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Failure to Stand for Democracy in Ethiopia Has Weakened Democracy Worldwide

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

In the post-Covid world, Western democracies have lamented the absence of commitment to the collective good – “shared common values” – among states. But their response to the conflict in Northern Ethiopia today suggests otherwise. The positions of the US and its Western partners on the conflict reinforce the conclusion held by authoritarian states that democracy – and the less-than-sustainable hegemonic status of the West – simply doesn’t work.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rule, which dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition since 1991 for 27 years, was known for its repressive governance culture and commitment to Marxist-Leninist ideological, economic and security policies. Labelled as a tier 3 terrorist organization by the United States government, this autocratic elite demonstrated its true colours one year ago today by staging an unprovoked terrorist attack which murdered thousands of federal Ethiopian forces across all outposts of the national armed forces’ northern command in Tigray.

Had the same incident been visited upon a NATO member state, no one would have questioned that ally turning to others for diplomatic support to underwrite a law enforcement operation, aimed in good faith at neutralizing such a serious threat to the national interests of the legitimate administration. Instead, and despite being fully aware of the TPLF’s repressive persecutions and terrorist classification, some global leaders knuckled under a narrative of a digital intimidation and fake news campaign that was launched by the TPLF’s remote and well-resourced satellite hubs.

The TPLF narrative vilified Eritrean forces, a long-term TPLF opponent, for unproven and uninvestigated alleged crimes. It criticized the government for postponing a federal election which international advisers had encouraged it to do, in line with the decisions of 78 other countries which postponed their elections due to Covid-19. It accused the Abiy government of “genocide” even within hours of its murderous and unprovoked attacks on its forces. And it has continued to issue critical comments to both the Ethiopian government and the population, which were working overtime to provide 70% of the humanitarian aid to a region that had been scourged by TPLF-staged chaos.

The United States and others were consistently critical of the Ethiopian government, even following the country’s federal elections in June in which approximately 75% of the eligible population voted. These numbers were bolstered by an additional 6.6 million who voted in September, bringing the outcome of the election to an approximate 80% voter turnout. It was the first peaceful, democratic and transparent election ever to be held in the country, confirmed by100,000 local election monitors and over 100 international election observers.

Yet despite an outcome of which even Western democracies would be proud, in which PM Abiy Ahmed secured a landslide victory, congratulatory messages normally issued in this context were not forthcoming. Not backing democracy at the outset makes it harder to support later democratic victories, even when such support should be self-evident. By embracing moral equivalency where none exists, Western states have undermined their own position.

In effect, the position that some world leaders have adopted on Ethiopia not only ignores the voice of over 100 million Ethiopians, as well as a very populous global Ethiopian diaspora, but also defies basic democratic values – values which Western countries are supposed to support. The West’s failure to call out the TPLF for its atrocities and breaches of international law – instead preferring to direct punitive measures towards the country’s duly elected government – reflects a selective and illiberal application of these values. By treating a terrorist organization as equal to a democratically elected and legitimate government, the US and its partners, the underlying values and principles of the West come across as inconsistent and contradictory.

Such values would normally include pushing for a peaceful transition from the harsh TPLF rule that the West supported in 2018, enhancing the security of states, their populations and their borders – actions for which Ethiopia has been vilified and denied international respect – and supporting basic human rights and freedoms. These values, in turn, must rest upon a stable world order – a prospect which has diminished in the face of irresponsible meddling and destabilizing actions which have made other African states fear similar treatment.

For a hugely populous, diverse and landlocked country situated in a challenging and unstable region, Ethiopian federal democracy is the only option in the Horn of Africa. The very model that the US insists it upholds has been freely chosen by an African people for the first time in their country’s history. Yet rather than a milestone to celebrate, this is being derided and condemned by its supposed allies.

