I am an Ethiopian woman of Amara, Oromo, Wolaita, and Tigre blood. Reading this book has left me seething. It meanders far from the truth and dwells in this growing fantasy for a free and independent Oromia, a place that has NEVER existed as a nation. The Oromo are as proud, as independent, as persecuted, and as praised as any other ethnic group in Ethiopia.

This book also asserts that the Oromo are colonized. Well, the fact is, you cannot move onto someone else's land and then claim that you are being colonized. That is not the definition of colonialism. Had ancient Ethiopia annexed land in what is present day Kenya and Tanzania - the area from whence the nomadic Gadda's of Oromos emigrated - and colonized those people, then the author(s) would be correct in their assertion. But it is a recorded part of history(Read, "The Romance of the Portuguese with Abyssinia"), recorded moreover by an unbiased, agenda-free party, that the Oromos moved up north into land recently devastated by Ahmed Gragn's assault on the southern part of Ethiopia. Be that as it may, Oromos have long since become an integral part of the Ethiopian social fabric. As for Oromos not having been educated or having been marginalized, I can confidently point to my Oromo father, uncles and aunts and assert that that's just not true.

What Ethiopia needs is not incendiary and inflammatory revisionist history designed to pit brother against brother, but an Ethiopian government interested in the well being of this ancient nation and her people.

Let me leave you with this final anecdote: an Oromo chief, when asked to join the Italians against the rest of Ethiopia (whom the Italians routinely referred to as the ruling Amhara) for, the Italians insisted, they were different and separate from the Oromos, the chief replied: "See this Teff in my hand," gesturing to the tiny black and white grain mixed in together. "When you can separate the black Teff from the white Teff, then I can distinguish between the Oromo and the Amara for we have intermarried and we are now parents to each other's future."

Whatever happened to that kind of wisdom??

It is the first book, I have ever read to bring the real history of the people of Oromia, who suffers in their land. I appreciate the author to write such a wonderful book. Most of the reviewers have tried to make their interest to be safe regarded and to be contained in the history of Oromo. They argue that with out Oromia, the Empire of Ethiopia seize to exist. I understand this. But to be honest Oromos are the most subjugated people in this world. The western governments are in a position to help this people but they do not want to do that.

Oromia shall be soon free of all its subjugators.

1. Oromia is the land of Oromos, the bread basket of east Africa.

2. There are as many indegeneous Oromos as there are diverse Kenyans, as there are diverse Sudans. Each of Oromia, sudan and Kenya are believed to consist of approximately 30M people.

3. If Oromia becomes independent, who will till the land and feed the Proud Ethiopians?

4. The "great" grand fathers successfully deprived Oromos from getting necessary educations and analization that may make them aware of their power in the horn of Africa. Now, Asafa and others are trying to reverse this. If he goes back to Ethiopia, proud Ethiopians will hang him up because he betrayed the "Ethiopian Principle". "Ethiopia" is by definition "life at the expense of the Oromo people".

A concerned and proud Ethiopian from Shagar