South Africa’s first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has died, South Africa’s president says.
Great Men: Taddesse Birru (L) and Nelson Mandela, 1962
December 5, 2013 (BBC) –Mr Mandela, 95, led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, after 27 years in prison.
He had been receiving intense home-based medical care for a lung infection after three months in hospital.
In a statement on South African national TV, Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela had “departed” and was at peace.
“Our nation has lost its greatest son,” Mr Zuma said.
He said Mr Mandela would receive a full state funeral, and flags would be flown at half-mast.
BBC correspondents say Mr Mandela’s body will be moved to a mortuary in Pretoria, and the funeral is likely to take place next Saturday.
A crowd has gathered outside the house where Mr Mandela died. Some are flying South African flags and wearing the shirts of the governing African National Congress, which Mr Mandela once led.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of the world’s most revered statesmen after preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He had rarely been seen in public since officially retiring in 2004. He made his last public appearance in 2010, at the football World Cup in South Africa.
His fellow campaigner against apartheid, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he was not only an amazing gift to humankind, he made South Africans and Africans feel good about being who we are. He made us walk tall. God be praised.”
‘Bid him farewell’
“What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves,” Mr Zuma said.
“Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell.”
Tributes have come in from around the world.
US President Barack Obama said Mr Mandela achieved more than could be expected of any man.
“He no longer belongs to us – he belongs to the ages,” Mr Obama said, saying Mr Mandela “took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice”.
Mr Obama, the first black president of the United States, said he was one of the millions who drew inspiration from Mr Mandela’s life.
FW de Klerk, who as South Africa’s last white president ordered Mr Mandela’s release, called him a “unifier” and said he had “a remarkable lack of bitterness”.
He told the BBC: “I think his greatest legacy… is that we are basically at peace with each other notwithstanding our great diversity, that we will be taking hands once again now around his death and around our common sadness and mourning.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron also paid tribute, saying “a great light has gone out in the world”.
Earlier this year, Mr Mandela spent nearly three months in hospital with a recurring lung infection.
He was moved to his home in the Houghton suburb of Johannesburg in September, where he continued to receive intensive care.
Sadaasa 30/213/ Yeroo ammaa mootummaan Wayyaanee kaayyoon isaa hangafaa ilmaan oromoo lafa irraa dhabamsiisuu, uummata oromoo fi qabeenyaa uummata oromoos barbaadeessuu fi duudhaa mataa isaa irra oolfachuu akka tahe dhokataa miti. Kana qofa miti yakki inni ilmaan oromoo irratti raawwachaa jiru suukkanneessaa fi hedduu gaddisiisaa akka tahe uummata oromoo biyya hambaa jalaas dhokataa miti,rakkoon saba bal’aa hanga mootummaa addunyaatti beekamaa kan dhufeedha. Kun hammaataa dhufus egaa ifa gala kan tahe yeroon isaa amma yeroon itti mirgi abbaa biyyummaa keenyaa, walabummaan biyya keenyaa fi bilisummaan saba keenyaatti ifaa ifatti tahuuf deemu kana keessatti nutis qooda guddaa keessatti fudhachuuf tokkummaa keenya akka utubaa sibiilaa jabeessinee darbinee uummata dachee Oromiyaa guutuu irra jiraatu kana tokkummaa isaa jabeessuudhaan daandii nuti irra qajeelle kana irratti dachaasuuf yeroo nuti murannoo fi kutannoo qabnuu fi haamilee jabaadhaan kaanee mirga abbaa biyyummaa keenya kan sarbe kana mootummaa wayyaanee of irraa fonqolchinee gara dirree bilisummaatti bahuuf murtoodhaan itti seenne tahuu isaa hanga hundee dhaabatti nu hubadhaa jechaa gabaabsinee ammo ejjennoo qabnus kanaa gaditti kan tarreeffanneedha.
ü Hanga bilisummaa keenyaa fi walabummaa biyya keenyaa ija keenyaan arginutti sodaa fi naasuu malee,daaraa fi beela osoo hin sodaatin hanga dhumaatti dhaaba ABO fi WBO waliin qabsoo finiinsuuf kutannoo keenya ibsanna.
