Author: Tentag

Ethiopia: TPLF Terrorism Expands, Civilians Massacred – OpEd

Ethiopia: TPLF Terrorism Expands,
Civilians Massacred

By Graham Peebles
September 18,2021

As the armed conflict between Ethiopia and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) enters a new phase, Ethiopians are uniting against their common enemy. The TPLF is not a group of freedom fighters standing up for the downtrodden; they are a terrorist insurgent force waging a war against a sovereign state. Murdering, raping, destroying property and the lives of Ethiopians, the TPLF is a cancer that for decades has thrown a suffocating shadow of fear and division over the country, a cancer that must be cut out totally if Ethiopia is to flourish.

For 27 years they were the dominant force within a so-called coalition government. Corrupt and brutal, the TPLF stole election after election, trampled on human rights, embezzled federal funds and aid money and committed State Terrorism in various regions of the country. Administering a policy of Ethnic Federalism, they ruled through fear, divided the people along ethnic lines and are widely hated by most Ethiopians.

In 2018, after sustained public protests, they were ousted. However, after such a long period in power their divisive methodology and ideals still have influence. Senior members retreated to their Tigray heartland after losing office, regrouped, plotted, and waited for an opportunity to rise up against the government.

On 4 November 2020 they attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Forces Base in the northern region of Tigray. They killed soldiers, took control of the military’s Northern Command in Mekelle (capital of Tigray) and raided federal armories. This act of terrorism, set in motion an armed conflict in the northern region of Tigray; a fight the TPLF had been itching for, which has now spread into the neighboring region of Ahmara.

Thousands have died, combatants and civilians; claims of rape and sexual violence are widespread; tens of thousands have been displaced, homeless and hungry, with large numbers, frightened and distressed, making their way to camps in neighboring Sudan.

The TPLF’s brutal actions should be condemned unreservedly by foreign governments, particularly Ethiopia’s major donors. But, far from standing with the government, the US, UK and EU have consistently supported the terrorists, circulating misinformation, making false claims against Ethiopian forces.

Civilians Massacred

In an attempt to stop the killing and defuse the situation, on 28 June, the Government declared a “unilateral humanitarian ceasefire” and withdrew its forces from Tigray. In response, the TPLF marched into the regional capital and issued a series of outlandish conditions for complying: They demanded the release of all Tigray political prisoners (imprisoned for atrocities committed over many years), falsely accused Prime Minister Abiy of starting the war, and claimed that Tigrayans “have been subjected to…genocide and ethnic cleansing”. Federal forces are fighting the TPLF not the people of Tigray. But, as a result of the TPLF instigated conflict, civilians in Tigray have been severely impacted.

Unrelenting, obdurate, Tigray forces, which have now combined with another extremist group, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), have ignored the ceasefire and continued their attack on Ethiopia, moving into the Afar and Amhara regions bordering Tigray. Death, destruction and chaos is left in their wake with distressing reports of civilian killings, rapes, kidnapping and robbery. Homes are destroyed, office buildings, including Kabele (local government) headquarters vandalized, documents burnt, water and electricity supplies cut, Churches and schools damaged or demolished, cattle killed, crops destroyed.

Over 200 civilians were killed in Afar including more than 100 children, according to UNICEF, and around 300,000 were displaced. Federal forces have now driven the aggressors out of this region. In Deber Tabor in Ahmara, the main hospital was attacked and homes destroyed. A local resident, Mr. Deres Nega told Ethiopian media how his wife, children and friends had been killed by the TPLF. His life has been torn apart. His agony is being repeated throughout the area, his pain is the pain of a nation, a pain that has but one cure, the eradication of the TPLF.

Over 200 km north of Deber Tabor, in Chena Teklehaymanot, mass graves were recently discovered containing 124 bodies, many more people (over 100) are missing feared dead. Witnesses state that the TPLF went house to house and slaughtered men, women, children, even priests (revered throughout Ethiopia) were killed. The massacre, which has been confirmed by Gizachew Muluneh, Director of Communications for the Amhara Regional State, is but one atrocity in a series of coordinated assaults by the TPLF since the government ceasefire. Getachew Shiferaw, a leading Ethiopian activist, relates that, “Civilians were massacred [by the TPLF] in Woldia, Kobo, Alamata, Lalibela, Abergele, Maytemri, Gaint, Gashena and Mersa, among others towns.” He warns that, “Chena is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed’s press secretary, has said that TPLF atrocities in Ahmara “were carried out to avenge the military loss the clique suffered by federal and state troops,” as its fighters were routed from Afar. The government believes the Chena massacre was carried out by “the TPLF’s Samri youth group”, who are also thought to be responsible for killing over 1,000 civilians in “the town of Maikadra…last November.” After which they escaped to Sudan and hid in a UNHCR refugee camp.

