The Role of Muhammad Ahmad “Kormooso” in the Harar Provincial Administration (1977-1979)

By Jilcha Hamid

“There are two men named Muhammad Ahmad in the Harar provincial administration. The one known as “Caffee” (Chaffee) is a snake. The other one is him.” said my uncle to his younger brother (my father). “He is our man” he said, pointing at a burly tall man walking in the street in the town of Malka Rafu, East Hararge. Muhammad Ahmad Imar, better known as Kormooso was the head of the Farmers Union in the province of Harar in the late 1970′s. After spending 5 years in prison in Somalia as part of the Qeeyroo Ganamaa unit led by Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa, he was released in 1975 and returned to his country where he headed the Farmers Union in the new administration.

During this time the Afran Qallo movement had spread to all sectors of society and there was a growing fear amongst the political elite that the growing social and political awareness amongst Oromos was a threat to the status quo. In March 1978 when the Somali army retreated and the Ethiopian army retook all the territory it had lost the previous year, their main concern was to exact revenge on those who they believed had allied with the Somali army, as well as to disarm the population. The OLF led by Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa and Mullis Abbaa Gadaa had established themselves in the mountainous regions and were a primary concern for the Derg in the province after the Somali army had withdrawn. The policy of disarmament was central to re-establishing control. The governor of Harar province, Colonel Zeleke Beyene, was tasked with defeating the insurgency, and most importantly disarming the population. After the Somali invasion and the outbreak of the war, weapons had become abundant in the region. A province wide disarmament campaign was launched, sending government cadres around urging the people to turn in their weapons.

Muhammad Ahmad (Kormooso) as head of the Farmer’s Union was given the order by Colonel Beyene to lead the campaign. But he disagreed with the regimes policy, and disagreed with them on every one of their discriminatory policy towards Oromos. He believed that the crimes committed against the Oromo population by the Ethiopian army as well as the Somali militias during the Ethio-Somali war was a result of the population being unarmed and defenseless. In addition to that the targeting of Oromo community leaders and intellectuals was another discriminatory policy he was opposed to. So Kormooso, being familiar with the bias and hatred towards Oromos from the regimes cadres, used his position to counter these policies. For example people who were imprisoned for simply for being socially and politically conscious Oromos were released en mass. During the disarmament campaign he spoke with County administrators in Harar and made sure that they did not disarm the population. He believed that being armed was part of their right to self-defense. His policies, although done covertly to avoid direct confrontation with the Amhara establishment in the regime, gained him popularity in the province but equally gained him many enemies in the regime, most notably Colonel Beyene. Beyene regarded Kormooso as a cancer and attempted on many occasions to catch him in violation and have him killed. He attempted to build a legal case against Kormooso, using other cadres to testify against him. When this approach failed he gave up on that approach and took extra-judicial action.

Kormooso commuted to his office in Harar every morning, and by evening would return to his home in Ganda Sharo, Kombolcha county where he felt safe. This was located just north of Harar town. One evening he was held for a meeting called by Colonel Zeleke Beyene. The next morning it was announced on the radio that Kormooso had hung himself. The population refused to swallow the news. The farmers union from Kombolcha county, heavily armed, immediately headed to Harar to see Kormooso. The administration was hesitant to release the body, insisting that they had nothing to do with his killing and that Kormooso had hung himself. The body was hand over, riddled with bullet holes to the abdomen. Kormooso was buried in his home county. The regime, humiliated by the farmers show of force in Harar and the exposure of their lie, followed the situation carefully. At the funeral government agents approached the local farmers union leader to intimidatingly remind him that he was giving a respected burial to a state criminal. The threat was ignored and tension continued to grow between the union and the regime. Colonel Beyene found his new target in the head of the Kombolcha countyunion, my uncle Aliyyi Garada. He organized a tribunal in the county attended by the military top brass as well as his loyalists in the local administration to testify against Aliyyi, accusing him of abuses of his power, aiding rebels and so on. The local farmers union rejected the Colonel’s allegations and reminded him that they were free to choose their own leaders and would not accept the Colonel’s appointees. “If you do not remove your stinky hands from our county” said an influential local, you will be responsible for what happens next”. The regime backtracked, accepted the farmers demands and ended the tribunal.

The killing of Kormooso sparked anger throughout the province and fueled anti-regime sentiment. The role played by certain county and farmers union officials such as Musa Alisho of Haromaya, Abdurahman Bilu of Kombolcha and Muhammad Ahmad “Kormooso” during the “Red Terror” period is often forgotten. But the role played by these men was key during the Oromo socio-political awakening. They used their positions to serve their people at the expense of the regimes oppressive agenda which cost them their lives.