If the United States and the European Union continue to do all they can to undermine Ethiopia’s progress, the result will be damning. Washington and Brussels will be rewarding a terrorist organization that has committed the same heinous crimes as al-Shabab and Boko Haram and that has arguably targeted more children than these groups. One year on, and the embarrassment does not lie with the emergent federal democracy in Ethiopia. It can be found in Washington, Brussels and Geneva, whose commitment to democracy seems more tentative than ever.

Both President Putin and Secretary Xi have made the case openly and frankly that democracies are undependable. There are several strains to their allegation. First, they claim that important domestic decisions cannot be made effectively through the democratic process as conceived and implemented in the West. Second, they also contend that democracies are unreliable as allies and partners. Whatever the accuracy of these allegations, the failure of Western democracies to support other democratic governments, especially when they are in conflict with terrorist organizations that are bent on destroying democracy and imposing a harsh Marxist dictatorship, clearly underlines the core question around reliability.

For more than a year, the Ethiopian government has been battling an armed insurgency eager to destroy the country’s democratic character. Civil conflict produces excesses and tragedies on all sides, but there is no moral equivalency between those sides. Any lack of resolve on that issue in the democracies of the West weakens democracy everywhere.

Ann Fitz-Gerald is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor of International Security at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science Department. She is also a senior research associate with the Royal United Services Institute and a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD).

Hugh Segal is a Mathews Fellow in Global Public Policy at Queen’s University, Senior Advisor at Aird & Berlis and former chair of the Special Senate Committee on Anti-Terrorism.

The Specter of Rwanda

By Addissu Admas

November 2, 2021

The TPLF is literally treading on the blood of the Tigrean people. It has decided that no Tigrean, young, old, woman, man, able, disabled, Muslim or Christian will be spared in its attempt to force its way down to the Capital. In this campaign of total massacre, we have not yet heard any voice among Tigreans who have asked the simple question: to what end? Do they really believe that the TPLF, even with the other fringe liberation fronts can re-take the central government and lead a pacified nation? Or, have they bought into the notion that the Tigrean people are the victim, and the TPLF is their avenger? Or, perhaps, is it hoping that with its most destructive campaign the TPLF would be in a stronger position to negotiate a much better deal for a probable future independent Tigray? Virtually all Tigreans appear to have bought TPLF’s completely warped, deceitful, and paranoid depiction of the intention of the federal government. Let me repeat what we know without an inkling of doubt: Yes, the war was triggered by a seditious act of the TPLF. It murdered in cold blood the soldiers of the Northern command to rob the best-furnished weapon’s warehouse in the country. It refused to allow the federal government to arrest its most corrupt and murderous members. The Federal government had every legitimate reason to restore order in the Killil, as the constitution would allow it. It did try to do so. Since the TPLF has been masterful in misinforming not only its own people but also the West, it was able to gain the favors of this latter in divulging its lies far and wide. In effect, thanks to the West always-questionable intentions, the TPLF started with a huge advantage in the disinformation war. Soon Ethiopia became a quasi-rogue state, accused among other things of genocide. A total and unforgivable fabrication. The irony now is that we are on the cusp of a veritable genocide if the TPLF ruling cadre does not stop its crazed escalation of this war. Let us pause for a moment and ask with clarity of mind the following basic questions: Is this TPLF march to Addis Ababa, with all its progress and regress, to reconquer the power it once held? Or, is it motivated by the desire to never stand trial for the multitudinous crimes it perpetrated not only against other Ethiopians but against its very own people? Is it to cover up the vast corruption and the ill-gotten wealth of its members, their families and relatives? Is it to unleash its never-concealed hatred for the Amhara people and contempt for the rest of Ethiopians? Or, to give it the benefit of the doubt, a war of ideology on federalism as it conveniently wants to portray it?

Let me answer these questions in the order I asked them. If the TPLF believes in anyway and with any level of conviction that it can regain its considerable former power, it would be setting itself for a rude awakening: Ethiopians have always seen through its blatant use of “divide and rule” principle. It came to power and stayed through all the 27 long years to do only one thing: to establish the hegemony of itself and its people in every sector of government and the economy through a crude use of this principle. I say to it, rest on your glory, a second attempt would only be a Greek tragedy. Ethiopians are now at a boiling point. They are outraged not only that the West has sided with an oppressive, murderous party, but it also seems to watch with complete nonchalance the destruction of Ethiopia. The TPLF instead of being content in “liberating” Tigray, it is wreaking havoc and mindlessly killing untold number of Ethiopians without any protestation from Western media. Which, quite disconcertingly, seems to be applauding TPLF’s wins and the destruction of Ethiopia. What has never penetrated the tribalist psyche of the TPLF is that Ethiopians tolerated it for such a long time not because they were intimidated by its formidable military prowess, not for its tight security system, but because they chose peace at any cost. Now that it is unleashing its ill-equipped, ill-fed, ill-clad hordes of poor Tigrean peasants on the byways and towns of Amhara, we can only conclude that it is opening the floodgates of genocide.

Besides the real fear of losing the hegemony it built for itself and its people, the TPLF has realized since it lost power in April of 2018, that the time of reckoning had finally arrived. Since it knew very well that its corruption, persecutions, imprisonments and assassinations would very soon be exposed for all to see, it had prepared remarkably well its exit. It seems that it had vowed secretly to neither stand trial for years like the hapless Derg officials, nor part with its vast ill-gotten wealth. It instead retreated to Tigray to avoid accountability, and plot its next rebellion.

What this current TPLF campaign reminds us anew is the level of cruelty it is willing to inflict not only on the Amhara people but maybe even more on its own people. Badme, a wasteland that the UN decided it belonged to Eritrea, saw tens of thousands of poor Ethiopian soldiers lose their young lives, not for the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, but the “realization” of a fantasy called “Greater Tigray”. A similar tragedy is unfolding today as tens of thousands of Tigreans are being slaughtered and countless innocent Amhara country folk being violated and displaced from their ancestral lands. To what end one may ask? Does the TPLF think that it can establish a colonial state with the connivance of disgruntled fringe groups in Ethiopia? Does it really believe that it can continue to use its people residing in Amhara and the rest of Ethiopia to establish its “rule”? If such is its intention, then it should – supposing a scintilla of reason and humanity is left in it – realize that it is egging the country towards a genocidal war the extent of which has never been seem in Ethiopia’s long history.

Ethiopians have had it! They will not take it lying down! What is it going to be? Another Rwanda? The US & Company are very much responsible for emboldening this rogue party and the predicament in which it has plunged Ethiopia. Rather than shoring up a budding democracy and the rule of law, they chose to support and empathize with a rogue party whose sole ambition is to restore the hegemony of itself and its people at any cost whatever. I say to Ethiopians to never put credence in the US, or the West in general. Just as the Clinton administration, with all the information it had, let Rwanda plunge into a horrific genocidal war while it instead intervened vigorously in the Baltic wars, we will see the Biden administration, just like the Carter administration in the mid-seventies, watch Ethiopia being destroyed by siding with a rogue party. At this juncture, all Ethiopians, including Tigreans, must come to see through the pure madness of the TPLF and save this ancient nation from the brink.

እውነት ማሽነፏ አይቀሬ ነው

October 25, 2021

የኢትዮጵያኖች በአሜሪካ ውስጥ ያደረጉት እውነትን የማሳወቅ ትግል ትንሽ ውጤት እያሳየ ነው:: በመጀመሪያ ላይ ሰበር ዜና ለማለት ፈልጌ ነበር ግን ከቅርብ ጊዜ ወዲህ ይኼ ቃል ትርጉም የለሽ ሆኗል :: የውሸት ዜና ዋና ምልክት ሆኗል:: ትልቁ ነገር ለኢትዮጵያውያን ወጌኖቼ ለማለት የፈልግሁት በአሜሪካን አገር በትውልደ ኢትዮጵያውያን (ዲያስፖራ ይሉታል) የተደረገውና መደረግ ላይ ያለው እውነትን የማሳወቅ ትግል በትንሹ ውጤት እያሳየ ነው::

