Firaol Ajema and his friends, dressed in black T-shirts, have gathered every afternoon in recent days to listen to the music of the Ethiopian pop star Hachalu Hundessa, also known as Haacaaluu Hundeessaa.
Homemade shirts with the portrait of the dead singer and the slogan “I am also Hachalu” are her way of honoring the man whose murder on Monday sparked violence that killed at least 166 people and highlighted Ethiopia’s seething ethnic tensions.
“We have not been able to cry adequately,” said Firaol, a university student in the town of Legetafo, on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, where security has been tight since the murder. “We are suffocating inside our own homes.”
Hachalu’s death, which remains unsolved, was destined to become a political hot spot.
In pop uptempo songs full of political references, Hachalu expressed feelings of marginalization among members of his Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia.
His music was the soundtrack to anti-government protests that brought Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the country’s first Oromo leader, to the presidency in 2018.
People gather to protest the treatment of the Oromo ethnic group from Ethiopia, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, on July 3, 2020. [Simon Dawson/Reuters]
However, as Ethiopia prepares for elections that will test its democratic transition under Abiy, many Oromo nationalists feel betrayed, arguing that the prime minister has not defended their interests.
Opposition politicians claim that many of the deaths were instigated by security forces who shot protesters at various locations in Addis Ababa and the surrounding Oromia region.
Firaol and his young fellow Oromos in Legetafo agree.
“The murder has caused a lot of sadness among us, but the way the government is handling it is even worse,” said Birhanu Gadisa, also a student. “It is totally unacceptable.”
Capital disputed
The central theme of this week’s crisis is Addis Ababa’s historic Oromo claim, referred to by many ethnic nationalists as Finfinne, the name given to the territory before Emperor Menelik II founded the capital in the late 19th century.
The catalyst for the protests that brought Abiy to power was the presentation in 2015 of a master plan for the expansion of Addis Ababa in Oromia.
Hachalu’s resting place has been disputed with some arguments that he should be buried in Addis Ababa, rather than his native Ambo to the west.
“He needed to be buried with respect inside Addis Ababa. Finfinne belongs to the Oromo people,” said Firaol.
However, government officials and some of Hachalu’s family wanted him buried in Ambo, prompting an unseemly fight over his body.
Hachalu, a former political prisoner, rose to fame during protracted anti-government protests. [Screengrab/ YouTube]
According to a report provided by Federal Police Commissioner Endeshaw Tassew, a group of Oromo nationalists, including prominent opposition politician Jawar Mohammed, intercepted the body en route to Ambo on Tuesday and attempted to take it back to Addis Ababa, where it was faced with security. cash.
A policeman was killed and Jawar was arrested, further increasing tensions in Oromia.
Two days later, the funeral in Ambo turned deadly when soldiers opened fire on crowds of mourners in a failed attempt at crowd control.
At least nine people were shot, two of them fatally, causing new pain for Hachalu fans.
“Even when many people go out to mourn his death, we lost more lives,” said student Chala Tola.
‘Eyes of the Oromo’
Hachalu is now buried, but the divisions his murder has exposed will shape Ethiopian politics in the coming months.
Jawar remains incarcerated, along with another prominent Oromo politician, Bekele Gerba. Officials have provided little information about the charges against the two men due to appear in court this month.
And, as Hachalu made clear in one of his final interviews, the complaints of the Oromo nationalists run deeper than recent events. Last month, the singer asked for the removal of a statue of Emperor Menelik II from the Piasa neighborhood, the capital.
While Menelik is widely respected as the creator of modern Ethiopia, for Oromo nationalists he embodies a system of marginalization.
During the recent protests, a crowd marched towards the statue, apparently with the intention of knocking it down to make Hachalu’s wish come true, but the security forces pushed them back. City police have been stationed around the statue ever since.
For Firaol, back in Legetafo, that Hachalu is dead and the statue says everything he needs to know about the government’s priorities.
“While they should have been protecting this guy, they have been protecting the statue,” he said. “For me, Hachalu was not a single person. It was the eyes of the Oromo people, and now they have blinded us.”
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