The Man Who Lived His Dream- An Assessment of Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa's Life Journey

Written by-- Libah Leencoo

Contributors-- Jawar Mohammed and Jilcha Hamid

His given name is Abdulkariem Ibrahim Hamid. But he is well known by his nom-de -guerre "Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa". He is a great grandson of Ibroo Shaxaa, one of the ministers in the last Raabaa Doorii of the Afran Qalloo Oromo which was on power on the eve of the Egyptian occupation of Harar (1875-1885).

Jaarraa was born in 1936 in the village of Mudir Gorro which is found in Gara Mul’ata plains of Hararge province. He attended Islamic education within his family. He started modern education thereafter and completed his secondary school in the city of Harar in early 1960s. In his stay in Harar, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa helped found the first Oromo students union in history. The union was very instrumental in the renaissance of Oromo culture and the use of Oromo language. Jaarra then joined Harar Military Academy but left shortly when the academy's administrators prohibited him from exercising his faith freely.

Jaarraa went to Assabot (in Carcar, the current West Hararge zone) to farm on his family's land in the mid 1960s. There, he could see the miserable life of the Oromo tenants very closely. His heart was filled with a great sorrow; he understood that the cause of the misery was the prevailing "Gabbar" system and the remedy to end that misery was seeking the independence of his nation by all possible means. The incidence had a tremendous effect on the young Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa that his life journey totally changed thereafter; on that spot he decided to immerse himself in his half-century old quest for Oromo freedom.

In 1966, Jaarraa Abba Gadaa and his few men went to join the armed revolt of the Bale people which was lead by famous patriots like Waaqoo Guutuu, Waaqoo Luugoo and Aliyi Cirrii.  There, Jaarraa demonstrated his bravery earning respect from his compatriots at the battle of Laga Dhare. Until 1968, he would travel back and forth between Somalia and battlefield taking part in such combat missions as the battle of Eela Rooji where the Ethiopian military attacked Oromo fighters using warplanes.

As the Ethiopian government forces started to get upper hand over the Bale people’s revolt, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa made up his mind that the military training and modern armaments were important to have a meaningful contribution in the struggle. Hence, he and his followers crossed the border and entered Somalia to seek the training and the weapon.

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Jaarraa and his men were welcomed by the Somalis at first. And on the advice of the Somalis and the Oromos in exile, they grouped themselves under the infamous movement of the time called Liberation Front for the Somali West (LFSW). Apart from using the name “Somali West” and the immense Somali morale and material supports, the movement was purely devoted for the cause of the Oromo people and the Ogadenis in South east Ethiopia. But short time later, when the dictatorial regime of General Mohammed Ziad Barre came to power, the Somalis totally changed their long tradition of supporting the Oromo freedom struggle; the newly created government started to advocate a policy claiming that the Oromos of Hararge, Bale and Sidamo were actually Somalis even though they speak a different language. Further, the Somalis re-organized the LFSW in accordance with their new expansionist dream. The organization was renamed Western Somalia Liberation Front (WSLF, popularly known as "Somali Galbeed") and all Oromos except few were removed from high position in its leadership. And it was declared by the Somali government that only WSLF had a legitimate right to free the provinces of Hararge, Bale and Sidamo and all fighting units must be organized under it.

Few Oromos accepted the new Somali plan. But Jaarraa and most of the Oromos in Somalia decried it as an act of self denial and totally rejected it. From the latter group, more than a half left the idea of undertaking the armed struggle and returned back to the homeland. But Jaarraa and few people crossed the Indian Ocean in order to seek another way of continuing the Oromo national struggle. On the help of some brilliant Oromo individuals living in Yemen such as Hassan Ibrahim (popularly known as "Elemoo Qilxuu"), and Bakhar Yusuf (Bakharee Galo) , they were gathered at the port city of Aden (the then capital of Yemen People's Democratic Republic a.k.a. "South Yemen") to lay down the foundation of a new organization fully determined for Oromo freedom.

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When the Oromos in Yemen were about to start discussions on the foundation of the new organization, another delegation of Oromo elites joined them. The delegation was lead by Hussein Mohammed Ali (popularly known as "Sheikh Hussein Sura" or simply "Hussein Sura"). Hussein was the Secretary General of WSLF at the time; but he was being frustrated by the new Somali policy which denied the Oromo freedom. On the order he got from the Somali government, he came to Yemen to recruit fighters for his organization. However, the morale and determination of Oromo nationalists he saw in Yemen caused him to change his course. So he abandoned WSLF and joined the Oromos in Yemen. Learning this, the Somali government send to him a death threat which had little effect on bringing him back.

