BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
Today’s Guest Muluberhan Haile Teklehaimanot was born and raised in the Shire zone of Tigray State in a village called Zala. He joined politics in 2005 when Ethiopia tried to exercise democracy via conducting real election. By then, he was in Bahir Dar in connection with the establishment of the then Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party. The young Muluberhan was impressed by the hot debate of political parties on a range of issues. People had voted peacefully. At the end of the tunnel, though CUD won the election, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) refused to cede power.
The election fraud put the people in an intricate situation. The chaos and political unrest made the youth a victim. Accordingly, several youths were assassinated or thrown to jail. The then youth made peaceful struggle without holding armament but many People paid a lot of sacrifices. Many youths were shot dead as they opposed the fraud. Since then, he has devoted himself to politics and was interested in joining the political party. Accordingly, he established the Ethiopia Visionary Party in 2008 and did notable tasks.
Since the reform period, he joined the Tigray Democratic Party (TDP) and has been serving the party in public relations and as a member of executive officers. After the law enforcement operation, he served as a deputy manager of the northeastern zone of Tigray State under the interim Administration. He raised a range of issues during his brief stay with the Ethiopian Press Agency recently. Excerpts:
How do you evaluate the recent law enforcement operation in Tigray State, especially in the zone you are administrating?
Since we engaged in Tigray state, the northern part was in conflict though the Ethiopian people and the government did not know about it. We have no shoulder to bury the conflict as many problems require pertinent attention from the interim administration. TPLF is the instigator of chaos that has occurred in Tigray State. If we go back and check some documents or videos, my political party expressed its fear and envisaged that war may be ignited between the TPLF junta and the government. The party had issued various press releases in connection with the issue. We had notified that the TPLF had orchestrated war against the government and made it ready to engross the Tigray people in the war. We tried to inform both sides that no one would gain anything from war.
The TPLF junta, a politically futile entity had been devising various strategies to do various mischiefs instead of engaging in negotiation. By its nature, TPLF is not a party that believes in negotiation. It had devised various strategies and disseminated propaganda since it relocated to Mekele town and finally, it launched brutal attack against the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF).
ENDF were massacred by TPLF terrorists and fellow military men and women who switched their loyalty and launched a treasonous attack against the defense forces, it has never failed to protect the people of the Tigray region over the past 20 and so years. ENDF members have always been on the side of the Tigrians, including during the trying times of the major locust invasion and the fight against the COVID-19 scourge. It also built schools, health centers apart from feeding starved people via contributing money from their salary. Surprisingly, some ENDF members were tied up with the community in marriage and have children. Forgetting all the good deeds, they slaughtered the ENDF members in the middle of the night. They purposely did such a nightmare, not for the sake of the people but for maintaining thier power.
TPLF Junta, again and again, lied to the international community and the Ethiopian people at large, releasing baseless information as the northern command of ENDF joined them and the central government was illegitimate as it was not elected one. They then went to legalize the fake election to hit their target. Any election has to be conducted as per article 102 of the constitutions and the election out of this principle is not getting legal acceptance. However, the TPLF junta conducted fake elections leaving the constitution aside to create a de facto state putting fake central government officials trusted by them. As a party, we condemned the treasonous steps taken by TPLF.
Anyhow, TPLF first instigated the war that took place in the Tigray state. When TPLF attacked the northern command, the border of the country was left without security guards. The war was very severe as it was assisted by missiles, tanks and advanced armaments. Following the war, various infrastructures have already been scratched. Criminal acts like robbery, bribery and so on were there. What is more, TPLF tried to convince the public as the war was targeted to wipe out the Tigray people and they initiated the people to rise up and defeat the war. The ordinary people were confused by the inaccurate information released by cadres and went to hide in the jungle. Many houses and vehicles cars were set on fire. In the middle, I went to the Shire Zone of Tigray State.
How do you explain the overall damage that occurred in the Tigray state?