Such brutal attacks, which are consistently ignored by western governments (who know very well what is actually happening) and prominent mainstream media, are forcing the Ethiopian government, until now relatively restrained, to respond and mobilize its forces. Ethiopia’s foreign ministry recently said the TPLF was pushing the government to “change its defensive mood which has been taken for the sake of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire,” and that unless (government) overtures for a peaceful resolution were reciprocated, “Ethiopia could deploy the entire defensive capability of the state.”

The government, which has been weak on law and order enforcement, cannot simply sit back and allow the TPLF to murder civilians. They must respond swiftly and decisively, including, if necessary, deploying the air force, something they are reluctant to do because of potential civilian casualties.

Malicious foreign forces

Since the conflict began the Ethiopian government has been battling, not just the terrorists, but malicious foreign forces and misleading information from western governments and mainstream media – the BBC, CNN, New York Times, Facebook etc. The US, which is widely believed to be indirectly arming the TPLF, have led the misinformation campaign, and appear (together with the UK and EU) to have sanctioned the TPLF’s attack on Ethiopia.

To its utter shame the Biden administration (and UK and EU) has failed to condemn the TPLF attacks, and has undermined the Ethiopian government from the outset. They repeatedly call for reconciliation (thereby legitimizing the terrorists), and instruct PM Ahmed to negotiate with the TPLF, which is not only unacceptable to the government, but to the vast majority of Ethiopians, who liken the TPLF to a pack of hyenas, pointing out the impossibility of negotiating with wild animals.

In response to their international backers’ call for ‘negotiations’ the TPLF drafted a list of preposterous demands for any such talks. Among other fantasies, they wanted PM Ahmed to step down and be replaced with one of their own, and a power-sharing arrangement introduced. This would amount to the overthrow (with US backing) of a democratically elected government: The Prosperity Party (a party of national unity founded by Abiy) has a huge mandate, taking 410 out of 436 seats in the June 2020 general election. The formation of a new government, which will include opposition parties, is expected by the end of September/early October, and is eagerly awaited.

As these malicious foreign forces seek to destabilize Ethiopia for their own corrupt geo-political reasons, and the TPLF commit atrocity after atrocity, the Ethiopian people are laying aside long held divisions (largely caused by TPLF policies) and coming together, standing shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and sisters against the poison of the terrorists and the Imperial arrogance of America and Co.

While this is unquestionably a deeply troubling moment for Ethiopia, at the same time there is cause for celebration and real optimism: The staging of the first democratic elections in the country’s long and rich history was a major achievement, as was the second filling of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the largest dam in Africa) reservoir. Along with the imminent formation of a new and democratically elected government, these are unifying national events. Significant developments which the Ethiopian people can take great pride in as they unite against the TPLF/OLA terrorists, destructive groups that must be purged from the country completely and utterly if peace and social harmony are to be established, and the  needed work of national transformation is to go ahead.

Setting the Record Straight:A Response to Eliza Mackintosh September 8, 2021 article on CNN

Setting the Record Straight:A Response to Eliza Mackintosh's
September 8, 2021 article on CNN

September 13, 2021

Eliza Mackintosh in a September 8, 2021 article on CNN writes “In 2018, Kidanemariam was serving as Ethiopia’s consul general in Los Angeles and said he helped organize Abiy’s visit” . Frankly, as  residents of Los Angeles, we in the Hager Wodad in Los Angeles group know,  Kidanemariam had planned to suppress the number Ethiopian communities in attendance for the event. The  exception was the informed  Tigerans  in western United States who  were recipients of the entrance tickets for the event. He effectively held information on PM Abiy’s visit and followed his   sabotaging  scheme  by holding event tickets  and the location of the venue.  This is  well known  by the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles.

No wonder he got “heckled” when he got up to introduce PM Abiy not to a “crowd”  as he says but a packed Ethiopian and Eritrean audience in the Galen Center at the University of Southern California (USC) which holds over ten thousand people.

When Kidanemariam approached the podium he was booed and hissed but our group present in the audience that day did not hear “Get out of the podium Tigrayan” , and “other ethnic slurs”.

He was heckled because, if Kidanemariam’s plan in June 2018 greeting of PM Abiy in Los Angeles had worked, the turn out at the Galen center (USC) would have been attended by members of the Tigrean community only, leaving the majority non-Tigreans Ethiopians in the region from attending the event.

Kindanemariam sent tickets for the event early to all the Tigrean communities in California, Oregan, Colorado Arizona and some western US cities. Tigreans had booked hotels and arranged with family and friends for their stay in Los Angeles well before other Ethiopians.

The remaining non-Tigrean Ethiopians got the word of PM Abiy’s LA arrival very late. The entrance tickets, had it not been by the efforts of opposition activists (Ginbot 7), faith communities, and business that organized to counter this sabotaging move by Kidanemariam, his plan to suppress the audience numbers (i.e the “crowd” ) and deny PM Abiy the attendance of Ethiopians in the region  would have succeeded.

Kidanemariam is in no position to anticipate/expect PM Abiy to “chide the crowd” or “correct” the audience. According to Mackintosh, Kidanemariam claimed he approched PM Abiy and asked why he did not “chide the crowd” and Mckintosh reported that Abiy told Kidanemariam “There was nothing to correct.” 

“One of the ironies of a prime minister who came to office promising unity is that he has deliberately exacerbated hatred between different groups,” quotes Mckintosh from an open letter written by  counsel general Kidanemariam on his resignation from his post.

Aside from Kidanemariam’s phony indignation, Mackintosh is telling us it is PM Abiy and not the TPLF and its high paid cadres who cleverly used the venue of the embassies to foment discord in the wider global Ethiopian diaspora and also in the western US region for decades. We suggest that Mackintosh interview representatives of faith based community leaders, activists and others residing in Los Angeles and gather information to present a balanced report.

“In less than two years, Abiy has gone from darling of the international community to pariah”, well that maybe for Mackintosh and the US and EU who continue to use the likes of Mckintosh, DeClan of the New York times and a few others harping on the same tune that is played on CNN, BBC, Reuters and other corporate media giants to devalue the most popular and liked leader in Ethiopia’s recent history.

PM Abiy certainly has his current challenges that forced his hand in defense of the Ethiopian nation and the latest being  the TPLF’s war on the Federal government. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces(ENDF) northern command were attacked by the TPLF on November 4 , 2020 and PM Abiy responded declaring a “law and order campaign” to bring the terrorist organization in check.

Mackintosh’s slanderous statement of PM Abiy’s “facilitation ……. bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region”  has made her one more addition to the hostile and sustained voices campaigning against the PM of Ethiopia with unsubstantiated, accusatory statements. Ethiopia is waiting on a joint UN and Ethiopian Human Right Commisson investigation report which will become public reportedly on November 1, 2021.

Despite critics and the current challenges of the conflict/war in the Ethiopian north, Ethiopia’s PM Abiy continues to lead a reform movement and the June Ethiopian elections gave his party a mandate for five more years to lead the nation.

CNN’s Mackintosh reported also on a Skype call to Tsedale Lemma of Addis Standard who said “Soon after Abiy was “crowned” with that Nobel Peace Prize, he lost an appetite in pursuing domestic reform,” and “ he considered it a blanket pass to do as he wishes.” CNN and Tsedale are wrong because the ruling coalition EPRDF was still intact and the Ethiopian parliament still functional “soon after PM Abiy” was elected. Tsedale’s reported comment that the PM “alienated critical regional players” is not factual because the response to his olive branch to these “critical regional players” was war against him.

“The war in Tigray is not the first time he’s used that pass”, she said, adding that “since Abiy came to power on the platform of unifying Ethiopia’s people and its state, he has ruthlessly consolidated control and alienated critical regional players”.It is the TPLF’s political war and indirect regional conflicts using cadres within the EPRDF that began right after PM Abiy assumed power. The TPLF was not “sidelined” , they simply lost the election held by the EPRDF coalition that installed PM Abiy after the resignation of PM Hailemariam Desalegn.

TPLF’s self isolation from the EPRDF was by choice, and all previous attempts by PM Abiy’s government to resolve issues peacefully  were  rejected by the TPLF. Frankly, as most Ethiopians know,in Mekele the TPLF was plotting on a comeback to power and it is obvious today it wants to do this  by force of arms and  the overthrow of an elected government.

“Abiy’s appointment had been intended to quell tensions” writes Mackintosh and that is true and that is why his reform movement invited all opposition parties in exile to enter the country and to participate in the change process peacefully. Instead, the TPLF and OLF began armed conflict, trying to destabilize the regional and federal governments.

The TPLF defied the National Election Board (NEB) and the courts decision by holding a vote in its Killil.  All Ethiopians know the elections were  postponed twice due to Covid-19 pandemic and finally held in June 2021 by the permission of the Ethiopian health ministry. The current ongoing conflict which began in November 2020 has nothing to do with regional elections and started as a result of the betrayal of TPLf forces who attacked the ENDF northern command.

Mackintosh writes “Still, many Ethiopians are reluctant to lay the blame for the country’s unravelling at Abiy’s feet. Ahead of the election in June, residents in Addis Ababa told CNN they felt Abiy had inherited a mess from the previous regime and had always faced an uphill battle pushing reforms forward — an assessment shared by some regional experts”. Well, Well…

Quoting William Davison of the International Crisis Group (ICG), Mackintosh writes “Lots of people were hopeful that the liberalizing changes, after those years of anti-government protests and all of the state violence in response, […] marked a moment where Ethiopia would start to conduct its politics more peacefully.” This is true , but the TPLF, once out of power has been sabotaging all peaceful reform efforts.Today, the TPLF has declared war on PM Abiy’s government and is currently ongoing..

The reform movement was to bring about separation of powers within the Ethiopian government and not to resolve all ‘the major problems and contradictions in Ethiopia,,,,,clashing nationalisms, opposing visions, and bitter political rivalries” as analyst  William Davison is quoted in Mckintosh’s report. Davison  criticizing PM Abiy and expecting the resolution of all the “contradictions” is unreasonable and unauthentic and cheap propaganda he  is known for.

Yes, Ethiopia’s foreign ministery stated “the US of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and misunderstanding the significant challenges on the ground”. This is also validated by big powers in the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) who opposed sanctions on grounds of meddling in internal affairs of the  Ethiopian government. Furthermore, this meddling statement  contradicts  CNN’s  report that  “the tide of international opinion has turned against PM Abiy”.

But the most glaring truth is the US and EU are disappointed by the new friendship and alliance with the Eritrean government and the peaceful resolution of problems between the two nations, which won PM Abiy the Nobel Prize..

Macintosh’s quotes Professor Mehari Taddele Maru, of European University Institute who believes the “Nobel Committee’s endorsement of Abiy has contributed to the current conflict.” That is a stretch and Mehari Tadele Maru, a staunch supporter of the TPLF was on the wrong side of history when he began down playing the popular movement that toppled the TPLF, declared the EPRDF  and not the the TPLF dead, opposed the EPRDF’s election of PM Abiy and is now blaming the Nobel Prize Committee for Ethiopia’s war and not the TPLF for  the current crisis. He has been wrong on every turn of events over the last three years.

Kidanemariam wrote  “Instead of fulfilling his initial promise, he has led Ethiopia down a dark path toward destruction and disintegration.” This is false, and PM Abiy has the potential to lead Ethiopia to a bright future and Kidanemariam should not despair because  PM Abiy successfully will guide the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam  and increase the productivity of the nation.

In Ethiopia, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front is using child soldiers as human shields​

In Ethiopia, the Tigray People's Liberation Front is using child soldiers as human shields

Doreen Nicoll       September 9, 2021

For years, it’s been common knowledge that children (under 18s) are routinely recruited into the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia.

The TPLF is both highly centralized as well as regimentalized down to the village level. Their militaristic preparations began during the overthrow of the Derg — the military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. Eventually, the Derg was replaced with the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) which continued to be controlled by members of the Derg. In 1991, a coalition of ethnic-based rebel groups overthrew the PDRE and formed the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

The TPLF was a dominant force in the new coalition government until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed by the EPRDF in 2018 to assume the leadership. Those militaristic preparations, along with 27 years in power, means many of the same leaders are still around to seek similar rebel alliances and reinforce the regimentalized militia structure that includes the use of children.

