Oromo People's Congress (OPC)

You can download the new Program of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum also known as FDD (Forum for Democratic dialogue)

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Dr. Merera has been elected as the chairman of UEDF (April 08, 2009)

Read the full article at the Ethiopian Reporter website.

The Oromo People's Congress (OPC) and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) have formed a coalition, Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC)

• to organize public meetings together;
• to coordinate our activities in the Oromia Regional Council and at the Federal Parliament as well as stand together in case of challenges at both levels;
• to solicit support both in side the country and abroad and share equally resources mobilized together;
• to coordinate our activities when dealing with other political groups;
• even if, there are only few differences in our political programs agreed to sort out whatever differences we have in the future;
• to compete in the comming elections with a common platform and field candidates in commom. In this connection, when fielding candidates for the coming elections it was agreed that the 42 seats won by OPC and 11 seats won by OFDM in the last elections will be maintained by the two parties while the rest of the 135 constituencies in Oromia won by other parties including the OPDO will be equally shared between the two parties.

Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD): Step Forward to create Grand Coalition for the coming 2010 election

June 17, 2007 - Major opposition parties and individuals in Ethiopia formed a forum known as the "Forum for Democratic Dialogue" (FDD) on June 17, 2007. The purpose of FDD is to give these parties a chance to solve their differences and come up with a common understanding that will allow them to work together.

The participants are : Oromo Peoples Congress(OPC); Oromo Federalist Democratic Party(OFDM); United Ethiopian Democratic Forces(UEDF); Somali Democratic Forces Coalition(SDFC); Arena Tigray For Democracy and Sovereignty(ATDS) ; Mr. Seye Abreha, former defense minister, and Dr Negaso Gidadda, former Ethiopian president, have also joined as individuals. The UDJ also joined this Forum on February 7, 2009.

The objectives of FDD are:
• To establish meetings and negotiations that will allow them to come up with common objectives.
• To formulate a strategy for the 2010 election and ensure that there will be a fair and free election.
• To fight the various obstacles laid by the ruling party together in a peaceful and democratic fashion.
• To make public announcements and build up public support together in order to propose solutions for the problems facing the nation.
• To work together to promote diplomacy

Hard to campaign for the election

We have only two weeks before the election and it has been impossible for OFC to campaign for the upcoming election. To report some of it:

Our members and leaders have been to 40 Oromia Weredas in East and West Hararghe, Arsi, Bale and Borana Zones. And were only able to hold only six public meetings and the election administration is totally taken over by the local cadres. In some areas they deny open space for meetings; deny our campaigners hotel rooms; flatten tires of our cars, smashed the windows of our cars, have beaten our campaigners, etc. In Muyale town the Somali region police have beaten up Oromos gathered to meet while the Oromia police was watching the drama. In Yabello town they snatched our video camera.

In short, EPRDF does not want us to operate and is making things impossible. We all know the election code of conduct EPRDF has been talking about. It is obvious it is not respected by the ruling party, so much for the talked about code of conduct, it has been already killed by the ruling party.

Massive arrest in Oromia

Massive arrests of our members and supporters are going on across Oromia from Borana to Harar in the last two months. In the last few weeks alone more than 350 of our members are arrested and a young student aged 17 was shot dead in cold blood by police while one of his friend wounded last Friday (September 18, 2009) in Dandi Wereda, West Shewa - 30 kms from Ambo town.

Ridiculously, the arrests are going on while the Ethiopian Government is calling for negotiation with the opposition.

EPRDF is Still Shooting to Rule

After close to 18 years in power, the EPRDF is still shooting to rule. In what appears to be putting more pressure on the Oromo People's Congress, Oromo's largest legal opposition - three separate actions have taken by government forces against members and supporters of OPC.

1. In February two teachers in a local school in Midakaegn Wereda, adjacent to Ambo Wereda were severely beaten by electric wire by the local police and wereda officials. Their names are Kuriye Wondimu and Dinka Kumsaa. Dinka was OPC candidate during the last Wereda elections in which we were forced to boycott.;
2. Adjacent to the same wereda, in Gedo town, security personnel (the Government's rapid deployment force) surrounded Gedo High School on March 4 and started to shoot at the students in which several students were wounded, three of them very seriously. One student by the name Wondimu Demena died at Ambo Hospital.
3. OPC parliamentarian from Zuway Dugida, Arsi region was blocked at gun point from talking to members and supporters last week.