom from the Abyssinian colonial legacy and the establishment of the sovereign state of Oromiyaa.

This call for unity of the political forces of Oromiyaa has been partly answered today with a milestone achievement of three member organizations of the United Liberation Forces of Oromiyaa (ULFO): namely, Front for Independent Democratic Oromiyaa (FIDO), United Oromo Peoples Liberation Front (UOPLF), and the Council of Oromiyaa People's Liberation Front (COPLF).

Understanding the dire need for unity, we, the three organizations, strongly felt to follow suit of other ULFO member organizations which hitherto operate from strength and give our national liberation struggle the paramount multi-dimensional edge that it requires today. As founding members of ULFO, we committed ourselves for such a groundbreaking agreement when we initially formed ULFO in the year 2000. Ever since, we have been diligently working, against all odds, towards achieving the ultimate goal of ULFO merging or uniting all liberation forces of Oromiyaa into one strong national liberation front.

Adhering to that core vision, core values and guiding principles of ULFO, and based on the merger agreement we reached in January 2009, today, we have fully concluded that agreement by endorsing that our three organizations transform and operate as one, as ULFO, having one political program, constitution, and leadership.

We humbly call up on all other Oromo political forces to follow our suit, rather than fighting on petty issues, such as a name of an organization. In this respect, we enthusiastically extend our call to all Oromiyaa forces to join us in this national project.

Call:

Taking note with great anguish and indignation the long-time and unparalleled suffering of the people of Oromiyaa under the brutal and savage Abyssinian colonial system and the ever escalating political repression, economic exploitation, and cultural domination the Oromos endure under the present Wayane-led regime of Ethiopia;

Acknowledging that the people of Oromiyaa have paid enormous sacrifice for the liberation of their country (Oromiyaa) and to regain their most cherished freedom and liberty;

Realizing that the Abyssinian colonial system is well entrenched and that it would require a tremendous human and material resource, a profoundly overhauled politico-military organization, and a visionary leadership with unflinching determination to dismantle this moribund system;

Underscoring the fact that it is only a well unified Oromo political forces of shared vision and mission that enjoy the full backing of the people of Oromiyaa that can surmount the challenge of the Wayane-led regime;

We call upon:

1. Individual members of all organizations to play pivotal roles, and pay sacrifices necessary for the realization of the organizational and leadership transformation best fashioned for the 21ST Century Oromo national liberation struggle.

2. All Oromo political forces, non-members of ULFO, that fully share the objectives of ULFO to come aboard in the effort of the unification process of Oromo political organizations and render their fair shares.

3. The people of Oromiyaa, both at home and in Diaspora, to rally behind ULFO and make every endeavor for the unity of purpose among Oromo political forces to crystallize, and the liberation struggle to intensify and bring about the demise of the Abyssinian colonial system.

Unity is Power!

Oromiyaa Shall be Free!