Tomar newspaper said the armed individuals were Tigrinya speakers who were living on campus as regular students. Previous student demands were on lifting a ban on the 300 Oromo students expelled by the government, as well as reversing a government order which took Oromia’s capital from from Addis Ababa to Adama (Nazret).
Though facing public uprisings in Tigrai region, observers say Ethiopia’s Eritrean-agent Prime Minister Meles Zenawi would try to hang onto power once he sparked a major anti-Tigrian conflict in the country so that Tigrians would have no option but to support the regime they are now struggling to bring about its downfall.
In similar anti-Meles student protests in Tigrai regional capital of Mekelle in 2001, it is to be recalled an Oromo student at Mekelle University was killed by government agents who sought similar reprisals would ensue against Tigrian students pursuing their education at colleges and universities in other parts of the country. To the disappointment of the prime minister, no bloodshed followed.
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
We believe Ethiopian scholars don’t need anyone to alert them on the danger Ethiopia is currently facing from state-sponsored ethnic conflicts such as those in Gambella.
In the course of 13 years, the regime has used the crime of pitting one ethnic group against the other. What makes recent ethnic conflicts different from those that took earlier during Meles Zenawi’s ascent to power is the latest ethnic conflicts may sway to the point of no-return because a young generation raised in a divisive ethnic environment has come of age.
A child that was 7 or 8 years old when TPLF/EPRDF arrived in 1991 in Addis is today 19 or 20 years old to whom “Ethiopia” may have little or no greater significance than the ethnic enclave the youth associate themselves with. And unless the trend is reversed, and quickly, five years from now, we will have a completely new generation born and raised in a racially-divided Ethiopia. If those forces who see the fragmentation of Ethiopia are not stopped, there is no doubt their mission of destroying the country into little, warring fiefdoms would come true.
To keep our country from falling into the designed trap, we invite our scholars to alert the national and international community of the danger being hotly pursued by the Meles Zenawi regime, and the urgency of the unity of opposition parties to see the predicament beyond the prism of partisan politics.
