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Prove me wrong and show the evidence (any HIM speach) that promotes the freedom and equal right for all Oromos, not just the ones that wanted to be anexed to Ethiopia. The Oromo people are one of the ancient people of the region. The Oromo people belong to the Cushitic group of people that inhabited the southern half of the western Red Sea coast, and the whole of Horn of Africa including the coastal areas and hinterlands. The Afar, Somali, Saho, and Sidama are some of the Cushitic people of Africa. These people are related to ancient Egyptian (Nubians), and are the original inhabitants of the region. Their history in the region is more than the three thousand years claimed by the Abyssinians.
Ever since their arrival from south Arabia, the Abyssinians have been encroaching on the Cushitic land, and slowly pushing the Cushitic people in different directions. This movement was checked and stopped by the Oromos in the sixteenth century. The make believe history of the so called "Galla Migration" of the sixteenth century is a war of liberation from the Abyssinians who were slowly encroaching on the Cushitic and other people's lands.
Abyssinians desire to control the resources of the Oromos and other people living in what today is known as southern Ethiopia, led to a bad relationship of war and instability in the region. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Abyssinia with the help of European arms, military advisors and commanders from Russia and France succeeded to colonize Oromiyaa and other people of the southern Ethiopia. Ethiopia, as it is known today has never existed before, and present Ethiopia is a colonial creation of no more than a century old.The long dream of Abyssinia to occupy Oromiyaa and its southern neighbors became reality with the help of European arms, advisors, some of whom were directly involved in the war of occupation against Oromo and the south.
"Britain, France, Italy, and Russia poured arms and some military advisors into Ethiopia, each believing it would require a corresponding measure of local leverage." (Lewis)
Menelik was able to amass, a tremendous amount military hardware.
" ... he (Menelik) was able between 1880 and 1900 to import over one million rifles, a quantity of hatchkiss guns and military pieces, also making use of French and Russian military experts to train his soldiers in their use. No other pre-colonial African state had been able to build such an armory. (Luckman and Bekele)
Under such conditions, Menelik II, Amhara King of Shewa was able to occupy and colonize Oromiyaa and southern region. Menelik created a settler colonial rule over Oromos and other southern people. Many of the newly occupied or colonized people were captured and sold into slavery, and the ramining were placed in a situation that is no better than slavery.
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