A rift between Oromia President Shimelis Abdisa and the Prime Minister may be widening possibly due to the federal government's suspension of Siinqee Bank's payment of civil servants' salaries in Oromia; a privilege for the well-connected regional lender and one not extended to any other private bank (AC Vol 65 No 12 Abiy keeps Addis on side but alienates the nation)...
Key Oromia figures include: Shimelis Abdisa President of the Oromia region Fekadu Tessema Oromia branch head PP Kefyalew Tefera Oromia state security head former military intelligence official and former Abiy colleague at INSA also former INSA deputy Diriba Mekonnen former army commander now in charge of the Oromia police force along with regional police commissioner Ararsa Merdasa Mesfin Melaku an Oromia Deputy President and Abiy's former Chief of Staff at the Prime Minister's Office Awelu Abdi another more powerful Oromia Deputy President Abebe Geresu former army colonel who defected to Eritrea to join the Oromo Liberation Front...
Speaking at the annual Irreecha festival on 6 October Oromia President Shimelis Abdisa told guests that soon the Oromo thanksgiving would be celebrated not only in Finfinne (the Oromo name for Addis Ababa) and Bishoftu but also at the Red Sea or Indian Ocean...
According to two Amhara representatives who attended Shimelis Abdisa the president of Oromia accused the Amhara PP of not recognising the sacrifices made by Oromos to protect the country from the destruction caused by the TPLF...
They had included four leading Amharas: Demeke Mekonnen Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Gedu Andargachew current National Security Adviser; Agegnehu Teshager president of the Amhara region; and Temesgen Tiruneh Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Service; and a similar group of Oromos Shimelis Abdisa Oromo region president; Fekadu Tesema head of the Oromo PP; Adanech Abebe mayor of Addis Ababa; and Addisu Arega former head of the Oromo Democratic Party Central Committee office...
On the eve of the festival on 5 October Oromia's President Shimelis Abdisa gave a speech saying that Oromo had been humiliated by the 'neftegna' system a form of subjugation of other nations that is commonly pinned on the Amhara during Ethiopia's imperial era but that they had now overcome this oppression...
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