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The Oromos in Yemen agreed on the objectives and strategies of the new organization. But a very hot debate erupted over its naming. Hussein Sura and few people favored using the name “Ethiopia” for the organization; Elemoo Qilxuu, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, Bakhar Yusuf and many others argued that the name of the organization should indicate the Oromo people for whom they would fight for. However, both groups agreed to postpone the naming and to focus on the launching of an armed struggle. And for that, Hussein Sura, Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, Elemoo Qilxuu and other leading figures of the nationalists in exile went on diplomatic missions that took them to Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus. The Iraqi and Syrian governments agreed to provide them some weapons. And the Palestinian Fighters (based in Damascus, Syria) agreed to train the personnel that would launch the armed struggle.

It was also about that time that the flag of Oromia (Alaabaa Oromiyaa), which has been used by almost all Oromo political groups, was developed by those fathers of Oromo national struggle. When they did so, they primarily referred to the "Oda" (sycamore tree) which had long been used as the logo of the Macca Tuulamaa Self Help Association (MTSHA); it is said that Haile Mariam Gammadaa, one of the founders of MTSHA, proposed the use of "Oda" as the symbol of Oromo unity, ancient history, integrity and dignity. The Oromo nationals in exile took this symbolism of "Oda" and made it the center of the flag; they added the two red colors, the central green color, the rising sun and the red start.

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The arrangements over the armed struggle went according to the plan; the training and the equipping were accomplished. And 37 of the trainees were selected to be included in the unit that would be dispatched to the homeland to start the armed struggle. Jaarra Abbaa Gadaa was assigned as the commander of that historical military unit which was named "Qeyroo Ganamaa". The combatants in the “Qeyroo Ganama” group were mostly the Oromos who had been in Somalia and fled to Yemen. The following is the list of the members of the “Qyeroo Ganamaa” group.

1.      Abdukariim Ibraahim Haamid ( Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa ).

2.      Abdulkariim Aadam Lakkuu ( Soowraa )

3.      Mahmuud Sh. Mahammad Umar ( Bookhee)

4.      Umar Abuubakar Ibraahim

5.      Muhammad Abdulkariim (Areedoo)

6.      Muhammad Abdullaahi (Koosum)

7.      Bakrii Ibraahim (Abbaa Fatoo)

8.      Bakrii Ahmad Baabbilee

9.      Muhammad Ahmad Umar (Kormooso)

10.   Muhammad Abdulqaadir Shaltaataa

11.   Ahmad Mahammad Umar (Caalaa)

12.   Muhammad Abdullaahi Alii (Muudee)

13.   Ahmad Mahammad Muussaa (Mullata)

14.   Muhammad Kabiir Iissaa (Jarjarso)

15.   Ahmad Mahammad Usmaan (Daammacaa)

16.   Mahammad Sanii Umar (Horoo)

17.   Husseen Abbaa Waaqaa (Baale)

18.   Jamaal Abdulqaadir

19.   Ahmad Iissee

20.   Aadam Mahammad Alii (Laafaa)

21.   Ahmad Nuur Alii (Arroo)

22.   Ahmad Nuur Hassan

23.   Abdulkariim Mahammad Anas (Jifaaraa)

24.   Mahammad Sheikh Hassan (Nibarbaannaa)

25.   Aadam Abubakar (Moluu)

26.   Ahmad Mahammad Abdurahmaan

27.   Mahammad Ibraahim Wadaay (Shantam)

28.   Ahmad Nuur Muussaa Na’ee

29.   Abdallaa Bakhrii

30.   Mahammad Alii

31.   Ahmad Umar Abdalla

32.   Ahmad Haashii

33.   Hajji Maamoo

34.   Ramadan Husseen Khalil

35.   Abdurahman Mohammed Yonis (Tuujii)

36.   Ahmad Yuusuf Ibraahim (Turee Leencoo)

Jaarraa and his "Qeyroo Ganamaa" unit started their journey. They crossed the Gulf of Aden by boat and few days later, they offshored on the northern Somali coastal area known as Bulhaar which is found near the port city of Berbera. According to the plan, they had to travel to the Gara Mul’ata Mountains of Hararge and launch on the armed struggle. But when they were about to start their long journey, the Somali troops surrounded them and opened a fire instantly. A combatant named Ramadan Husseen Khalil died from the Qeyroo Ganamaa group and the rest of them were imprisoned at Mandheeraa (now in Somaliland). 

