Thanks for the reply to my opinion! I can see that you do prefer Ethiopian unity as a precondition for the possible alliance to be forged between Amhara democratic forces and Oromo freedom fighters. Ok! Oromos do accept your precondition, only if you also accept their precondition aka making Afaan Oromo the only working language of the federation instead of Amharinya. In the common hause you suggested, the language to be spoken must be only Afaan Oromo.

Will you stay to be pro Ethiopian unity and anti ethnicity, even if Amharinya will be demoted to only local language of Amhara region and if Afaan Oromo be promoted to be the only working language of the Ethiopian federation? I am sure you will not! In case you will stay to be pro Ethiopianity and Unity as you seem to believe now, let�s then try this NEW version of Ethiopianity with Afaan Oromo. Other wise, enjoy the following:

�After observing the imposition of Amharinya at the cost of Afaan Oromo in the past one century, I just couldn�t help, but think about the main mistake Ob (Aste) Minilik Caala (�our colonizer�), Ob Qusee Dinagde, Ob. Gobena Daacee etc Oromos did. The only mistake they did was making Amharinya the national language of the empire they did build. Being Oromos, if they could have managed to make Afaan Oromo the national language of Ethiopian empire, now we Oromos were not the ones to fight for self-determination. The whole Finfinne and other �modern� peoples in the empire would have spoken Afaan Oromo, the whole Diaspora Ethiopians now would have spoken Afaan Oromo, even all would have claimed to be Ethiopian which is equivalent to be Oromo, not Amhara as it is now.

At present, for Amharas to come to their sense and comprehend why we did say so, let�s look at the following fact in short. Almost 99.9% Amharas now a days think they are pro Ethiopianity and anti �Ethnicity� and with that they do think that they do have moral upper hand. For them to develop an other view, let�s demote Amharinya to local language of only Amhara region and promote Afaan Oromo to federal language. Till now, just based on the fact that Amharinya being federal language, they used to cry about Ethiopianity, which in essence means actually Amharanet for they know how amharanization is still going on. When we change the role of the two languages, I am sure Oromos will start to sing about Ethiopianity which will be equivalent to Oromummaa and of course they will denounce �Ethnicity�. Then Amharas will start to defend them selves from Romanization and will denounce Ethiopianity with only Afaan Oromo as federal language and they will be automatically pro �Ethnicity�. So we can see how simple it is to be moralist without understanding the mechanism behind all what we do believe. Ogina

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Thank you for the reply. Here are my comments.

1. Have you thought for one moment that Amharinya and Afaan Oromo could become both working languages of the federation? Why not? This is what an unconditional commitment to unity would suggest.

2. It is not up to us to decide this issue of language. Since we are speaking of a democratic state, then we should say that the people (majority) should decide. Are you sure that the majority of the Ethiopian people would vote for Afaana Oromo? You see: you are not thinking in terms of unity. Moreover, you want to impose Afaana Oromo on other ethnic groups without even consulting them.

3. Your position shows that the so-called unsolvable conflict between Amhara and Oromo boils down to the question of language. And this has to do with resentment about Menilik's conquest. While I understand the resentment, I know also that you can get over it without breaking up the country. Most of the existing modern states have been the result of one group conquering other groups. The destruction of the structures of conquest has created modern democratic states.

4. All this tells me that Oromo fighters are actually taking as a model the Amhara ruling class that they used to condemn. The conditions that they present for them to agree to be part of Ethiopia are clearly saying that Oromo hegemony must be accepted. The fate of Ethiopia does not lie in replacing one hegemonic group by another. That is why we are all against the Woyanne regime. We must think democratically. Messay

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Thanks for the discussion. Just to reply to your opinion in short:

- I just asked you to accept Afaan Oromo as the only federal language to neutralize the attempt of you and that of most Amhara elites talking about Ethiopian unity with Amharinya as the only working language of the federation and of course with that making amharanization process as some thing normal.

- to ask the public to decide on the type of language to be used as federal language, we first need to ask the public what type of sovereignty they want to build: YES to Union or NO to Union? Why doesn't your democracy include this?

- the resentment against Minilik is fact, but not only that unfortunately you and almost all Amhara elites want to perpetuate the same policy of Minilik with a pretext of Ethiopian Unity.

- I am not actually for Oromo hegemony, but just to show you people how the reverse of your effort can be painful to you, I just said: if you want Ethiopian unity (one common hause) then see also what it looks like to be under Oromo domination replacing your domination.

