After the 1880s new global order of colonialism, that is, after the decimation of indigenous people and the expropriation of their land (Native land Act), the Oromo found themselves in a traumatic situation in their homeland. The oppressed nation was transformed into a new pool of cheap labour for farms of the occupant nafxanyaa (Amhara) overlords of the North. The consequence of the loss of the land and the absence of the rule of law actually means the galvanization of political and social protests among the evicted Oromo peasants across the annexed territory (Oromiyaa). This eventually generated patriotic movements in the occupied land.

The 1960s Arsii-Bale uprising led by the popular hero activist, Waaqo Guutu, against the despotic ruler (king), Haile-Sellassie of Abyssinia, provides us with a number of scenarios taken from catastrophic experience in which the disfranchised people, the Oromo, struggled to voice their resentments to reverse the role relationship of the ruler and the ruled, the oppressor and the oppressed. General Waaqo had a longstanding dream of optimism and a better day in the midst of the nightmare that surrounded him. He categorically rejected Abyssinian (Amhara) construction of history and colonial narrative stipulated in the "Kibre Nagast" (the Glory of the king) and is viewed by the posterity as a symbol of nation's dignity and freedom.

In heroic age societies, the great man is not he who tries to make his voice heard through what we call pervasive relations based on supperordinate; rather, through natural quality of enlisting or demonstrating heroic actions which charaterize all prominent figures and cultured nations of the past and present. One of the greatest personal qualities of Waaqo Guutu is that he had a vision of a world in which there would be no indignity. In his entire political life, the hero patriot fought for the ideas of popular sovereignty preceding, that is, to emancipate the nation trampled over from the pressing yoke of the ruling minority and promote a sense of national identity and values without which self-assurance, the complete revision of the powered and the disempowered cannot occur. Though time stood against him many times, though his revolutionary voice may not be heard as he desired because of the changing political fashion, the heroic actions and perseverance he had demonstrated to bring the "bright day of justice" has a powerful appeal to all those who sense the value of human freedom.

Within the context of liberation, nationalism is peculiarly the product of the distinctive forces, which have gone into the shaping of the modern world in which the rights of man is interpreted as the rights of nations. Those forces are inherently and inevitably democratic in a sense that they mobilize the submerged nations into new social and political roles. Likewise, Oromo nationalism is the outcome of the active aspirations of the changing political scene in which the Oromo people are striving to achieve a sense of their own worth and of their legitimate rights.

In the history of mankind, the nationalist heroes function in the culture as standard-bearers of the values and goals of their nations. For this reason, they have become the national symbols, consecrated with monuments and hagiographic literature. The heroes are champions of man's noble ambition to go beyond the oppressive limits of human frailty to a fuller and more meaningful life, to win as far as possible the self-sufficient manhood which refuses to admit subservience and inequality of the human race. The noble cause Waaqo Guutu fought for is part of this living testimony of human quality which needs to be cherished by all the rising generations who work toward the building of a great society having a deep sense of history. Waaqo is seen by Oromo nationals as a uniter, tolerant and popular image whose objective is to bring hopes and civil liberty. He emerged as a representative symbol of his time during one of the momentous periods in Oromo history when the nation was heading for disaster and Oromiyaa faced new challenges of savage act and hideous crimes of different kinds.

After 1941, Emperor Haile-Sellassie gained power and imposed arbitrary rule on Arsii-Bale regions, which in fact was not welcomed by the Native population. Haile-Sellassie's Amharization policy and the reactionary system of gabbaar (serfdom) provoked the already ongoing rebellion movements of several decades (1930s, 1940s, 1950s). The continuity of destabilization and eviction of the Native population fuelled rebellion resistance and people's uprising of the 1960s, wherein General Waaqo played the central role. In the contemporary political setting of the demand for the independent existence of the Oromo, the rise of Waaqo as a famous guerrilla fighter is the result of the break with the old order to regain dignity; and his revolutionary ideas have marked the growth of modern Oromo liberation politics.

Until he departed us for his final resting place, General Waaqo paid a great price to break the chain of the oppressors. He faced manifold problems in the process of the rule and conquest in which he unflaggingly protested against the statusquo. The whole scene of outstanding episodic events of his time, the way he cherishes belonging together and common good of the people to be liberated always rise before our eyes and remain with us.

Having started negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict with the Ethiopian government, Waaqo and his compatriots accepted an invitation to meet its representatives in Bale. According to my informant (the pilot who took the government negotiators to site by a helicopter) the following happened on the occasion. On arrival at the place of the planned meeting Waaqo, who was expecting the Emperor to be present at the meeting, asked why Haile Selassie was not there to meet him. He was told that the Emperor will meet him in Addis Ababa. To the surprise of the military officers who were on the spot, Waaqo was not pleased. What is interesting to note here is that, despite the fact that he was under the total control of the Ethiopian army at that point, Waaqo's attitude was defiant. Let alone a rebel leader in Waaqo's situation, at that time few people in Ethiopia could talk or even think about the autocratic ruler in that manner. However, Waaqo was not the person to accept the supremacy of Abyssinian authorities or, as noted below, bow to their autocratic emperor. He was convinced that his cause was just and that the Abyssinian rulers did not have the legitimacy to rule over him or the Oromo people. He upheld that belief for the rest of his life.