ü Nuti akka ijaarsa gurmuu maadhee Iftuu Bariittis tahee akka dhuunfaa dhuunfaa keenyaattis mootummaa wayyaaneef yeroo sodaa fi jibleenfannaa hin qabnu,amma yeroon yeroo waanjoo garbummaa of irraa fonqolchuu fi godoo roorroo jalaa bahuuf tattaaffii keenya daran jabeessinee hanga dhumaatti deemuu keenya murtoo qabnuun waadaa keenya haaromsina.
ü Yoomiyyuu walabummaa oromiyaa fi bilisummaa saba keenyaatti ni amanna,kanaafuu walaboofne jiraachuuf qabsoo gama keenyaatiin ni finiinsinaaf waadaa qabnu jabeessina.
ü Nuti maadheen Iftuu Barii ajajaa fi dirqama dhaabni keenya ABOn nu dursuun durfamnee yoomiyyuu qabsoo hanga wareegamaatti ni tarkaanaffanna kun waadaa keenya cimsinee yeroodhaa yerootti haaromsinuudha.
ü Lafti uummata oromoo irraa fuudhamee abbaa qabeenyaaf laatameef, uummata mana isaa irraa buqqa’ee bakka biraatti socho’aa jiru……. Sochii dargaggoota biyyoolessaa keessatti hirmaannee kan sichitti tahuuf deemu gocha mootummaa wayyaanee kana dura akka dhaabbannuu fi uummata lafa isaa dhabee fi mana isaa ariyame bakkatti deebisuuf qabsoo barbaachisu ni raawwanna.
The research and information unit of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has conducted a study on the allegiance that accounted for some political prisoners to be sentenced or otherwise been unjustly detained. The herewith attached partial list of political prisoners has been collected from prisons of Kaliti, Torhailoch (Military Police Prison), Maikelawi and Kilinto. Almost all prisoners are charged for act of terror, violation of territorial integrity, attempts to overthrow the constitutional order by violent means and being suspected member of OLF or any other organizations. These political prisoners are ranging in age from young high school and University students to elderly civic society leaders. Professionally, they are also diverse – from farmers, businessmen, government employees, political leaders, journalists and etc. The overwhelming portions are Oromos and some are also from different nations and nationalities of Ethiopia.
Most of these political prisoners already gave prison service for several years; many of them are tortured and subjected to irreversible mental damages, and some of them were shot to death in the course of time.
Since the fall of Transitional Government in 1992, Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Violation of human rights is a daily record of the regime. Instead of solving the root cause of political conflict, it rather declared war on the Oromo people and its vanguard Organisation, the OLF. Consequently, many thousands of Oromos and other nationals were arbitrarily arrested and detained and remain at risk of torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial killings. Many of them were executed during peaceful demonstrations due to excessive use of force by police or security agents.
The TPLF regime promulgated and adopted the restrictive Anti-Terrorism Proclamation in 2009. This regime, which from its very initial, was known for its massive human rights violations is currently using this law to justify all atrocities it conducted. In this attempt to hood wink opinions of the international community, the EPRDF regime is still trying to make others believe that the current problem of the empire is act of terror but not deep rooted political conflict of domination.
The OLF vehemently opposes any forms of terrorism and reject the use of terrorism neither as a form of struggle nor also for suppression of dissidents by states. Thus, we denounce the Ethiopian state terrorism that is used to crush any form of struggle and decent.
OLF is cognizant of, and appreciate the concern of various human rights advocating organizations and some democratic governments that expressed their concerns about Anti-Terrorism, Press and Civic society laws of Ethiopia on various international forums.
In a country like Ethiopia where the government structure is monopolized by a single ethnic group, legalizing the abuse of the universal human rights is a way that leads for the establishment of a totalitarian system which is more sustaining than a simple personal dictatorship. Therefore, OLF alarms that the dangerous political development sustaining over Ethiopia demands more than just a concern but towards a proactive action of the international communities and UN member states. We denounce legalized form of state terrorism and call up on the international community to exert diplomatic pressure on Ethiopian government to release all political prisoners unconditionally and repeal these brutal and repressive laws.
QEERROO 