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ART HUGHES: The sycamore tree is an important symbol for people who come from the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Its broad limbs and green canopy serve as a town square of sorts. It's a meeting place and a signpost in the landscape. Oromo people put pictures of sycamores on their walls, on calendars, and even on the flag for their political movement.

The tree isn't native to Minnesota, but the Oromo Center in Minneapolis' Cedar-Rivberside area could serve the same purpose for the immigrants who live here. Oromo elders sit on chairs against the walls of a small front office space. The walls are covered with pictures, mostly of graduating Oromo students receiving diplomas and other awards.

Hassan Hussein has been an active volunteer at the Oromo Center since he first arrived in the Twin Cities in 1994. He says the United States offers freedoms not available to him in his country.

HASSAN HUSSEIN: Back home in Oromia, the mere expressing a political opinion could get you into prison for years. There are people who have been in prison for 15, 20 years and without being brought before a judge or a court. And this is simply for expressing their views. So being a Oromo here, you can organize openly. You don't have to hide.

ART HUGHES: Hussein is head of foreign relations for the Oromo Liberation Front, a militant opposition group formed in the '70s after more than a century of oppression of Oromo people. The OLF is seen by the current ruling government of Ethiopia as an unlawful organization.

Others say the government's claims are exaggerated to justify brutal security measures. Either way, some people say it offers the best hope for some sort of unified government there. Hussein hopes the ability to speak freely in America can help generate support for the Oromo cause.

HASSAN HUSSEIN: You can develop your language, nobody looks at you as a threat. So it is a lot easier to be Oromo here in Minneapolis than in Oromia.

ART HUGHES: The State Demographer's office estimates there are about 7,500 immigrants from Ethiopia in Minnesota. Immigrant groups say the number is double that. About half of the Oromo population, both in Ethiopia and the United States is Muslim. The rest are mainly Christian.

[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]

Two Minneapolis churches offer Oromo language services. At Bethany Lutheran Church on Franklin Avenue, singer Terfe Guttata warms up the crowd with a 20-minute song and prayer session, as the Sunday evening sun shines through the traditional stained glass windows. About 300 people in the pews stand and sway, clasped their hands, weep and sing with religious devotion. A spicy mixture of smells waft in from the food prepared in the downstairs kitchen.

There is unlikely to be any Ethiopians other than Oromos at this church service. The history of strife in their homeland translates to a loose self-segregation here in their adopted country. There are dozens of different ethnic separations in Ethiopia based largely on language and cultural differences.

While the average Minnesotan may not know the national origin of their coffee shop owner, the different Ethiopian ethnic groups often patronize restaurants, coffee shops, or stores depending on the ethnic identity of the proprietor.

Robson Itawa is a member of the Oromo Citizens' Council centered in Saint Paul. Among other things, the three-year-old organization started an effort with the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights to document stories by Twin Cities Oromos of abuses in Ethiopia. He says many Oromos who are outspoken against the government risk imprisonment, torture, even execution.

ROBSON ITAWA: These people are just political prisoners. They are not-- they didn't commit any crime. They just don't want to endorse these regimes' oppressive agenda.

ART HUGHES: Itawa says many Oromo immigrants in the US still have friends and family in Ethiopia, and so the ties are strong. But like many people who land in the American melting pot, the ability to hold on to vital cultural links weakens with every generation.

ROBSON ITAWA: For me, my culture is still my culture. But for second generation Oromos is when you come to America, you go to American school, it's the language not going to die, but they're going to be mixed with many mainstream American language. That's our worry.

ART HUGHES: The Oromos' displacement strains their ability to join with other ethnic groups, some of whom they consider oppressors. Ahmed Wasi has lived in the US since 1973. He is ethnically Amharic, not Oromo. He supports the Oromo people's right to live freely and participate in the Ethiopian government, but he says he doesn't understand why many Oromos and others in America put ethnic differences ahead of the greater good of the country.

AHMED WASI: You don't see name calling. You don't see fistfight in neighborhoods or something. But you see cold shoulders, people not speaking to somebody that speak Amharic, if you are an Oromo. Most Oromos, for example, don't care whether they speak to Amharic speaker. That always shocked me.

ART HUGHES: Wasi hosts a weekly talk program on KFAI FM radio called Voice of Ethiopia, where he says he sometimes tries to bring each side together to arrive at common solutions.

Solomon Gashaw is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota Morris. He left Ethiopia in 1977. He's hopeful the ethnic differences won't always be such an obstacle. He says immigrant life in America sometimes has a way of tempering differences, as people from divergent backgrounds live and work near one another.

SOLOMON GASHAW: As an immigrants, you will be sometimes forced to work in the same industry, factory, and so on. There is sort of cordial relations.

ART HUGHES: Solomon says many Ethiopians in the US retain hope of someday returning to their homeland. But after more than 30 years of political unrest, most have developed quiet productive lives in America.

Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio.