ETHIOPIA’S ELECTIONS 2021

US Different Administration Same Meddling

May 2 2021

Western governments are currently stooped in meddling in the internal affairs of Ethiopia. US presence, first by crude and ugly interference of its previous administration duo of President Trump and Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s attempt at arm-twisting PM Abiy on the Grand Ethiopian Renaisance Dam (GERD) negotiations …(first US by feigning as observers, then becoming defacto ‘impartial judges’ , and finally as unabashed defenders of Egypt’s interest).

Furthermore , when that did not work, bombing the GERD was suggested by president Trump, a presi- dent nicknamed by his former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson a “f**ken moron”. These acts are nothing short of meddling in the internal affairs of Ethiopia!

This was followed by the new president Joe Biden’s administration and his new Secretary of State AntonyJ. Blinken who became Ethiopia’s (humanitarian champion) declaring “grave concern about the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights crisis”, “the risk of famine in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and insecurity in other parts of Ethiopia”. The Secretary insisted on “Eritrean troops withdrawal from Tigray immediately, in full, and in a verifiable manner.”

We do have man made humanitarian crisis in Tigray but it is obvious for everyone to see, the scale of the Secretary’s piped up assertions of Tigray’s growing humanitarian disaster and human rights abuses don’t match the clamor of the US & EU diplomats make it out to be through their media outlets. If what is coming out of their bullhorn was true, it would by comparison dwarf that of Yemen’s disaster.

The world clearly sees Yemen’s disaster and we haven’t heard from Blinken a demand for the ongoing humanitarian disaster there and documentation of “ human rights abuse and the need for justice and accountability measures to hold those responsible to account”.

The tune is a little different in the United Nations. “On March 4, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held a closed-door meeting on Tigray, as it did on April 15, to discuss the unfolding crises in the region but they failed to reach a resolution calling for ending the violence as Russia and China opposed the adoption reasoning that this is Ethiopia’s internal matter.” (ETHIOPIAN REPORTER 7 April 2021By Brook Abdu)

To push his demands further, Secretary Blinken has appointed “a Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa” and the notorious Ambassador Feltman would go to the horn of Africa , it was communicated, to pressure PM Abiy to implement US demands. Ambassador Feltman would travel to Ethiopia and his mission is to continue with the stated aims of breaking up PM Abiy’s military defense posture i.e. the alliance of Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and Eritrean forces and to put a damper on the strident and growing Ethiopian nationalism on the GERD issue and Ethiopians approval of the law and order campaign in Tigray.

Also, under the guise of negotiating, Ambassador Feltman will be looking for an internal ally or some remanent of the TPLF cadres or volunteer trainers to push US agenda. It seems that his visit maybe the kick-off the US search for traitors if it is not in the works already.

It is obvious that the TPLF leadership’s head has been cut off (some captured in the woods are in prison awaiting their day in court, others met their demise in the backwoods of Mekele, still others act as straw men playing a game of “now you see me, now you don’t” on social media.

Hammered by the combined force of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, the Amhara militias and the Eritrean forces, today’s remaining TPLF units don’t see much light of day as a result of the Ethiopian air force raids that keeps them in check.

TPLF hit and run guerrilla tactics can hardly be distinguished from hits of local thieves and bandits, whose activities emerged when TPLF’s frightened heads let loose all criminal elements(estimated upwards of ten thousand) from prisons in and around Mekele as Mr. Debretsion and cohorts sped out on noisy pick up trucks as they left Mekele.

Ignoring Ambassador Feltman’s threat and pressure, PM Abiy and his party are gearing up for the Ethiopian elections in early June 2021. US and EU want to dictate on how to run the Ethiopian elections , but it was rebuffed by the Ethiopian government. US and EU’s role appears diminished in the Ethiopian elections and they seem to be engaged in trying to find ways to delegitimize the election process.

In fact, a signed letter by five democratic senators has urged Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman (on his way to the horn of Africa) by calling for the postponement of Ethiopia’s national elections and that it shouldn’t go forward.

Ethiopians however are looking forward to a historic election on June 5, 2021 propelling them  towards a country  that is more on a democratic path.

Hager Wodad, Los Angeles CA, USA

Ethiopians Recent Journey to A Historical Election

May 27,2021

The West (US and EU) is furious at the Chinese government’s contribution to Ethiopia’s development and growing friendship and is getting cantankerous and want to  take it out on PM Abiy .

Unhinged about the Chinese penetration in Africa and more so in Ethiopia,  the current unease of US state department officials expressed by anti Abiy’s government language,  political war and distortion has puzzled Ethiopians  and friends of  Ethiopia.

The recent US Department of State  statements/policy plans on  the current situation in Ethiopia declares “The United States has deepening concerns about the ongoing crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as well as other threats to the sovereignty, national unity, and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.”  Over the past thirty years,  US policy contribution towards supporting Meles’s TPLF/EPRDF regime in Ethiopia at the expense of all democratic demands by the Ethiopian people is the reason for the  significant  present day debacle/crises in the country.

