26 June 2001
The expulsion of President Negaso Gidada would not solve the crisis within the ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and heralded trouble in the largest ethnic region in Ethiopia, Oromiya, a spokesman from the armed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) said.
Spokesman Lencho Bati made the remarks after the Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO) - a component of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) - expelled Negaso, saying he had refused to discuss democratic reforms.
Lencho told IRIN that Negaso, an Oromo, had held a purely ceremonial post that did not give Oromos representation, but rather "symbolised the Oromo alienation from the leadership - he was seen as a puppet". Lencho, speaking from the US, said Negaso's party, the OPDO, had itself been weakened by recent TPLF split. He said OPDO and Oromo affairs had been "run by assigned TPLF members", and that there had been a lot of "firings, reshufflings, bringing in and throwing out" of OPDO members. He said the OPDO was split over issues concerning Oromo rights, the role of the TPLF, the need for more autonomy, unequal economic development, and human rights abuses in the Oromo region. According to Lencho, Negaso had been "unhappy for the last couple of years" and uncomfortable with the position he had been given.
The Ethiopian government has said it considers the OLF a terrorist organisation, with an exiled leadership, and that it is not representative of opinion in Ethiopia. The government said Negaso had been expelled after he walked out of the EPRDF council meeting.
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