Jaarraa and his comrades were detained for five years. But that was not without a cost; they passed through a serious torturing and starving. Later on, the Somali government started to show amnesty to them in order to amalgamate them with the poisonous ideology of “Somali Aboo” which was a generalization of the Somali expansionist doctrine on the Oromo lands. However, the Oromo detainees didn’t retreat an inch from their stance. They were lastly freed in 1975.

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When Jaarraa was released from Mandheera prison, many things were already on the scene; Hussein Sura split with his comrades over calling the exiled Oromo political organization “ENLF”, the Haile Silassie regime fell down and replaced by the military junta called “Dergue”, and Elemo Qilxuu was martyred in Carcar along with Ahmad Taqii (Hundee) and other comrades. Jaarraa took some time to analyze the situations of that period and he made up his mind that an armed struggle must be launched in Oromia. To that end, he and his long time fellow Mul’is Gadaa traveled from Somalia to Sharif Khalid, a rural village in the south of the town of Awaday, and stayed there for months. With a help of different networking channels, Jaarraa could reach many underground Oromo study cells that spread from Finfinne to Dire Dawa and Harar and gave them necessary directives on the course of the struggle.

While Jaarraa was undertaking the political activities in Hararge, the Oromo nationals in Finfinne invited him to help them in the proclamation of a new Oromo political organization whose establishment activities were already started in late 1973 when Elemoo Qilxuu visited the capital. Jaarraa went to Finfinne and stayed there for some time on the works of laying the foundations of the new organization. But when the Oromo comrades serving in the Dergue regime were made busy by the state in the formation of the Union of Ethiopian Marxist Leninist Organizations (UEMLO), he assigned his representatives in Finfinne and went back to Hararge to perform another equally important activity. This was the foundation of an independent Oromo fighting unit with clear objectives and directions.

Jaarraa recruited many nationalists who would be included in the fighting unit intended to be established. With the help of some Oromo nationals, he could get two AK-47 guns and some bullets which were buried in Carcar by Elemoo Qilxuu and Ahmad Taqii. And with those arms, he traveled to the valley of Gobelle and disclosed the foundation of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA); and it was there that he accomplished the resurrection of the armed struggle of the Oromo people which was buried following the death of Elemoo Qilxuu and his comrades. Many Oromos joined the new struggle from all directions. And within short period of time, OLA got wide popularity throughout the nation.

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When the Dergue regime proclaimed a mass killing campaign known as “Red Terror”, many Oromo nationalists, including the OLF leaders disguised in the state’s higher positions, escaped the assault and joined the OLA in Gara Mul’ata. But some time later, schism was created in the organization. The cause of the schism was still unclear; some people assume that it was caused by a power struggle, and others think it was a mere factionalism which was motivated by regional differences. But in the sight of this writer, it seems that it was a spilt driven by the international political order of the time that bisected the old and pragmatic leaders who put more trust on practical armed struggle from the young theoretically stimulated leaders who gave more weight for the struggle assisted by ideological warfare. Consequently, older leaders like Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa and Mul’is Gadaa break away from their younger fellow and went on their way. Both groups used to call their organizations “Oromo Liberation Front” until 1985 when Jaarraa and his fellow men renamed their organization “Islamic Front for Liberation of Oromia” (IFLO).

OLF and IFLO coexisted in east and south east Oromia until the fall of the Dergue regime. The two parties fought each other many times. Efforts made to bring reconciliation between them turned fruitless. But in 1991, the organizations settled their dispute once and for all. This resolution was turned to the formation of the Union of Oromo Liberation Forces (ULFO) in 2000.

 The IFLO lead by Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa was the participant of the transitional government of Ethiopia which was founded in July 1991. And the organization opened its offices in many towns of Oromia for the purpose of undertaking political activities. The head quarter of the front was located in the town of Bisidimo (20 kms east of Harar) where Jaarraa delivered his highly revered speeches to the public. But in 1992, a disagreement with EPRDF (the main actor in the transitional government) forced him to an exile again.

In 2005, the IFLO was renamed Front for Independent Democratic Oromia (FIDO). And Jaarraa continued to lead the struggle with his newly reorganized front. But on March 3/2013, after spending four decades for the freedom and sovereignty of his nation, he died of kidney complications in the city of San’a, the Capital of Yemen. Jaarraa was married to Mariam Jamal and fathered two boys.

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