Challenges Facing the OLF: A Call for Action
Ayyaantuu Oromiyaa Portal - Sep 13, 2007
By Siddise Abbamagal
Since its establishment in 1973, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has been leading a multifaceted struggle against tyranny, oppression and prejudice unleashed against the Oromo people by Ethiopian imperial state. Through its pragmatic political program and dedication of its members, the organization has not just won the hearts and minds of the Oromo people; it has also fundamentally changed the socio-political landscape of the Eastern African region. Through out these long years of struggle, OLF has gone through several crisis triggered by internal and external factors. Most of the internal factors that precipitated the crisis have been caused by continuous "factionalization" of the leadership that hampered a smooth and decisive march towards achieving its stated objectives.
In these writers' views, currently, as it happened in the past, the OLF is facing some serious challenges that are shaking the confidence of the Oromo people as well as the international community that awaits to see a better change in the region. This challenge, this writer believes, primarily resulted from "inactive" or "dormant" conditions of the organization and its inability to score palpable political and military gains. This dormancy and lack of practical action has sent a chilling effect among the Oromo populace while it has led the international community to undermine OLF's commitment to its stated goals ...