Many of the army officers who were involved in the reception of the Oromo freedom fighters on that eventful day in March 1970 were not only affronted by General Waaqo's defiant and independent attitude, but a conflict also arose among them. According to my informant, the Ethiopian military officers were divided regarding what to do with the Oromo rebel: one group argued that Waaqo and his group should be gunned down there and then while the second group wanted to honour the words which were the basis for the meeting. Those who wanted to kill General Waaqo insisted that he was an enemy of the empire and that he deserved death there and then. If not to the Ethiopian Empire, which was not only militarily strong but also overtly confident of itself as a leading state in Africa, he was still a threat to the naftanya settlers of Bale, Arsi and Sidamo if left alive (It should be noted here that according to Ethiopian government records two generals, fifteen colonels and over one hundred officers of lower ranks were killed by or had surrendered to the Bale movement between 1964-1970. The number of ordinary soldiers who were killed by the rebels ran perhaps into thousands). Fortunately, the views of the group who insisted that the words which were given to the Oromo rebels should be respected won the upper hand and Waaqo and his Oromo compatriots' life was saved.

After some time, Waaqo and his group were received by Haile Selassie in Finfinnee. To the great disappointment of General Jaagaama Keello, who was their interpreter during the meeting with the Emperor, and the surprise of the many high ranking civil and military officials of the empire in audience, General Waaqo and his group refused to follow the example of General Jaagaama and the other officials to bow for Haile Selassie.

General Waaqo's answer to Haile Selassie's paternalizing questions was even more shocking to the officials. When the Emperor inquired, "Why did you rebel against your King and country?", General Waaqo's unflinching response was, "We rebelled to restore our rights which were robbed from us by your government." Haile Selassie was cautious and did not want to punish Waaqo and his followers for the rebellion or their defiant attitude. In fact, his treatment of the rebels was considered magnanimous. General amnesty for all those involved in the rebellion was proclaimed in Bale. However, that did not mean the conditions which caused the Oromo uprising in Bale were changed.

Before returning home, the Oromo rebels were made to visit the Ethiopian parliament in session and tour the Air Force base located in Bishoftu. In Bishoftu, they were received by the Air Force staff and were shown arround the base. Apparently, the purpose was to impress General Waaqo and his party with the military might of the country. However, instead of being himself impressed by the might of the empire which the planes and the officers represented, it was Waaqo who impressed the airforce staff and trainees, many of whom were Oromos at that time. While inspecting the planes General Waaqo was commenting that, "fearing bullets from the grounds, the pilots of this and that type of planes were droping bombs from far up in the sky often missing most of their military targets but destroying the lives of civilians." Ironically, the "ex-bandit" leader was fearlessly accusing the imperial forces of cowardice and crime. It seems, from what I heard from my informant (the engineer) that the self-confidence which radiated from Waaqo and his comaptriots planted in the minds of many Oromo officers the notion that a struggle for Oromo national liberation was not only just also possible. In fact some of the young officers were "converted" to Oromo nationalism following the rebels' tour of the Air Force base.

Thus it was the example set by General Waaqo Guutuu and other national figures such as General Taddesse Birru which motivated many young Oromo to join the Oromo struggle for national liberation in the 1960s and 1970s. It is generally acknowledged that the OLF is an offspring of the Bale Peasant Uprising and Macha Tulama Association.

I met General Waaqo Guutuu for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2003. The meeting left me with an unforegetable impression. The aging General was not only immensely charismatic but also a genuine national leader. I have never felt such respect for any other person before or after I met General Waaqo Guutuu. He was at that time the leader the United Oromo Peoples's Liberation Front (UOPLF) and Chairman of the Oromo umbrella organization ULFO. But, his major concern was not about the two organizations he was leading directly but about what was happening within the OLF. Without criticizing this or that faction, he told me that the division of the OLF in two factions was a national tragedy. His stand was clear, however. For him, the democratization of Ethiopia was an untenable project. Therefore, his advice was that every Oromo should unite under the banner of independence which was the original project of the OLF. We should heed his words.

General Waaqo Guutuu struggled for the freedom of his people for more than four decades. We owe him a great debt. He was and shall remain a hero of the Oromo nation. His life was an epitome of dignity; he lived it with a pride that befits only heroes. May his soul rest in peace. May Waaqayyoo give his family the strength to bear this great loss.

Eennummaa ofii gatanii kan ollaa uffachuun yenna olaa wajjin ta'anii ani ebalu jedhan, eennumaa alagaa akka kan ofiitti himuu yaalan arraba nama hidha. Eennumaa ollichaa, ollicha caala waan hinbeeknee fi ragaas hinqabneef, innis akkuma kiyya ebalu jedhee akka himu olicha eeguu taati.

Eennummaan ragaa ofii qabdi. Ragaa Eennummaa keessaa afaani fi aadota sabni tokko qabu akkanuma seenaan sabichaa jiraachuu dha. Fakeennaaf Gadaa yoo jedhamu, maqaa oromoo jedhutu wajjiin hidhaa qaba. Alagaan tokko Oromoo biratti yoo gadaa maqaa kaase oromtichi bakkatti coraa isaatti dhagahama. Eegasuu, eennummaa oromoo karaa gabroomfataan habashaa balleessaaf harkisaa turee fi itti jiru irraa bakka isaatti debisee ijaaruun oromoo irra jirti. Kunis, dalagaa ilma oromo mana isaa iraa jalqabee tahuu qaba.