OSA and Oromo Community Associations in NA: Open Letter to Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Re: Oromo Immigrants in Saudi Arabia
The following open letter was written by the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) and nearly half a dozen Oromo Community Associations in North America (NA) to Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia regarding the current state of Oromo immigrants in Saudi Arabia.—————–
Date: November 20, 2013
Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz,
Minister of Interior,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
PO Box 11134
Riyadh – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Your Excellency,
We, the Oromo community associations in North America and the Oromo Studies Association, write this letter in relation to the situation in the kingdom of immigrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers from Ethiopia, specifically concerning the Oromo people from Ethiopia. We heard and observed with disbelief and a profound sense of grief the awful news coming from Saudi Arabia. The graphic images and videos of indiscriminate beatings of defenseless immigrant workers, ostensibly at the hands of Saudi Arabian law enforcement officials and vigilantes, has clearly shocked and enraged us. Law enforcement officials have randomly rounded up, kept tens of thousands of the immigrants in concentration camp-type facilities, and deported many thousands more to Ethiopia without regard to individual cases and needs.
We cannot establish with certainty which party is responsible for the inhumane treatment of Ethiopian immigrants in your country. Notwithstanding the evidence of the images, we find it difficult to accept that the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condones or sanctions the dehumanizing treatment of human beings, whether they are legal or illegal. Regardless, the indiscriminate and wanton acts of cruelty perpetrated against our compatriots in Saudi Arabia have violated all boundaries of human decency and respect for human dignity.
The Oromo communities in North America are alarmed by the saga of refugees resulting from the rush and cruel measures taken by the law enforcement officials of your country. As human beings, we cannot avoid having a sense of fellow feeling when other human beings are subjected to indescribable suffering. In our view, the heavy-handed approach fails to take into account that all members of the human family are entitled to some inalienable and fundamental rights, including those your government has categorized wholesale as “illegal” and “unwanted.” Worse yet, the approach does not solve the fundamental socio-economic problems Saudi Arabia is trying to resolve in spite the high human toll it causes. We believe that your government does not endorse acts of indiscriminate violence being meted out on any human being. Even those who are found guilty of violating the laws of your country deserve a measure of respect and lawful treatment.
Your Excellency,
While we have sympathy for all Ethiopians who have been subjected to untold suffering, we like to call your attention to the unique case of Oromo immigrants in your country who are lumped together with all Ethiopians and subjected to arbitrary measures. The Oromo people, the single largest nation in the Horn of Africa, constitute about 40 percent of the population of Ethiopia. They are also found in Kenya and Somalia in significant numbers. In Ethiopia, despite their numeric superiority, the Oromo have always been treated as a minority group, perpetually subjected to political, economic, and cultural depredations and dispossession. It is no wonder a large chunk of the refugees from Ethiopia in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia come from the Oromo nation. Although we know that the majority of the refugees in the Kingdom are migrant domestic workers looking for better opportunities, we like to bring to your attention that the vast majority of the Oromo in your country are refugees and asylum seekers who fled political and religious persecutions in Ethiopia.
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