his friend, Abdul Karim Hajji Ibrahim, more commonly known as Jaarraa Abbaa Gadaa. The group was ambushed, captured and imprisoned by Somali forces after trying to cross into Ethiopia from northern Somalia. Despite the setback, Elemo didn't lose hope and started smuggling and stockpiling weapons in Ethiopia through the Afar desert with the help of the Eritrean Liberation Front. Early in 1973, Elemo was invited to attend a clandestine meeting of all major Oromo underground movement leaders in Addis Abeba. This meeting led to the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front and he was tasked with launching an armed struggle against the Ethiopian government. Oromo Liberation Army After the meeting, Elemo, along with a fellow Oromo nationalist Hundee Taqi, went to Gelemso to begin the armed struggle. There they met the famed Tadesse Birru who was under house arrest. Elemo began to secretly organize an armed force in the city and Hundee's father suggested he base the guerrilla force in an area called Guba Koricha in the Chercher Mountains. In May 1974, Elemo took twenty men and made a base camp in the mountains. They then began to attack the guards of Mulatu Tegegn, a local landowner who was notorious for abusing the local populace. They eventually killed Mulatu after he ordered the killing of a Muslim teacher in Gelemso. The killing of Mulatu shocked the region and the administrators sent their own troops to deal with the insurrection but failed. The local militias were unable to stop the guerrilla army which led the government of Ethiopia to send General Getechew Shibeshi to Gelemso with a large force. Elemo's army rarely engaged in long battles which made it hard for General Getachew to deal decisive blows to the guerrilla force. Getachew finally managed to surround the Oromo Liberation Army at the Battle of Tiro and managed to kill most of the force in the ensuing battle. Elemo surrendered but then blew himself up with a grenade when the government soldiers came to arrest him. Legacy Elemo Qiltu is considered a martyr by the Oromo people and he is immortalized in many poems by Sheikh Bakhri Sapalo and many Oromo nationalist songs. References Oromo people 1936 births 1974 deaths People of the Ethiopian Civil War