Tigrayans have been posting pictures and videos of children carrying out wartime activities. There are also reports from government soldiers fighting the TPLF and from child soldiers themselves that children are being used as fodder by the TPLF.

Most disturbing is the July 14, 2021 New York Times article by Declan Walsh, with photographs by Finbarr O’Reilly, in which Walsh paints a picture of selfless children fighting for Tigrayan independence while completely ignoring the fact that the recruitment and use of children in conflict is a war crime and contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Walsh article and O’Reilly’s pictures have since been removed from the Times’ site, but, while available, glorified the TPLF’s use of child soldiers.

As for the TPLF, they claim the children are not actively engaged in battle but instead are just helping TPLF soldiers with tasks like gathering arms abandoned by the retreating Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF).

Even if this were true — which is unlikely given that the ENDF departed from Tigray to respect provisions of a unilateral ceasefire rather than as a result of any hot pursuit by the Tigrayan fighters — it is still a violation of the UN convention and is a war crime in and of itself, as the law holds that children under 18 years of age are not to play any role in war, including, but not limited to, cooking, spying, or carrying weapons for soldiers.

ENDF soldiers have reported that the TPLF is in fact using armed child soldiers as their first line of defence. The children are sent to engage with the ENDF while TPLF forces bring up the rear.

ENDF soldiers have reportedly not fired on the children leaving the fighters vulnerable to attack from the TPLF. They also reported children dropping their weapons to run off to neighbouring villages seeking shelter and safety as well as children putting down their guns and surrendering to ENDF forces.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front chairman (and president of the Tigray region) Debretsion Gebremichael foreshadowed the use of children by the TPLF in this conflict when he stated in a speech: “Starting with children, everyone will fight.”

The TPLF is strategically using children to create a human wave in an attempt to overwhelm the ENDF. The federal military will not shoot children and so the TPLF are safe behind their human shields. For those doubting the credibility of reports that the TPLF is using children to fight its battles, Ann Fitz-Gerald, director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department notes that there is ample photographic and video evidence of this.

“The use of children to support any element of armed conflict constitutes a war crime — that the international community is observing this evidence and remaining silent questions the whole value of the conventions and protocols the world has adopted to address such crimes.”

Fitz-Gerald also suggests that these crimes, with knowledge of both historical context and insurgency campaigns, could have been better predicted.

“Patterns have emerged based on the ongoing and concerted propagandist efforts to link Ethiopia’s federal government with war crimes and violations impacting on strategic policy agenda of donor organizations. We saw this with the accusations over things like the use of chemical agents like white phosphorous and the use of Russian mercenaries — evidence of which was not found. These ongoing efforts have been used to push the international community to insist on negotiations as nothing else will provide a platform for the TPLF to table unrealistic demands. For this reason — and very sadly — it was not surprising that the issue of children would become another strategic policy button for the TPLF to press. But what perhaps could not have been predicted was the call for the unilateral ceasefire and the pulling of federal troops from the region. Without anyone left to blame, the TPLF moved their fighters and child recruits out to the border regions so that federal forces positioned in close proximity of the regional borders could be levied with accusations of child-related atrocities. And in the face of the international community’s ongoing silence, these predictable tactics manifested in the death and injury of hundreds of children.”

Like the evidence of the TPLF’s use of child soldiers in Tigray, there is now ample evidence that the TPLF used these child soldiers to invade Afar and Amhara regions and that hundreds of children were killed. Those rescued by the ENDF verified recruitment by the TPLF. Child soldiers often bring with them a vitality and energy that makes them easy to train. Perhaps more importantly, they have a false sense of bravery or invincibility and when plied with drugs — as children rescued from the TPLF are reporting — some have no fear.

Recruitment has been made easier for the TPLF since they support the infrastructure that includes the distribution of food aid.

The TPLF have a registration process which denies food aid to families who don’t supply a child fighter. Families without children are often left begging for food. Homeless children living on the streets are easy prey, and of course, children with families may simply go missing.

So why does the international community refuse to condemn the use of child soldiers by the TPLF? They had no problem condemning and apparently hunting down leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, which recruited and trained child soldiers. And, as Fitz-Gerald states, it was very vocal when Jermichael Boko Haram routinely kidnapped Nigerian children, and when armed groups in 2018 in South Sudan continued to recruit child soldiers and force them into conflict.

