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On Tuesday, Battee Urgessaa, Oromo Liberation Front Political officer, was shot dead in Meki town. Sources say he was taken from a hotel where he was staying and riddled with six bullets. His body was dumped outside of Meki town.
Mr. Battee Urgessaa was released from prison about three weeks ago and was released on a 100,000 birr bail. He was arrested with a French journalist Antoine Galindo.
“The OLF learned today the brutal murder of its member and political officer Jaal Battee Urgessaa with agony and grave sadness,” Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) said in a statement it released on Wednesday.
What is known so far is that he was taken from the hotel and killed around midnight.
OLF is pointing fingers at the government over the killing. “The unwarranted and extrajudicial killing of conscious and active Oromo political and cultural figures has been a systematic and irresponsible act of silencing the Oromo throughout years and decades,” it said.
A French news source on Thursday reported that it got information that government security forces are behind the killing.
In February 2024, Reuters reported about Koree Nageenyaa – a secret killing squad operating in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. It is run by the government.
The Oromia regional government on Thursday released a statement saying pointing at the government in connection with the killing of Battee Urgessaa is unacceptable. It said he was killed by “unidentified gunmen.” Furthermore, it said those who are blaming the government are trying to make a political score to compensate for their losses.
Mr. Battee Urgessa is survived by four children and his wife.
Killings of civilians has been common in the Oromia region of Ethiopia since Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018.
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What has been worrying me most is the occurrences of similar tragic events and being used for political scores. They are usually followed by spats of blame game just to be lost in the process. There were similar killings and disappearances since 1974 and to this day on many of them what we are left with is ‘Who might have done it?’. The case of Artist Hachalu Hundessa is another one. My suspicion is he might have been killed by those who thought he was collaborating with the government. The blame game is still raging but the heart wrenching reality is these two young men have left behind agonized children who are now orphans for life crying rivers because daddy has not come home. As parents and grandparents all my wife and I can do is be there in spirit to wipe their tears, comfort them and pray that The Almighty Our Creator to bless them with the strength to go on. Woe my beloved people, woe, woe, woe!!! This is just too much!!!
We can be sure of one thing: Whether Hachalu or Battee now, there’s no way this could have happened without the prior knowledge of Abiy. Period. Abiy and his Admin have deliberately refused to make proper investigation and report to the public. Unfortunately, there aren’t respectable and capable investigative journalists in the country. So-called opposition parties (EZEMA especially) are not beholden to the public that put them there to begin with. They now have to get approval from Abiy. No kidding. Otherwise, Abiy will ship them to jail, hell, or exile.
There is a question that has been nagging me since this very tragic story broke out. Why did the victim decide to stay at a hotel alone in stead of staying at his relatives homes? How about at the hotel? Where were the hotel staffs when he was taken in the middle of the night out of his room? There must have been a commotion during the abduction. This is becoming very disturbing to me now. But no matter who did it, this is nothing but barbarism.
I heard that some faceless scammers in our overseas communities have started fund raising campaigns in the name of helping the wife and children of this victim. Do not any money to such fraudulent accounts. I heard the family of this victim has set up an account solely for this purpose inside the country and that is where you should send your contributions. Such filthy scammers are the sign of the day in our communities so be apprehensive about them. Even if these scammers send any money from the contributions, it will be after they take a big cut to line their own pockets. These demons are driven by the notion that ‘I will make money even if you are dead!’