Bekele Gerba (born 1961) is an Ethiopian politician and activist. He is a member of

Oromo Federalist Congress The Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) (, KFO; is a political party based in Ethiopia that was created in 2012 from the merger of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement and Oromo People's Congress. Creation In July 2012, Oromo Federalist Democrat ...

(OFC) which promotes political change by nonviolence. He was imprisoned from 2011 to 2015, 2015–2018 and again on 30 June 2020 following the

Hachalu Hundessa riots The Hachalu Hundessa riots were a series of civil unrest that occurred in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, more specifically in the hot spot of Addis Ababa, Shashamene and Ambo following the killing of the Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa on 29 ...

. Bekele and other imprisoned politicians started a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

on 27 January 2021. The Federal High Court of Ethiopia ordered that he be taken to Landmark General Hospital, and repeated its order on 17 February. , Bekele's medical condition was worsening.

Childhood and education

Bekele Gerba was born in 1961 in

West Welega Zone West Welega Zone ( om, Wallagga Lixaa) is a zone in the western part of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. This zone is named after the former province of Welega, whose western part lay in the area West Welega now occupies. West Wellega is bordered on the ...

. He attended primary school in Boji Dirmaji and high school in

Gimbi Gimbi is a town in western Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Located in the West Welega Zone, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 1845 and 1930 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Gimbi woreda. Gimbi has ...

. He obtained a bachelor of arts in foreign language and literature at Addis Ababa University (AAU). As a postgraduate, he studied the teaching of English as a foreign language at AAU.

Teaching

Bekele taught English and Oromo at

Adama Adama ( Oromo: ' or ', Amharic: አዳማ), formerly Nazreth ( am, ናዝሬት), is a city in the central Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, the city sits between the base of an ...

Teachers' College. In 2005 he was fired for "supporting students' riot" in 2004. Bekele moved to Addis Ababa and continued teaching at private universities. In 2007 he was appointed as a lecturer in English by AAU.

Politics and repression

In 2009, Bekele joined the

Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement The Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement om, Warraaqsa Federaalistii Uummata Oromoo, OFDM) was a political party in Ethiopia, created in 2005 by Bulcha Demeksa to further the interests of the Oromo people as an alternative to the armed Oromo ...

(OFDM), becoming a member of the executive committee and becoming head of OFDM's public relations team. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2010 Ethiopian general election.

Imprisonment: 2011 – April 2015

On 27 August 2011, Bekele and Olbana Lelisa of

Oromo People's Congress The Oromo People's Congress (OPC) was a federalist and Oromo nationalist opposition political party in Ethiopia. It was founded in April 1996 as the Oromo National Congress by Dr. Merera Gudina, who is its chairman. However, the party licence a ...

(OPC) were arrested on suspicion of being members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). An Amnesty International delegation had met both Bekele and Olbana in the preceding days. After the arrests, the delegation was deported from Ethiopia. Amnesty International interpreted the arrests as being motivated by the men's meeting with the delegation. Bekele was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. His sentence was reduced on appeal to three years, seven months. In 2012, while still in prison, Bekele became the ''First Deputy Chair'' of the

(OFC) that was formed from a merger of the OFDM and the OPC. Bekele was released in April 2015. Bekele estimated that in the Ziway Prison where he spent part of his sentence, about 2000 of the prisoners were Oromo political prisoners.

Imprisonment: December 2015 – February 2018

Bekele was detained again, together with 21 others, mostly senior OFC members, on 23 December 2015. Bekele was charged with linked with the OLF. During his imprisonment, Bekele and other OFC prisoners held a

to protest against the conditions in the prison. Bekele was released on 13 February 2018, a day before journalist

Eskinder Nega Eskinder Nega ( Ge'ez: እስክንድር ነጋ, born 7 November 1969) is an Ethiopian journalist, blogger and politician who has been jailed at least ten times by the Ethiopian government on convictions for treason and terrorism. Early life ...

and Andualem Aragie of Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice were released, and after a wave of 6000 releases of political prisoners in early 2018. Bekele stated that most of the prisoners remaining in Ziway Prison were political prisoners.

Imprisonment: June 2020 – January 2022

Bekele Gerba was detained on 30 June 2020 together with

Jawar Mohammed Jawar Mohammed ( om, Jawaar Mahammad; born 12 May 1986) is an Ethiopian political analyst and activist. One of the founders of the Oromia Media Network (OMN), Jawar was a leading organizer of the 2014–2016 Oromo protests. He has been credited ...

and 33 others following the 29 June

. Senior federal police officers accused the detained of planning to assassinate government officials, after an

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benis ...

special forces officer had been killed on 22 June. Bekele and Jawar were brought to court for a hearing on 2 July. On 27 January 2021, Bekele, Jawar and other political prisoners started a hunger strike while still in prison. On 16 February 2021, the Ethiopian Federal High Court ordered Bekele and the other hunger strikers be treated at Landmark General Hospital. The prisoners were taken instead to the military Torhayloch Hospital, on the orders of "an unspecified higher official". At Torhayloch Hospital, Bekele refused to be treated, "fearing for his life". He was returned to the prison. On 17 February, Bekele's medical condition was worsening. The Federal High Court confirmed its order for Bekele to be taken to Landmark Hospital. In Ethiopian Christmas of 7 January 2022, Bekele was released.

