The jubilant crowd waving OLF flags gathered at Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square on Saturday, where a large concert was held to welcome the group’s leader Dawud Ibsa and others, while similar events were held in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.
I am happy to be here after 26 years of struggle from outside of Ethiopia, Ibsa said. We will be a part of the peaceful struggle, he added.
We have been struggling to bring the changes that we are seeing now in Ethiopia. We are now seeing positive signs that include the respect for rule of law. That’s why we came here, said Ibsa.
Earlier on Saturday, nearly 1,500 OLF fighters returned from neighbouring Eritrea.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who in April, became the first Oromo to hold the post has introduced a number of reforms since assuming office, as well as overseen the release of jailed dissidents, the unblocking of websites and moves to liberalise the economy.
The OLF was founded as a political organization in 1973 to advocate the right to national self-determination for the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, against what they perceived as Abyssinian colonial rule.
The group had a falling out with the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1992 and soon began launching armed attacks.
In response, the government banned it and later declared it a terrorist organisation.
The crackdown on OLF deepened resentment among Oromos, whose months of anti-government protests, which also spread to the Amhara region, led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Hailemarian Desalegn earlier this year and his replacement by Abiy.
In July, the ban on OLF and two other groups was lifted as part of the prime minister’s efforts to bring various opposition groups back into Ethiopian politics.
Speaking from Addis Ababa, Jawar Mohammed, executive director at Oromia Media Network, called the return of the OLF leadership a historic day in their nearly 50-year-old struggle.
We are in a positive transition now. This day is a significant milestone in Ethiopia’s transition to democracy, he said, adding that the Oromos have a vested interest in keeping the country together.
It paves the way for a peaceful election within the next two years, he said.
Several people in the crowd at Meskel Square bore scars incurred during years of Oromo-led anti-government protests.
I never thought this day would come, said 27-year-old Arfase Elias, showing the scar from a bullet that hit her left leg 12 years ago during a demonstration in the restive town of Ambo.
For this flag, I have seen my brothers tortured, dying on the streets. I have seen the sacrifices they had made for freedom, she said.
Analysts say that with the return of Ibsa, the last bastion of armed struggle in Ethiopia has come to an end.
Ethiopia‘s government has signed an agreement to end hostilities with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which it had previously labeled a terrorist movement.
The deal signed in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Tuesday appeared to be another step by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to improve security and diplomatic relations, reform institutions and open parts of the state-controlled economy.
Since the 1970s, the rebels have fought a low-level battle for self-determination for the Oromia region, which is Ethiopia’s largest and home to the Oromo ethnic group.
The OLF was initially part of a transitional government set up in 1991 by rebels from a coalition, which had driven former military ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam from power, but they soon fell out with the coalition.
The government has now signed a reconciliation agreement to end hostilities with the OLF’s exiled leader, Dawud Ibsa, who lives in exile in Asmara, the capital of neighbouring Eritrea, said Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel.
The agreement further states that the OLF will conduct its political activities in Ethiopia through peaceful means, he said on Twitter.
The group declared a unilateral ceasefire last month after parliament removed it from a list of banned terrorist groups that it had been part of since 2008.
The agreement is a huge boost for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Prime Minister Abiy himself is an Oromo and having a rebel group from his own community fighting his government would have been a huge setback for the raft of reforms that he has initiated in the country.
There may be additional reasons why the OLF signed the agreement, ending hostilities with the state.
They were getting most of their support from the Eritrean government and now that the Eritrean government has normalised relations with the Ethiopian government, that support is not forthcoming.
Abiy took office in April and his reforms have included extending an olive branch to dissidents overseas.
He has also acknowledged abuses by security services and ended a military stalemate with Eritrea that followed a 1998-2000 border war in which 80,000 people are thought to have died.
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