ለአለፉት በትንሹ ሦስት አሥርተ ዓመታት በኢትዮጵያ ላይ የተጠነሰሰው ኢትዮጵያን የማፍረስ ሴራ የተሳካ እንዲሆን በተደራጀ እቅድ በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ በኢትዮጵያ ኢምባሲዎች፤ በተባበሩት የዓለም አቀፍ መንግስታት ድርጅቶች፤ ተያያዥ ቅርንጫፎች ሁሉ ይኼንን ዕቅድ ሥራ ላይ የሚያውሉ ግለሰቦችን ትሰግስገው ይገኟሉ::

በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃ ያሉትን የሚዲያና የመገናኛ መዋቅሮች ውስጥ የራሱን ዓላማ ሥራ ላይ የሚያውሉ ግለሰቦች አሰልጥኖ በማስቀጠር፤ ከኢትዮጵያ በዘረፈው ገንዘብ ሎቢስቶችን በመቅጠር የውሸት ፕሮፓጋንዳ በማካሄድ ጥቅምት 25 ቀን 2013 በኢትዮጵያ መከላከያ ሰሜን እዝ ላይ ያካሄደውን የክህደት ጥቃት በመካድ ጠ/ሚአብይ አህመድ ነው ጦርነት የከፈተብን የሚል የውሸት ግንባር ፈጥሮ ነበር::

የዓለምን ሕዝብ በኢትዮጵያ ላይ አሰልፎ የፖለቲካ ግንባር ቢፈጥርም ነገሮች መቀየር ጀምሯል:: እውነቱ እየወጣ ነው:: በአለፈው ሐሙስ በ10/21/2021 በፈረንጆች አቆጣጠር የአሜሪካ ኮንግረስ የውጭው ጉዳይ ኮሚቴ ያሳለፈው ሪዞልሽን አሜንድመንት (amendment 445) አዲስ ነገር ባይኖረውም (አሰልቺና ተደጋግሞ የሚነግር ስልለሆ ነ) በአዎንታ መታየት ያለበት ኮንግሬስ አባል የሆኑትና ሬዞሉሽኑን የመሩት ካረን ባስ ሕጉ ካለፈ በሁዋላ የሰጡት አስተያየት ሰበር ነው::

ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ በሥልጣን ሃላፊነት ያሉ መሪ ሰው በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የሚካሄደው ጦርነት የተጀመረው በትግራይ ተዋጊ ግንባር በሰሜን የኢትዮጵያ ዕዝ ላይ በደረገው ጥቃት መሆኑን ካረን ባስ አብስረዋል:: ይኼ በዲያስፖራው ማለትም በውጭ ባሉት ኢትዮጵያውያኖች የተካሄደ የትግል ውጤት ነው:: እንኳን ደስ አለን ማለት ተገቢ ነው::

ካረን ባስ ያበሰሩት እውነትን ነው፤ የአቁዋም መግለጫ ውስጥም ባይገለጽም :: ገና ብዙ መንገድ ይቀረናል:: ለኮንግሬስ አባሉዋ ካረን ባስ የምስጋናና የማበረታቻ መልዕት መላክ ተገቢ ነው :: ትናንሽ ድሎችን ማስተዋል (recognize) ማድረግ መቻል አለብን።

ትግሉ ይቀጥላል።

The UN Literally Looks the Other Way When It Comes to TPLF Human Rights Abuses

Jeff Pearce

Tigrayans forced to fight, weapons being fired and risking locals’ safety, and staff told not to video TPLF “recruitment events” — UN officials don’t talk publicly about THESE conditions in the region

According to a leaked UN internal communication from last Saturday, October 2, its humanitarian staff in Shire know of or at least have heard reports of human rights abuses within the areas they serve in Tigray and seem to be indifferent to responding and acting on them.