Views

Ethnic conflict

Bekele Gerba said that he became aware of ethnic diversity when studying at university. His first unpleasant experiences with discrimination against Oromo during his period as a high school teacher. He described his motivation to enter politics as a reaction to discrimination, including unfair land transfers. His view of land transfers in 2015 was of a three-tier system, with TPLF members having freedom to obtain any land they wanted; regional government ministers having relative freedom to purchase or sell land with oversight by the TPLF; lower level administrators having similar powers for remaining land deal opportunities; civil servants who observe without power; and farmers whose land is "looted" by the higher level elites. Bekele argued that the pattern was similar in all parts of Ethiopia.

Oromia independence

In 2015, Bekele felt that Oromo independence was not a high priority and that it remained possible for injustices against the Oromo to be solved within the federal system.

Non-violence

Bekele stated in 2015 that he saw no role for armed struggle for the OFC, favouring the civil disobedience methods of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

described Bekele as "deeply committed to nonoviolence". Earlier, during a court appearance for his 2011 arrest, Bekele stated,

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , title= Bekele Gerba speaks! , date= 16 May 2015 , newspaper=

Addis Standard ''Addis Standard'' is an Ethiopian monthly social, economic and political news magazine published and distributed by Jakenn Publishing Plc, and was established in February 2011 by Tsedale Lemma. The magazine has an independent political stance. ...

, url= https://addisstandard.com/bekele-gerba-speaks , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218010140/https://addisstandard.com/bekele-gerba-speaks/ , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= Urgent action – opposition politicians arrested, risk torture , website= Amnesty International , date = 2 September 2011 , url = https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/24000/afr250072011en.pdf , access-date = 18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210218021211/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/24000/afr250072011en.pdf , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite web , last1=Horne, first1=Felix , title= Dispatches: Using Courts to Crush Dissent in Ethiopia , website=

, date = 9 May 2016 , url =https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/09/dispatches-using-courts-crush-dissent-ethiopia , access-date = 18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218022024/https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/09/dispatches-using-courts-crush-dissent-ethiopia%23 , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite news , last1= Klemen , first1= Michele , title= Just Out Of Jail, Ethiopian Leader Brings A Sharp Message To Obama , date= 26 August 2015 , newspaper=

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, url= https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/08/26/434975424/just-out-of-jail-ethiopian-leader-brings-a-sharp-message-to-obama?t=1613615296495 , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20210218022847/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/08/26/434975424/just-out-of-jail-ethiopian-leader-brings-a-sharp-message-to-obama , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite news , first1=Mantegaftot , last1=Sileshi , title= Ethiopia releases high profile political prisoners , date= 14 February 2018 , newspaper= Deutsche Welle , url= https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-releases-high-profile-political-prisoners/a-42590273 , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218023553/https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-releases-high-profile-political-prisoners/a-42590273 , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= Bekele Gerba , website= Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission , year = 2018 , url = https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/Ethiopia/Bekele%20Gerba , access-date = 18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218024713/https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/Ethiopia/Bekele%20Gerba , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite news , last1= Fasil , first1= Mahlet , title= News: Federal police accused Jawar Mohammed and others of attempts to repeat June 22 high level assassinations , date= 2 July 2020 , newspaper=

, url= https://addisstandard.com/news-federal-police-accused-jawar-mohammed-and-others-of-attempts-to-repeat-june-22-high-level-assassinations , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218025844/https://addisstandard.com/news-federal-police-accused-jawar-mohammed-and-others-of-attempts-to-repeat-june-22-high-level-assassinations/ , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite news , first1=Siyanne , last1=Mekonnen, title= News Update: Family says security forces transfer Bekele to Armed Forces Hospital 'forcibly' , date= 16 February 2021 , newspaper=

, url= https://addisstandard.com/news-update-family-says-security-forces-transfer-bekele-to-armed-forces-hospital-forcibly , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218025158/https://addisstandard.com/news-update-family-says-security-forces-transfer-bekele-to-armed-forces-hospital-forcibly/ , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{cite news , first1=Siyanne , last1=Mekonnen , title= News Update: Fed Court once again upholds decision for prisoners in hunger strike to get medical care at private hospital , date= 17 February 2021 , newspaper=

, url= https://addisstandard.com/news-update-fed-court-once-again-upholds-decision-for-prisoners-in-hunger-strike-to-get-medical-care-at-private-hospital/ , access-date=18 February 2021 , archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218031924/https://addisstandard.com/news-update-fed-court-once-again-upholds-decision-for-prisoners-in-hunger-strike-to-get-medical-care-at-private-hospital/ , archive-date= 18 February 2021 , url-status=live {{void, templates: {{cite web , last1 = , first1 = , last2= , first2= , authorlink = , author2 = , language = , title= , trans-title = , website= , date = , url = , access-date = 2021- {{cite news , last1= , first1= , last2= , first2= , language = , title= , trans-title = , date= , newspaper= , url= , access-date=2021- Living people Oromo people Oromo Federalist Congress politicians Oromo politicians 1961 births Hunger strikers