In recent months, the activities of Oromo Dialogue Forum have been looming large in the Diasporas. The group has transformed  itself from holding small and secret house meetings, where the founders would Skype in from Germany, Norway and Minnesota to holding public meetings in cities such as Minneapolis and Washington DC, among others. The questions many ask is: How was this organization formed and where is it headed? Does what ODF do qualify as "dialogue"? Is it a neutral body to carry out dialogue?  In this, piece we will present a simple chronology of the formation and  evolution of ODF to help the public understand the organization.

August 2006          Brig Gen Kemal Galchu along with two other officers and 100 soldiers defects
                             from Ethiopian Army and joins OLF in Eritrea


2008               Brig Gen Kemal Galchu breaks away from OLF and  forms Jijiirama Koree Yeroo
                       with the goal of struggling for Ethiopia's unity.

July 2008       Dima Noggo misses OLF meeting, but attends Jijjiirama meeting expecting to rise to
                        power

July 2008       Lenco Lata declares that he is neither in OLF nor Jijjiirama

2010             Lico Bukura, Abdata Basire and Kanu Jirmo conspire and handover Jijjiirama armed
                     troops to Ethiopia and declare OLF is no longer at war with the Ethiopian regime

2010           Big Gen Galchu and Col. Hailu Gonfa declare they struggle  not for Oromo, but Ethiopia

2011          Jijjiirama splits into more than two factions--Galchu/Amin Jundi joined Ginbot7

2011         Mediation between Jijjiirama and OLF fails

2011         Ibrahim Mummee faction leaves the Ethiopianist Kemal Galchu group
                 due to internal power struggle and ego issues

2011        Lenco Lata gets fired for disciplinary issues from the OLF,  takes with him some OLF
                members

2012        Oromo Dialogue Forum (ODF) formed with tens of unhappy OLF dropouts and
                dropouts from Big Gen Kamal Galchu's  faction

2012        Lenco Lata, Lenco Bati, Dima Noggo, Hassen Hussein and Bayan Asoba become
                important ODF officials

2012       ODF leaders lecture/hoodwink the general public always on a singe topic "The Oromo
               Struggle Under the Leadership of the OLF: From Where to Where?"

2012       Obbo Lube Birru appears on radio and says ODF is part of the problem, not a neutral
               third-party, to hold anything resembling cross-faction dialogue

2012     Oromo Affairs concludes  Jijjiirama renamed itself "Oromo Dialogue Forum"

ODF proposes that it wants to liberate the peoples of Ethiopia, but not the Oromo people specifically. The ODF disowns the Oromo and calls on Oromos to abandon calling themselves Oromos.  ODF asks people "why do you call yourselves Oromos?" The ODF leadership believes disowning Oromo is the main selling point of their programs to Ethiopians and the international community. The leaders also deny that they are Oromos--an example is when Dima Noggo said "inde agatami hono Ilu Ababor  Gore akebabi new yetweledkut" [by chance I was born in Ilu Ababa Bor around Gore] on Amaharic Esat TV. This might mean that if he were to control his birth, he would choose to be born in Gondar or Tigray or anywhere esle outside Oromia from non-Oromo parents.

So, does Oromo Dialogue Forum stand for Oromo interests or not? The above are the facts, you decide for yourself.

---Background video material