World Refugee Day 2013 – How Oromo Refugees Marked the Day Across the Globe

June 24, 2013 at 4:52 am · Gadaa.com

The Oromo people make up the largest nation in the Horn of Africa and the Ethiopian empire, but it is a nation politically and economically marginalized and repressed for the last 120 years in its own homeland, Oromia. Due to the several decades-long conflict between Oromia and the Ethiopian government, thousands of civilian Oromos have fled their homes and sought shelters in neighboring countries, and some of them have then relocated to distant lands to call Europe, Australia, Asia and North America their new homes. On June 20, 2013, many of the Oromo refugee communities across the globe marked UNHCR’s World Refugee Day. Here is the roundup of the Oromo refugees marking this year’s World Refugee Day.
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Egypt
As of the result of the Nile crises, the Oromo refugees in Cairo observed the World Refugee Day while camping outside the local UNHCR office in protest of the dam backlash endangering their lives once again. Since June 20, 2013, it’s been learnt that the Oromo refugees in Cairo are to be moved by UNHCR to a safer neighborhood in Cairo.

Kenya:
Videos: Oromo refugees performing Oromo cultural dances at the World Refugee Day ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya.

New York (USA):
Oromo nationals took center stage at the World Refugee Day parade in Syracuse, New York.

(Photo: Syracuse.com)