In general, why do you and other Amhara elites talk and preach democracy, but you do exclude the right of the public to decide on its destiny per referendum aka self-determination? If you must think democratically, then think that there is no half-backed democracy!! Ogina

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You keep telling me that if Afaan Oromo had become the national language instead of Amharic, the Amhara would have resented this domination and supported self-determination. Allow me to disagree strongly, for there are other possibilities.

1. If Ethiopia, unified under an Oromo ruling elite, had become democratic and prosperous, a perfect assimilation would have taken place. This has happened elsewhere: the French, English, Italian, German, etc., languages were at first languages of specific tribes that conquered and absorbed other tribes to form modern nations. This didn�t happen in Ethiopia because the ruling class of the dominant ethnic group failed to modernize the country, mainly because it treated other groups as second-class citizens, including the Oromo.

2. Assuming that the Oromo ruling elite treated the Amhara as second-class citizens, then the most reasonable path would have been to fight for the democratization of Ethiopia. I don�t need self-determination up to secession to do that, especially if I claim to represent the largest ethnic group. Of course, my struggle would have taken an ethnic content: I would require equal treatment politically and culturally, but the final outcome would be the full democratization of Ethiopia�� in conjunction with other democratic forces�� as a multicultural nation.

3. Now ask yourself (critically) why you need the right to self-determination. If you dig deep enough, you will find a political reason that has to do with the ambition of the Western educated Oromo elite. By emphasizing cultural distinction, namely, language particularity, the elite wants to become the exclusive representative of the Oromo people. As a result, you cannot represent or speak in the name of the Oromo people if you are not an Oromo. I obtain this exclusiveness by defending the right to self-determination, that is, by defining Oromia as a dominated nation. This was done through the ideology of the colonial conquest of the Oromo by the Amhara. In other words, the defense of the right to self-determination is how the Oromo elite establishes a reserve power-base.

4. The power-base is further strengthened through the defense of Oromo culture and language at the exclusion of other cultures. So that, xenophobic feelings are progressively instilled among the Oromo people, the outcome of which can only be confrontation. Cultural distinction is not used to enrich a national identity formed in concert with other ethnic groups; rather, it is used for secessionist purpose that would finally establish the lasting and exclusive rule of the Oromo elite over Oromia. If you don�t trust me, reflect on what happened in Eritrea. Messay

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yes I do argue that the main conflict factor is language! If you disagree, then let's try it practically: just let's demote Amharinya to only Amhara region and promote Afaan Oromo to the language of the federation! I assure you as an Oromo, we will accept the unconditional unity you do demand and we will denounce "ethnicity" as well the right of nations to self-determination! I hope you will be ready to influence all your relatives to learn Afaan Oromo with out any objection. Then we Oromos would be very happy if Amharas prefer not to fight for self-determination, but for democracy, unity, justice, equality, peace and prosperity.

Looking back to the history and trying to judge the status quo, we all do have our own interpretation. I do just register your view about the past Amhara-Oromo relation and about the current Oromo elites. I prefer to look in to the future and ask the question: what options do we have if we want to live together?

- Unconditional Ethiopian Unity with Amharinya as the only federal language as it is now

- Unconditional Ethiopian Unity with Afaan Oromo and Amharinya as federal languages

- Unconditional Ethiopian Unity with English as the only common federal language; Amharinya for Amhara region and Afaan Oromo for Oromia state

- Unconditional Ethiopian Unity with Afaan Oromo as the only federal language, Amharinya being demoted to local Amara region

- Union of free nations in the region called Ethiopia based on self-determination of each nation in the empire.

As I understood, you seem to prefer the second option. You also see that the first option is the failed project. I did suggest the fifth option in my opinion I posed to you, but if Amharas reject self determination of nations and persist to have unconditional Ethiopian Unity, then let them test the fourth option so that they can understand what it means to be called Ethiopian, which is in reality Oromian in contrast to the status quo Amharian! If you do reject the fourth option, then I expect from you as an educated gentle man to have an empathy for Oromo elites rejecting the first option, instead of vilifying them as exclusionists. Why should Oromo elites be exclusionist by demanding this, whereas you look at Amhara elites as inclusive by just propagating the first option? If we want to avoid all these problems, then let's opt for the third option which is the most pragmatic choice in the already globalized world. Ogina