What’s being told to a group of UN workers and cluster partners is starkly different at times to how the OCHA is publicly reporting the situation.

Among the revelations in an internal email sent to the Shire Group, one official tells recipients, “The situation across Shire AoR feels a bit tense as TF military recruitment campaign continues (and intensifies) for over a week now. Unconfirmed reports indicate that mandatory recruitment (at least one person per family) have been ongoing in the past few days, coinciding with the increasing tensions and challenges in/around TF-controlled areas in Amhara region.”

There is a lot to unpack here, but what stands out most of all is how there is noindication in the email that the UN manager wants to investigate further to confirm or that officials will ask TPLF leaders to cease and desist forcing Tigrayans to fight for a terrorist group.

The “one person per family” reference is also interesting in that the official shows no interest in determining whether these forced recruits include children.

The UN is still protesting the Ethiopia government’s move to kick out seven UN senior officials it declared persona non grata and which it accuses of undermining security operations, spreading disinformation, and collaborating with the TPLF. Sources confirmed months ago and in August that senior UN officials have harassed Ethiopian workers, helped the TPLF to sabotage national exams in Mekelle, and worked to misrepresent the UN’s own discussion of how to respond to sexual assault cases during the conflict.

It’s reasonable to ask, as the U.S. and its public advocates go on complaining over the expelled “Seven Saints,” how does the UN keep working in Tigray, knowing that Tigrayan residents, including children, are being forced to go to war?

Here is a UN official openly suggesting in an email to colleagues that ordinary Tigrayans are being forced to fight over “challenges” in TPLF controlled regions of Amhara — a hell of a euphemistic way of saying the locals are fighting back. And giving us a window on how desperate TPLF forces are, needing to drag their own people to the battle lines.

“Firearm shooting to celebrate the recruitment is frequently heard and may pose danger to local population and aid workers,” reports the email.

And what action is the UN taking to persuade TPLF soldiers and their officers to stop doing this dangerous practice? None is given.

“All partners, please, refrain from attending (and taking pictures/videos of) any recruitment-related events.”

This is quite revealing. Why must partners and UN staff even need to be toldto steer clear and not capture any photo/video evidence of recruitment-related events?

Why would they attend and be fraternizing with new recruits at all?

Instructing staff not to take any photos or videos of recruiting events is a damage-control effort that speaks more to protecting the TPLF’s image than the physical safety of UN workers. What is the concern here? That staff will be seen socializing with TPLF recruits? That the recruits may include children, and the video and shots will provide more evidence? It’s a practice already confirmed by the New York Times’ own glorifying of child soldiers and in other media reports.

And as the campaign continues to try to keep senior UN officials like Kwesi Sansculotte in their jobs, despite his lack of social media professionalism which now proliferates the airwaves, the UN doesn’t seem very interested in talking about this:

“In the last couple of weeks, a few people were reportedly arrested (suspected of spying for ErDF) and many mobile phones of local people were temporarily confiscated on the suspicion of possibly conveying intelligence info using humanitarian Internet…” [The ellipse is in the original]

Would the UN like to weigh in on what happened to these arrested individuals? Did staff bother to find out their names and how and where they’re being detained? How about if they’re still alive? Given that during the Meles Zenawi era of TPLF rule, torture conducted right in downtown buildings in Addis was commonplace, what are UN staff doing to further investigate and ensure that these arrested individuals are having their rights protected?

The email doesn’t address any of this. And this, too, is glaringly omitted from the Situation Report.

“A few checkpoints along the Shire-Mekelle road remain open for humanitarians, though sporadically crowded with new recruits undergoing military training.”

This seems to indicate that any interference with aid getting into the region cannot simply be blamed on Ethiopian military and militia. In fact, the official contradicts herself in her own email:

“Items such as generators, ITC, teff, high-energy biscuits, and office furniture are still not allowed to transit to Tigray (despite approval by NDRMC these items are denied at checkpoints).”