First and foremost, the law enforcement operation took place during harvest season. As we all know, more than 80 per cent of Tigrians are farmers. During the war, the crop was not yet harvested. What the farmers produced were burned out and changed to ash. Understanding that it was on the verge of failure, the TPLF junta had exposed the people to peril. First, they released criminals who were previously thrown to jail in a bid to steal the people. TPLF took armaments from ENDF northern command members and distributed them to the youth to portray it as a public war. As a result, the wars claimed the lives of many people and destroyed various kinds of property. Sometimes, it is difficult even to imagine it. Anyhow, the TPLF junta is a responsible body for the damage occurring in the state. Every person understands it well. From the beginning the war was worthless and we tried to lucid misconceptions within the society and that may contribute some to conclude the war within a short period.
As the opposition party, we tried to lobby TPLF leaders to deliberate with the government and solve differences instead of engaging in worthless conflicts which claimed the lives of many citizens. However, the idea had not been getting acceptance
as TPLF is not a party that believed in negotiation or the give and take principle. The TPLF junta also does not believe in traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. If you see the background history of the party, it solved every problem through conflict. Similarly, it took unnecessary measures to resolve its differences with the federal government. However, they lie to the international community, Tigray people and that is another factor that contributed to concluding the war within a short period. After the law enforcement operation, we discussed with the people and reached a mutual consensus as the war did not make the people beneficiary. Understanding the reality on the ground, the people have been playing a greater role in exposing the fugitive TPLF from the place they concealed. From the beginning, except few senior officials, the Tigray people did not know the mischievous plan on the ENDF. That is why they preferred to displace jungles at times the war was ignited. In short, the trauma that comes out of the war was immeasurable.
Would you brief us on what is going on in the zone you are administering to stabilize the people at large?
In the state, there are rural and urban towns. The offices of rural towns are found in small cities. As part of the interim administration, the zone administration has rearranged all the town administrations. During the war, the people were frightened. All the people including security forces rushed to the jungle. The government institutions were damaged and no public servant was found at their desk. Following the collapse of the party, all the government institutions were crippled.
Previously, the TPLF junta had propagated that the party and the Tigray people are the same. There was no clear demarcation between the party and the public. This makes the rehabilitation task arduous. Right after we took power, we met elders, religious fathers and discussed current affairs. They pinpointed strategies that should be focused on. The people then elected its leaders at Woreda and Kebele level. Then, we provided administrative and humanitarian support to the people at large even if there was a shortage of food and infrastructure conducive to the task. And we can pay a monthly salary for public servants.
We encouraged the displaced people to return home using religious fathers as a means. Except few, many militiamen disarmed themselves and started leading peaceful life. However, some others who believed in the struggle were forced to leave the place where ordinary people reside in.
How do you appraise the magnitude of overall trauma due to the law enforcement operation?
What the Ethiopian government has been doing is, saving the lives of citizens even if the humanitarian assistance that has been supplied was not equivalent to people’s demand as the number of people who seek aid increases day in day out. Some segments of the people are always seeking humanitarian support. What is more, many people are subsidizing their living working as a daily laborer. Though some people have the financial capacity to feed themselves, they were starved due to no bank services. Considering that no world power has the capacity of dismissing the TPLF junta, the people had not expected such sort of operation and made themselves ready for challenges to occur.
The number of starved people was very high. However, we had no food at hand and tried to share meals temporarily to save the people from death. And we backed the public to normal situations by connecting woredas via transports, opening markets, assembling infrastructure such as electricity, telecom, banks, water and other utilities.
What are the shortcomings observed in other public institutions such as courts, etc?
We are working giving high emphasis on two things. One is, saving the starved people from death and addressing minor security issues related to robbery, transgression etc. Apart from the task made by ENDF, we assigned youth to protect the peace together with military officers. And after we paid salaries for public servants such as police officers, judges and attorneys, we urged them to serve the public using the property found in the office.
Since you had been there, how did you evaluate the humanitarian response of the International organizations?
In words, the international humanitarian organizations have been saying a lot but they have not been providing enough support to the people who seek aid. They listed a range of reasons for this. However, our doors are still open to any international organizations that are interested in supporting the people. Yet, anyone can witness that the government has been providing more than 80 per cent of humanitarians’ assistance to the Tigray people. So far, the Tigray Development Association is also providing over 200,000 quintals of food when I was there. We urged other humanitarian organizations to back the support provided to the people.
