Two top OLF leaders abandon organization

WASHINGTON, DC (Ethiomedia) – Amin Jundi, general secretary of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and fellow OLF senior Taha Abdo Tuko said on Wednesday they bid farewell to the organization for their own reasons.

The two top leaders of OLF under the chair of Eritrea-based former Ethiopian Army General Kamal Galchu said in a press statement that they were not only withdrawing from leadership positions but also rescinding their membership.

Amin Jundi has been a familiar face in North America as he
had often wowed audiences with his charismatic features and oratorical skills focused on unifying the Ethiopian people for democracy and justice and against tyranny (watch video clip).

In 2008, some of the OLF members launched a renewal movement to what they called “remedying the maladies” that had severely restricted the growth of the organization and crippled the struggle.

But with the passage of time, their expectations fell far short of the standards they set for themselves, and the struggle didn’t help move toward achieving the aspirations of the great Oromo people.

“Under a circumstance in which our yearning to renew OLF is not materialized and in the absence of an enabling internal environment, finding that not only will our continuing with this faction not meet our own standards but also does not serve the interests of the Oromo struggle and unconvinced that our involvement with the faction would in anyway benefit the cause of the great Oromo people, we want to make public our decision to willingly withdraw from the leadership as well as membership of the faction of OLF led by General Kamal Galchu effective March 15, 2013,” they said in a press statement.

However, they warned that their withdrawal from OLF shouldn’t be miscontrued as giving up on the struggle of the Oromo people for freedom and justice. “We will persevere… and join a platform that we believe would advance the Oromo people’s legitimate struggle for freedom and justice,” they said.