Fitz-Gerald suggests that:

“The accountability structures of NGOs that have, through this crisis, appeared to have taken a selective approach to humanity, need to be asking some serious questions. With ample evidence, questions become raised concerning internal structures in these organizations. Why, as noted recently by one Italian media reporter, did Amnesty International admit to being aware of the TPLF’s use of child soldiers but, in defending its silence, cite difficulties in accessing the area? The same organization that was content to report on an Axum massacre whilst hundreds of miles away from Axum and on the basis of telephone numbers handed to it without precise knowledge of who was interviewed or where the respondents were speaking from.”

November 17, 2020 UNICEF issued the following statement:

“UNICEF is deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of children affected by ongoing military operations in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and to protect children from harm.”

According to Fitz-Gerald: “The silence of the international community exposes a sense of selective humanity within the realm of international law. The question is why are Ethiopian children different and not as deserving?”

It should not be lost on Canadians that War Child Canada to date has not issued a statement on the situation in Ethiopia. Even Romeo Dallaire, appointed special advisor to the Canadian International Development Agency on matters relating to war-affected children around the world, has remained silent. As has Amnesty International. UNICEF offered a media statement at the beginning of the conflict but there has been no follow up and donor countries have not issued independent statements of their own.

A member of the Ethiopian diaspora, Menelik Girma, has just returned to Canada from a trip home. He believes the unilateral ceasefire put in place by Ahmed could be what’s needed to make the world face the truth about the TPLF.

In a phone interview, Girma said that life in Addis Ababa was normal and he felt very safe in the capital. He also said the Ethiopian people were frustrated with biased Western reporting favouring the TPLF.

According to Girma:

“The TPLF are not underdogs. They divide and conquer among ethnic groups. The TPLF started this conflict with a pre-emptive attack and they are fighting for power. When the government responded they were painted as the villain.”

Girma would like to see the West pressure the TPLF into ending the illegal use of child soldiers and to be held accountable for their actions just like the international community did in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), and Uganda.

Instead, “the media is not mentioning TPLF use of children. Western media is silent,” he said.

During elections held in June 2021, Abiy Ahmed won a landslide victory in what has been described as a fair and transparent election which attracted the biggest voter turnout out in history. Despite announcements made by the African Union and international observers validating the free, fair and peaceful nature of the elections and the way in which they were conducted, the U.S questioned the results.

This double standard undoubtably has national interests for the U.S.

As for Girma, he knows that the Ethiopian people will hold Abiy accountable for his promises.

At this point, some TPLF leaders have been captured and will be proceeding to trial. The Ethiopian government has made it clear that it will not negotiate with terrorists, although the U.S. has been encouraging this.

Imposing such mandates has not bode well for the U.S., as witnessed most recently in Afghanistan. The Bush administration would not negotiate with ISIS after 9/11. Canada would also be wise to remember that, during the Quebec crisis, Pierre Elliott Trudeau refused to negotiate with the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). Instead, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act.

Why the contradictory approach for Ethiopia?

Doreen Nicoll is a freelance writer, teacher, social activist and member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence

 

Concerning the Rights of the Ethiopian Government

Concerning the rights of the Ethiopian Government

August 29,2021

By Addissu Admas

Since the war against the TPLF started on November 4 last year, the Federal Government of Ethiopia (from here forward FGE), headed by PM Abiy, has been treated virtually like an illegitimate or even roguish government, and its actions condemned as examples of aberration of power. Before I submit my arguments to show the absurdity of this condemnation, let me premise them by stating what is most obvious to the Ethiopian people:

Until proven otherwise, the FGE is a legitimate government installed by the majority will of the Ethiopian people through an electoral process that has largely been praised as the most transparent and fair in Ethiopian history. On the other hand, the TPLF has been declared a terrorist organization by the House of Representatives for its brazen and unprovoked attack of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Federal Defense Force (EDF). Even though it has been declared to be so prior to the election, the newly installed House of Representatives continues to consider the TPLF a terrorist organization. Thus, the Western governments and media attempt to draw equivalency between the FGE and the TPLF is not only erroneous and misleading, but muddies the issues at hand. 

In the following, I want to state in as clear a manner as I can what are within the powers of the FGE and the TPLF, and what the laws, national or otherwise, do not allow them to do.

