Jawar Mohammed

Jawar Mohammed was born on 12 May 1986[11] in the small town of Dhumuga, Arsi Province bordering Hararghe.[2][12] His father was Muslim Arsi Oromo while his mother was an Orthodox Christian Tulama Oromo; their inter-religious union was considered novel but was ultimately accepted by the community.[12]

Jawar began his formal education at a Catholic school in Asella former capital of the Arsi Province.[13] He then attended secondary school in Adama until 2003, when he was awarded a scholarship to study at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, from which he graduated in 2005. He described his experience at the UWC as awakening his consciousness to his own Oromo identity.[12] He then studied at Stanford University, graduating in 2009 with a degree in political science. He went on to pursue graduate studies in human rights at Columbia University, receiving a master's degree in 2012.[12]

A street was named after Jawar Mohammed in Asella in which he in surprise commenced the ceremony.

In 2006, while a student at Stanford, Jawar founded the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA), intended to serve as an umbrella organization for Oromo youth groups around the world. The IOYA has engaged in advocacy in front of United Nations bodies in Geneva and held demonstrations to protest Ethiopian government policy.[14][15] Jawar first gained prominence as a writer and speaker on Oromo and Ethiopian politics, chiefly amongst the US-based diaspora.[16] He was a notable critic of the Oromo Liberation Front and their perceived failure to effect meaningful political change in Ethiopia or to advance Oromo interests.[12]

Jawar has been an important political coordinator for the Qeerroo youth movement, even in exile. Qeerroo – young Oromo activists – drove the mass strike that helped topple the prime minister of one of Africa’s most autocratic governments. Bekele Gerba, the opposition leader, credits the Qeerroo with securing his release from prison, and for sending hundreds of well-wishers to his home in Adama in the aftermath.[17] During the Oromo Protests, State security forces in Ethiopia have used excessive and lethal force against largely peaceful protests that have swept through Oromia, the country’s largest region, since November 2015. Over 400 people are estimated to have been killed, thousands injured, tens of thousands arrested, and hundreds, likely more, have been victims of enforced disappearances. The protests began on November 12, 2015, in Ginchi, a small town 80 kilometers southwest of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, which is surrounded by the Oromia, home to most of Ethiopia’s estimated 35 million Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group. The decision of authorities in Ginchi to clear a forest and football field for an investment project triggered protests in at least 400 different locations across all the 17 zones in Oromia. Security forces, according to witnesses, shot into crowds, summarily killing people during mass roundups, and torturing detained protesters. Because primary and secondary school students in Oromia were among the early protesters, many of those arrested or killed were children under the age of 18. It documents the most significant patterns of human rights violations during the Oromo protests from late 2015 until May 2016. Respected opposition leader Bekele Gerba is one of 23 senior members of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), a legally registered political party, who have been charged under the counterterrorism law after spending four months in detention. The Ethiopian government has also increased its efforts to restrict media freedom – already dire in Ethiopia – and block access to information in Oromia. In March, the government began restricting access to social media sites in the region, apparently because Facebook and other social media platforms have been key avenues for the dissemination of information. The government has also jammed diaspora-run television stations, such as the US-based Oromia Media Network (OMN), and destroyed private satellite dishes at homes and businesses.[18] Students in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest regional state, have been demonstrating against the government's so-called developmental “Master Plan” to expand the area of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia. Students and other citizens, along with many Ethiopians living abroad, believe the move will result in direct persecution of the Oromo ethnic group, which has been systematically marginalized by the government over the last two decades, despite representing Ethiopia's largest ethnic group.[19] One of the rally is the Oromo grand protest across 200 cities in Oromia including its capital city Finfinne in August 2016.[20] Following the escalated protests, Ethiopian government censored internet, and satellite TV channels and accused him for leading the protest.[21][22][23] The government also carried out cyber-attack against him.[24]

After his interview with Aljazeera, in which he replied "I am Oromo first" for the question "Are you Oromo first or Ethiopian first?" Although his answer was a view of millions of Oromos, some Ethiopians have started campaign and requested Aljazeera to fire the journalist.[25] In August 2018, Jawar returned to Ethiopia as a hero. He had last been there in 2008. The government of Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo from the ruling coalition, dropped all terrorism charges against him, and Jawar transformed from an outside agitator, an activist, to a political figure with huge influence over the new government. Thousands of people lined the Addis Ababa streets, celebrating his return. Addis Ababa is in the heartland of the Oromia region and is one of the places where Jawar's theories about political activism came to life.[9]

In October 2019, he reported that, late at night, members of the police had attempted to force his security detail to vacate the grounds of his home in Addis Ababa; alleging they planned to later mobilize a mob and intimating they were doing so at the behest of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The previous day, the prime minister gave a speech in parliament in which he accused "media owners who don’t have Ethiopian passports" of "playing it both ways," a thinly-veiled reference to Jawar, adding that "if this is going to undermine the peace and existence of Ethiopia... we will take measures."[26][27] The reports sparked nationwide clashes by the Qeerroo, leaving at least 67 people dead, including five police officers.[28][29] After weeks of clashes had ended, Abiy said Most were from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups and victims included both Muslims and Christians and the death toll had risen to 86.[30][31]

• Official Jawar Mohammed Facebook