BY DIRRIBA TESHOME
When the Ethiopian people and government launched a comprehensive package of political and economic reforms in 2018, they were driven by a commitment to realize the twin objectives of peace and prosperity for themselves. As the external dimension of our peace mission started bearing the desired fruits, the internal peace was threatened by hardline members of the old order.
And particularly the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) junta who positioned all within its hands had tried its best to subvert the reform process and bring itself back to power through the use of force, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D) said in his call to the international community on Adherence to the Principles of Non-intervention in Internal Affairs. For almost three years, in its efforts to frustrate the democratization process, the TPLF had orchestrated a spate of violent attacks by training, arming and financing criminal elements to target ethnic and religious minorities in different parts of the country.
In action treason, on 4 November 2020, the TPLF leadership launched a brazen attack, under cover of darkness, against the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. Using traitors recruited from within the army, not only did the TPLF leadership cause the massacre of unarmed soldiers in the dead of night, they also attempted to take possession, illegally, of the entire military depot of the Northern Command in what they-themselves admitted and called a “lightning preemptive attack” on the indomitable Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF).
Such noticeably treasonous acts committed by a political party constitute a brazen attempt to take power by unconstitutional means. It is also a criminal offense per the laws of not only Ethiopia but also the international community. Adding fuel to fire in TPLF’s viciousness, thousands of innocent civilians were brutally massacred in the town of Mai Kadra, Metekel and Gedeo Zone. The massacre by TPLF had mounted to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The rule of law operations carried out by the government of Ethiopia since the day our ENDF was attacked, therefore, constituted acts intended to defend and preserve the sovereignty and integrity of the state of Ethiopia. It was also aimed at restoring law and order throughout its territory, and to bring the perpetrators to criminal act to justice.
Likewise, maintaining the integrity of our political and constitutional order requires us to take robust law enforcement measures against the clique of apostate within the TPLF. And the Federal Government was forced to engage in this operation for existential reasons – the future of Ethiopia as a sovereign nation and the peaceful co-existence of its people were at stake. The heavy cost we experienced as a nation was necessary.
More specifically, as Mekelle Provisional Mayor Atakilti Haile Selassie recently told Addis Zemen, the capture of Sebhat Nega, the evil mastermind behind the atrocities of TPLF, has clearly shown that the junta is not a force beyond rumors and is important for the community to return to normalcy. And the arrest of dozens of senior Junta leaders, including Abay Woldu-Ex Tigray State President, is a sign of the end of the group leading Ethiopia to wage only a war against poverty and peace building particularly in the nation and the Horn in general.
Therefore, it is fair to argue that the measures taken against those who have taken up arms against the Federation were in accordance with the spirit and objectives of democracy, elections and governance which prohibit unconstitutional change of government and promote democratic governance. For these reasons, capturing and destroying TPLF junta masterminds and underlings is essential to create democratic system, to normalize living, to develop prosperity in Ethiopia.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD JANUARY 15/2021