First, it is within the power of the FGE, as a legitimately installed government, to maintain the sovereignty of the country. This includes maintaining the territorial integrity of the country and squelching seditious acts that would weaken, compromise or even destroy the integrity of the nation. On the other hand, nowhere in our present constitution does it state that the government of a Killil (region) can wage war against the Federal government if it finds itself at odds with it for real or imagined “injury”. It declares instead that a Killil can, through universal suffrage, petition to secede and become an autonomous state.

Secondly, the TPLF’s attack on the Northern Command was unprovoked and not incited by present or imminent danger. It was simply motivated by the TPLF’s determination to halt and impede the FGE’s effort to bring to justice scores of its members. As every person who has followed Ethiopian politics in the past three decades knows, the TPLF’s regime, which also lasted for nearly three decades, was known for its truculence, corruption, venality, divisiveness, and oppression. It is an established fact that hundreds, if not thousands of its members have in effect plundered the FGE coffers and aid money to enrich themselves, their organizations, relatives and friends. Any government worth its salt, and especially one with a genuine aspiration to establish democracy in this ancient land, has the moral obligation to its people to bring to justice all those who have obscenely abused their power and committed crimes against the State and its people. Not doing so would have only perpetuated a culture of impunity and unaccountability at every end of a regime. 

Thirdly, the FGE’s objective against the TPLF in Tigray was succinctly presented as a “law enforcement campaign”. I would challenge anyone who would want to characterize it otherwise. What would any government do if it sees its military being attacked by an armed group? If it is a small group, the local or federal police would handle it, but if it is as large as the TPLF, then sending the military to squash the seditious act is not only legal, but not doing so would be tantamount to dereliction of duty. If the January 6th mob was allowed unhampered into the Capitol, killed at will and stopped the electoral count, how would the world have viewed the government of the US? Not only the rioters were eventually stopped, but a vigorous campaign followed to bring them to justice. The FGE was very much in the same predicament. Yet the Biden administration influenced no doubt by the remnants of the Obama “foreign policy personnel” chose to judge Ethiopia by a different standard; the one usually applied to Third World countries. 

Fourth, it is within the right of the FGE to arrest, prosecute and sentence not only all the members of the TPLF as members of a terroristic organization, but also its collaborators, informers, financiers, etc… Furthermore, it has the right to seize, freeze, and transfer to the Federal Treasury all its assets, monetary instruments, foreign accounts, etc… The FGE is not motivated, nor has acted as the evidence clearly shows, by tribalist, ethnocentric calculations as it has been accused, but by the desire to stop the TPLF from getting away with its horrible deeds, ill-gotten wealth that is enabling it currently to sustain its illegal and destructive war. 

The idle and sensationalist Western media has accused the FGE of arresting and imprisoning arbitrarily Tigreans living primarily in Addis Ababa. This chatter, as far as the evidence shows, is not only mendacious but also criminally irresponsible. If the West is getting its information from the TPLF and its army of propagandists and sympathizers, we might as well be re-living Rwanda! The truth of the matter is that the FGE is conducting a serious and professional investigation into the crimes, finances, and shady international connections of the TPLF. Indeed, it has taken this task with utmost seriousness. 

Fifth. What business does the TPLF have attacking Tigray’s neighboring Killils? Since the EDF withdrew from Mekele by unilaterally declaring a cease-fire, the TPLF has not stopped raiding, pillaging and murdering Amhara and Afar village and towns’ people. Its excuse: the FGE has discontinued electric power and other services, and impeded the flow of foreign aid into its territory. The truth: it clearly wants to unseat the legitimately installed government of PM Abiy Ahmed and work its way back to power through allying itself with other rogue forces in the country. To this end, it is not only mobilizing the people of Tigray, but even the US State Department and the foreign services of the various European countries. If neither the US nor the EU have the perspicacity to see TPLF’s ruse, the FGE has indeed the right to seek help anywhere it could find it to maintain the unity and stability of Ethiopia. This is not a matter of capricious preference, but one of survival. 

Finally, since the TPLF is implying that it is the only legitimately installed government in Tigray – though a dubious and questionable suggestion in itself– it would be within its power to call upon all Tigreans, not only in Tigray, but also in Ethiopia as well as abroad, to decide through universal suffrage whether Tigray should remain part of Ethiopia or become an independent, autonomous State. However, it does not have the power to demand that the government of PM Abiy, which has been installed legitimately by the majority vote of the Ethiopian people in this last election, to be removed and a transitional government be formed in its stead. This is not only an absurd demand, but one bordering on the ridiculous: in effect, the TPLF is contradicting the dictates of the very Constitution it virtually drafted!