NDRMC means the National Disaster and Risk Management Commission of the Ethiopian government. In other words, the Ethiopian government approved these items, but they were denied at checkpoints. Who then would deny them? Well, the federal army is no longer in control of the region after it left during the unilateral ceasefire, and it certainly wasn’t around at the time this email was written (October 2). So the only force that could prevent transit is the TPLF.

Keep in mind, the email tells us: “A few checkpoints along the Shire-Mekelle road remain open for humanitarians, though sporadically crowded with new recruits undergoing military training.” Shouldn’t these be the likely candidates for interfering with shipments?

Moreover, in keeping with the flood of photo/video evidence on social media, the email gives us a clear confirmation that the UN’s fleet of vehicles are being misused by the TPLF, contrary to UN aid chief Martin Griffiths trying to blame the more than 400 disappearing trucks on the Ethiopian government:

“Some rental vehicles have reportedly abused UN stickers to easily pass though checkpoints unrelated to any work done for UN,” admits the official in her email. “All partners using rental vehicles, please, make sure there is proper tracking of who and when uses the stickers so this practice of unauthorized use of stickers stops.”

The email also blames bank closures and communications disruptions for cashflow problems (neglecting to mention the number of comms technicians sent to do repairs by the Ethiopian government who have been murdered on the job by the TPLF). And then offers this startling insight into the situation:

“Partners (continue to) report that some national staff working for NGOs in Tigray are not turning up to work due to their inability to pay salaries. Some have tried (for a few months now) to get them paid in-kind/food, but the increasing food prices and depleting stocks affect the arrangement.”

It’s only speculation, but how much then is the relentless cries for return of banking and communications services driven not by the needs of ordinary Tigrayans as by the NGOs facing desertion of their staff?

And there’s more. The email includes the attachment of a PowerPoint presentation on preliminary findings of another round of “Emergency Site Assessment” by IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix. However, the methodology borders on bizarre: relying on questionnaires of 4,061 “key informants” — of whom only 35 percent were women and girls who contributed their “local knowledge.”

The data collection period spanned a few days in late July and all of August. But even a casual look suggests that someone is cooking the books on the numbers. The regional breakdown suggests only 151,040 Internally Displaced Persons in the Amhara region.

Well, I’m not good at math, but I was there in Wollo during the very period that this “assessment” was being made, and while the slide map somewhat reflects the truth of what the ArtsTV team and I found ourselves — that there were about 100,000 IDPs in the Dessie area alone — why doesn’t the map also reflect IDPs across the North Wollo woredas? How about those fleeing the shelling of Debre Tabor or the capture of Lalibela, both of which occurred during this same assessment period?

In fact, according to figures released by the Ethiopian Ministry of Peace, the number of IDPs in the Amhara region is about 550,000 as of September 15.Since more than 400,000 people didn’t suddenly cross into the region on the morning of September 1st, that means DTM had to be willfully blind in how it conducted its research through August, ignoring the great tides of victims of the TPLF looking desperately for safe haven.

The inescapable impression we’re all left with is that the UN has not only been lying to all of us, but even lying to itself. Ethiopia restricted itself to kicking out only seven senior officials. It may need to reconsider expanding the list of those who need to be shown the door.

Reexamining Ethiopia’s Foreign Alliances

By Addissu Admas

September 25,2021

PM Abiy’s response to Biden’s threatened sanctions and restrictions are rather mild compared to the reaction displayed by Ethiopians behind closed doors. This current US administration has essentially decided to remain deaf to the plight of Ethiopians and is shamelessly siding with the TPLF, despite this party’s abysmal record, and its stated plan to drive Ethiopia into civil war in the hope of regaining its hegemonic position. The strategy these days is to depict Dr. Abiy as a megalomaniac despot, impervious to reason; and the TPLF as a victim of cruel persecution. I do not know who advises Biden or Blinken. To be perfectly honest, that is the least of my concerns. I have come to the conclusion than even many of those holding prestigious and endowed chairs in institutions of higher education have sold their souls to this manipulative and cruel party. I need not dignify them here by naming them. Those who read their questionable academic papers know who they are. Much ignorance, blatant calculation and capricious partiality, and who knows, plain old corruption may be the reasons behind their grandiloquent pronouncements. Believe me they know nothing about the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people. What they know about Ethiopia was poured into their ears and minds by the TPLF; may be even with a dash of corrupting pampering!