Besides being the financier and suitor, successive US administration policies  supported and armed PM Mele’s TPLF/EPRDF regime to enhance   “war on terrorism” in Somalia. PM Meles  opened war on Somalia’s shabab and also used the weapons and training to  punish internal dissent.

The Ethio-Eritrea war of 1998-2000 which was mocked by some of the US media outlets as “two bald men fighting over a comb” is too recent to forget. The war cost a hundred thousand lives. Throughout these years, US administrations supported PM Meles’  repressive  rule that suffocated Ethiopians  democratic demands.

During this period,  all we heard from the western  media airwaves was adulation of  the TPLF’s regime with  “fastest growing economy”, never putting pressure on PM Meles’  for more democracy in the country and turning  a blind eye on his bloody dictatorship and the  ‘no war no peace’ situation with Eritrea.

Also, PM Abiy does’n t have a friend  in the likes of Ruben, Alex de Waal, Martin Plaut,  Cohen etc., and the sharp shooting TPLF lobbyists in DC who are on board with US State department policy that “PM Abiy Ahmed has condemned Ethiopia to dissolution” and “PM Abiy may have cemented his legacy not as a Nobel Peace Laureate, but rather as the man who ended a country whose history dates back millennia”.

Some in these group with a perfunctory  knowledge of Ethiopia’s  history or more recent  struggles of its people for modernity,  democracy and development over the past few decades, would realize Ethiopians are resilient people and  every generation  asserts its own imagination about the nation’s destiny. As Ethiopia looks  forward to national elections now rescheduled for June 21, the group’s doomsday babble  about PM Abiy’s legacy rings hollow.

I can’t be sure , but assume learned  men like those in the group   understand that the TPLF/EPRDF lost power by rebellion of Ethiopians from all corners of the country tired of its twenty- seven years of corrupt, repressive and cruel reign.

They  would also know  the mass movement that began 2016 culminated in TPLF’s overthrow despite US support throughtout its reign. Those in the  coalition of the EPRDF  tailgated the mass movement, and except for  the TPLF,  the remaining ones in the EPRDF’s coalition coopted  the popular mass movement  that eventually brought  PM Abiy to power.

Disturbed by its predicament, the TPLF settled in its regional state capital Mekele, used it  as home base  to attack PM Abiy’s government directly and indirectly for three years (i.e., since PM Abiy’s  ascent to power).

Voices in the group  claim that  “Abiy’s stated reason for his assault on Tigray was the rebuff of that province’s leaders to his efforts to delay elections.”. This is not the reason for the “assault” and

in fact, the main reason given by PM Abiy was to enforce the law through   “a law and order campaign” after TPLF’s attack on the  ENDF northern command. The group  should ease off  with these kinds of false narratives and they  should know Ethiopians are aware of the ongoing chorus of paid intellectuals and lobbyists crowding the airwaves  pushing with “strong language” to undermine the peaceful efforts of PM Abiy.

Ethiopians know numerous efforts  in  settling  differences peacefully by PM Abiy were  rejected and many calls for dialogue by efforts of Ethiopia’s respected elders, representatives of different religious  faith  were also thwarted by the TPLF  leaders.

No Ethiopian missed the tears of PM Abiy’s  peace minister pleading  for peaceful settlement while in fact, the TPLF  was preparing for war and  believed it will march  into  Addis in a couple of weeks after its attack on the northern ENDF.

After TPLF’s   attack on the ENDF northern command,  a bite that eventually destroyed  TPLF’s leadership,  PM Abiy’s counter attack, described as a law enforcement action, left  the remaining TPLF low level cadres roaming the country side of  Mekele looting, sabotaging infrastructure and fabricating fake news.   The TPLF is now designated a terrorist group by the Ethiopian parliament.

On May 26 , 2021 Senator Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) , as if to remind  the US State Department officials spoke on the senate floor saying that the Ethiopian government wants a peaceful  resolution to the problem. He also said to equate the TPLF  terrorist group in Tigray with the Ethiopian government is wrong and outrageous. Furthermore he said “I oppose the heavy handed visa restrictions from the Biden Administration. Ethiopia needs our support as they work to end the sectarian violence. Actions like this don’t help us get closer to a peaceful resolution”.

The US State Department official’s stated “Despite significant diplomatic engagement, the parties to the conflict in Tigray have taken no meaningful steps to end hostilities or pursue a peaceful resolution of the political crisis”.

This kind of hostile pressure on PM Abiy knowing the utter destruction of the TPLF leadership and rejection of the remaining  terrorist cadres roaming the woods along with  those who committed henious crimes in prison is unfair to  PM Abiy’s government. It  may turn out to be counter productive and as Ethiopia nears its historic national elections, we may see peaceful demonstrations across the Ethiopian

nation on this matter..

Hager Wodad, Los Angeles CA, USA