Western governments and media are either acting in bad faith, or are dismally ill informed by their so-called experts in pursuing such misguided policies towards the FGE. The people of Ethiopia have never been asked what they really want. As usual, the West continues to believe that it only knows what is best for us. The fact is that it is us who must ultimately decide what our future should be. 


US and Its Willing Partners Using UN as Platform to Mobilize Support for TPLF and Discredit PM Abiy of Ethiopia

US and Its Willing Partners Using UN Platform to Mobilize Support for TPLF and Discredit PM Abiy of Ethiopia

August 28, 2021

A meeting  called by big powers US, UK, France along with a mix of smaller countries of Estonia, Ireland, Norway (willing partners) was held on August 26,2021. Once again, the use of  United Nations Security Council (UNSC) currently has become the favored venue to enable the US repeat its demands in support of the TPLF under the guise of security and humanitarian concerns in Ethiopia  The currently elected government of Ethiopia moved out the Ethiopian National Defense Forces ( ENDF) from Tigray Killil (region) on June 28, 2021 declaring a unilateral cease fire. The conflict in the region persists because the TPLF is attacking the neighboring Afar and Amhara Killils and causing internal displacement in these regions. Looting by the TPLF child warriors has become a modus operandi in small towns of the Afar and Amhara regions. A defensive war is fought by the Afar and Amhara militia with support of the federal ENDF stationed in these regions.

The US and its allies are giving credence to the unholy alliance of OLF and TPLF by stating at the UNSC meeting “……the Oromo Liberation Army—an armed group which seeks self-determination for the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, ….and the TPLF announced the formation of an alliance to fight the Ethiopian government”.

“The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) —an armed group was wiped out by the TPLF when the latter was in power and the remaining OLF’s leaders lived in exile until PM Abiy allowed them to return back and join PM Abiy’s reform movement peacefully. It is said “no good deed goes unpunished”, and those OLF terrorists that returned have been roaming the countryside killing civilians for the past three years.

PM Abiy’s Prosperity Party got all the votes in Oromia Killil in the last elections held in June 2021. It is also said  “misery loves company” and the OLF has opted to ally itself with the TPLF that essentially destroyed its organization some years back. In addition, this OLF move is a betrayal of all Ethiopians  and specially Oromos, who died to uproot the 27 years of TPLF terrorist rule from power in 2018.

The US, through the international media has been discrediting and disrespecting PM Abiy’s leadership and make it look like he is not fit to receive the Nobel Prize  in 2019. In short, the US and its willing partners have been eroding PM Abiy’s stature on the world stage. It is not the first time an African leader and Africans have been insulted by Western powers. The message is clear to all Ethiopians.

In a clear contrast to the US and its willing partners , Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave Ethiopia’s PM Abiy a dignified welcome to his country showing respect for the Ethiopian nation the PM represents.

It was reported that President Erdogan offered to serve as mediator in the conflict in Tigray. Before any official response from the government of Ethiopia to the offer of President Erdogan, the US said “ it appears that thus far these offers have not been accepted by Ethiopia.”

On Wednesday August 25, the UN’s Security Special Report shared the following …“ On 19 August, Samantha Power, the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), blamed the Ethiopian federal government for the insufficient delivery of aid into Tigray, noting that there is a food shortage “not because food is unavailable, but because the Ethiopian government is obstructing humanitarian aid and personnel, including convoys and air access”.(see our previous post in August on Samantha Power Ethiopia visit).

It was reported that the August 26 meeting was “the eighth time the Security Council has discussed the situation in Tigray since the crisis erupted in November 2020”…and “the briefing was only the second open Council session on this issue”.

Though the US and its willing partners talked about “accountability” , “sanctions” “violations of humanitarian and human right laws” a more rational approach maybe like that of China and Russia who view “…the crisis in Tigray should be understood as an internal issue”

It was also reported that at the July’s meeting  “Russia expressed regret about the format of the meeting and cautioned other Council members against using [the open meeting format] to further destabilize an already complex situation in Tigray and weaken the political position of federal authorities”.

Hager Wodad agrees with the Russian statement that  the UN should not be used by the US and its willing partners to destabilize Ethiopia by using the situation in Tigray and furthermore, weaken the elected government of Ethiopia.