I say to PM Abiy that the West has decided not to consider our present predicament with the impartiality, equanimity and objectivity owed to our well-established ancient country. We are, and we will remain a troublesome Third World country where seditious and murderous parties have the same-standing as governments elected by a super-majority of the people. For the West, we are no more than brawling children in the schoolyard deserving the same number of lashes each, without establishing who the guilty party is. It matters not who started the brawl: discipline must be maintained!

The Ethiopian government does not need to be told what to do. It has acted and will continue to act within the powers granted to it by the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). It should not succumb to the pressure exerted by the U.S. or its allies. If the American government refuses to continue in its stubborn determination to completely ignore the very destabilizing group that is the TPLF, then PM Abiy’s government has no other option than reexamine and re-direct its alliances.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the youthful Zhao Lijian tweeted recently “[in part]…we believe the parties concerned in Ethiopia have the wisdom and capability to properly resolve their differences, realize national reconciliation and restore peace and stability”. This is a model of how a sovereign nation treats another sovereign nation, i.e. with the dignity and the deference it deserves. The U.S. is going around the world with a big truncheon intimidating its own allies to submission. This has not worked and it will never work.

I say to PM Abiy and his government that it is time to reexamine or even reorient his alliances if America continues to refuse to acknowledge the fact that this war was ignited by the TPLF for the sole purpose of regaining its lost hegemony and the advantage of the people it claims to represent. And not, obviously, because it has profound concern for the country, or much less because of “ideological differences”. If the U.S. and the EU want to continue to believe in the false narrative the TPLF is feeding them, it is time for PM Abiy to seek support elsewhere.

I am convinced that the PM continues to be well disposed towards the U.S. and the EU not only because they are the main source of humanitarian aid to the country, but also because he has clearly indicated to favor their economic and political ideologies. Nevertheless, I would say that it is time for him to choose his friends carefully in order to preserve the integrity and wellbeing of a nation under his stewardship.

If Jimmy Carter had simply lent a helping hand to the beleaguered military regime in its war against Somalia in 1976-77, he would have most likely prevented the cruel excesses of the Derg, and the country may have stirred most likely in a different direction. However, Carter’s refusal to help Ethiopia forced the Derg to embrace the Soviet Union unreservedly. I need not recount here what happened after; it is a well-known part of our modern history. Similarly today, Biden is pushing the Government of Ethiopia to ally itself to the other superpowers of the globe for no other reason that it being obtusely deaf to what the super majority of Ethiopians are demanding. That is that the TPLF stop attacking the Amhara and Afar regions for no other reason than the hope of “securing” a better bargaining position should there be a negotiation proctored by the U.S. If the U.S. wants genuinely peace in Ethiopia, it should demand that the TPLF savage and destructive incursions in neighboring Killils (ethnic enclaves) stop. It needs to be added here that the TPLF, even though it may claim to be the sole representative of the Tigrean people, cannot decide for the total and irreversible independence of Tigray. This is a decision that only the Tigrean people can decide in a universal suffrage, and thus cannot be part of TPLF’s negotiation strategy, or much less the objective of their military campaign. After all, regardless of what is happening today, the Tigrean people are still under the dictates of the Constitution of the Federal State.

As things stand, I have a distinct feeling that the Biden administration is self-righteously entrenched in its position, and PM Abiy’s government has no choice but to embrace whomever is willing to provide a lending hand to end this miserable war. I have confidence that the PM, as Mr. Zhao Lijian stated, will have “the wisdom and capability” of choosing the best allies in helping him maintain the integrity and well-being of Ethiopia and of all Ethiopians.