How did you evaluate the infrastructure damages especially in the zonal administration?
In the zone, there are airports and bridges which were not damaged or operating as usual. However, institutions such as banks were stolen. However, other infrastructures can be easily fixed and provide service to the residents. Schools were damaged severely. No office equipment is found at school, courts, and police stations.
Criminals and unemployed youths have stolen all the properties found in public offices. But some equipment were restituted with the participation of the public. Hospitals, health facilities were also victims of the law enforcement operation. The TPLF junta took the ambulance and medicine to the jungle. After the law enforcement operation, some properties in the hands of ENDF were released to zonal administration and it provides service to the community. However, there is still a shortage of medicine. Thus, the government should give priority to this.
There were some rumors that Eritrean soldiers crossed the Ethiopian border and attacked civilians in Tigray. Do you agree with this?
When I was heading to Tigray, I heard that women were raped and properties were stolen as numerous Eritrean soldiers were found in the North-western zone of Tigay state. I directly headed to the Eritrean army camps and asked them why? They replied that they did not do such sort of illegitimate act. Then, considering the shrewd nature of the TPLF junta, we tried to find accurate information.
However, the truth is, making sure that they had no public support; the TPLF junta had a desire to play psychological war on the public and provided them with condom notifying that Eritrean soldiers would come and rape them. Wearing fake Eritrean troops uniform, the blind supporters of the junta and the criminals carried out well-coordinated vandalism and looting of public and private property in the northern Tigray.
Even though the Eritrean soldiers crossed the Ethiopian border, they did not rape Ethiopian women. The army generals said, “If a member of the Eritrean army did this, we would have taken action against them.” We met women were victims of rape and investigated the issue. Accordingly, the raped women themselves witnessed that it was TPLF junta that trained them to blame Eritrean soldiers for the sexual assault it committed. Using such a method, TPLF Junta forced the people to flee to the jungle. Junta made various inhuman acts to gain political profit.
Concerning robbery, the people are robbed. Thus, we have to study to know who is behind the crime. The truth is, the Eritrean army crossed the border to protect the people.
TPLF had prepared a strategy that helped it to dismantle Ethiopia by creating an independent state. Thus, the Eritrean soldiers protected the Ethiopian people from being scattered and they paid sacrifice for that. The concerned bodies can elucidate the reality on the ground. As a zonal administration, we discussed with the people and asked them who robbed the property of the state?
The Eritrean immigrants were released during the war, Eritrean Liberation Front members and prisoners released from jail were engaged in unlawful tasks. TPLF also gave armaments for jobless youth to aggravate the chaos occurring in the state. Eritrean soldiers said; “As the saying goes ‘birds of a feather fly together’ nothing isolated Tigrians and Eritreans from being residing together as we share the same culture and religion”
So, we (Eritreans) have no desire to steal the property of Tigrians. Even in practice, Eritreans showed us their commitment via replacing some properties stolen by thief’s bringing from the place hidden. Vehicles that were taken to Eritrea for instance are returned and they also promised to return additional properties taken to Eritrea.
We met people in cities who are assumed to be victims of theft. They said, “Our sons steal our property.” As Eritrea was an independent state for the past two decades, they did not know the place various properties were found. The youth stole the Tigray people but this does not mean that there are no Eritrean citizens that were involved in the theft. However, it is difficult to conclude that Eritreans steal the property of Tigrians.
In various media outlets, fake news is distributed as the Eritrean soldiers hold some parts of Ethiopia and fly flags considering them as their property. However, Eritreans have no dream of taking a plot of land from Ethiopia. They instead tried to ensure peace and stability in the area. They support the interim administration. Right after the law enforcement operation was concluded, the Eritrean soldiers asked us to leave the state, but the people begged them not to do that until the state is secured.
What is expected from all stakeholders in stabilizing the Tigray state in general and the Shire zone in particular?
First of all, understanding the overall situation better is a must. TPLF is a party that terrorizes the people even after it is buried once and for all. Thus, people should understand that the TPLF junta will never and ever come back.
I thank you for your time.
Please, don’t mention it.
The Ethiopian Herald March 16/2021
