Name Dawud Ayana | Education Addis Ababa University | |
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Rebel leader Dawud Ibsa returns to Ehtiopia
Dawud Ibsa was born in Abuna village, Horro Guduru District in Welega in year 1952. He is Chairman of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). actual name is Firew Ibsa.
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Education
Ayana attended the Haile Selassie I University in 1970-1971, and participated in the student movement against Haile Selassie. He joined the Association of Oromo University Students.
He returned to Addis Ababa University during the 1979-1980 academic year. Dawud fled to Sudan in 1980 and joined an OLF unit operating from that country, before finishing his studies( statistics). He received basic military training in Eritrea a few months later. In April 1981, Dawud commanded the OLF unit that started the armed struggle in Welega Province.
Work
The Derg had poisoned Ayana in December 1981, and tortured him for several months. He was jailed without charge at Kerchele prison during the period of August 1982 to December 1986. Dawud escaped from jail and rejoined the OLF. In the year 1988 he was re-elected to the OLF's Central Committee and Executive Committee, and headed the OLF's military department till 1991. In the year 1998, he was re-elected to the OLF's Executive committee and became the OLF's chairman in year 1999. Dawud told Les nouvelles d’Addis on 29 March 2006 that he was confident that the OLF will form the next government in Ethiopia, a speech which motivated many nationalist Oromo diasporas.