BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Following what the Ethiopian government has called the ‘law enforcement campaign’ in Tigray region we have observed that Ethiopia has been subjected to more or less biased and almost totally negative reporting by many international media. This has inevitably contributed to influence negatively the relations the country has been enjoying with several important development partners. And this has been orchestrated by the ‘enemies’ of Ethiopia including those who benefiting from some sort of assistance from abroad have been operating from inside.
It is regrettable to see that because of internal political differences, certain forces such as most notably the TPLF would not leave any stone unturned to see the destruction of the country as a whole and the regional state in particular as long as they were not in a position to rule over it or control it. Evidently their objective could be to show to the world that it is because of the measures of the federal government that the humanitarian crisis in the region has developed and managed to attract the attention of the entire world. It is also sad to see that the leaders of this party have used as hostage millions of people just to fulfill their insatiable ambitions for power, not excluding the risk to send them to the ultimate sacrifice.
The reports that come from the region leave any one who is interested in the well being of the country perplexed when they come to learn that systematic destruction of the infrastructure including health and educational establishments have been carried out. There have been repeated attempts to destroy the power infrastructure and telecom networks so that the people would be ‘enraged’ against the federal government and the state becomes ‘ungovernable’. In fact, they had threatened these moves before they were forced to flee or get captured when the law enforcement campaign was underway. It is understandable that whichever political ideology one follows, the federal forces had no alternative but to defend the constitution as they did in several other places earlier notably the Somali regional state when some sort of regional rebellion was attempted. In fact we remember the words of the prime minister when he asserted that there can be no compromise whatsoever on the integrity and unity of the country as long as there is a government worthy of its name. He had pledged that only on the graves of his government could anything of that sort could ever be allowed to succeed! That was probably one of the moments when the prime minister had full consensus on the part of all Ethiopians.
There may be many people who are seen very much enraged and even depressed by the way the country got engulfed in such deep tragedy irrespective of who created it or exacerbated it. They say the entire story of this chapter of our life has been really very sad and tragic because things could have been settled in less aggressive and more pondered manners that would be up to the times instead of subjecting the country and its population as a whole (and the regional state in particular) to untold sacrifices and immense losses. These people insist no cause would be above the lives of probably thousands of people killed and the millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance with their day to day life completely put us side down. TPLF may have wanted or fancied ‘a military solution’ to the disagreements it had with the federal government! This obviously was a historic mistake even by the admission of some of the people who sympathize with the causes of TPLF. What if the military solution fails must have been studied before even the plan was launched. In short, there was no viable Plan B and underestimating the resolve of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces even if it was mainly commanded and composed of TPLF officials has been a major miscalculation, showing how naïve and ill prepared the leadership of the party had been! And what we have now is the worst humanitarian crisis that could happen to a nation and the suffering of millions! ‘Was it worth it’ should be the question we must all ask?
Having a short recap of the events that resulted into the current impasse, the relations between the TPLF and the other members of the coalition called EPRDF have been deteriorating for months before there happened a complete rapture between them. It was clear that the ‘coalition’ that led the country for thirty years had proved itself to be incapable of administering the country. Hence the need for drastic reforms was imperative and could not be postponed to any future date. But evidently it was the terms of the reforms that created a huge disagreement and rift. As soon as the ‘new government’ came to power the new leaders did stretch their arms to the once top officials of the TPLF, but there was little they wanted to heed.
Some people believe that there has also been the ‘stubbornness’ on both sides because as much as TPLF did not accept any reasonable compromise insisting to remain dogmatic and inflexible in key positions even beyond reasonable representation, the pace of change and the way they were treated by the rest of the coalition who took full control may not have been deemed respectful for their dignity and worth. We have heard repeated accusations of being demonized and generally categorized as ‘criminals’ and they said this prompted them to fight until the end! It would however have been a betrayal of all the sacrifices paid during the pre-reform struggle if there was not put in place some tangible changes and reforms in the way things were run in the country. It is hence clear that things could not continue as before the reforms. But the attempts to find a more reconciliatory and serious compromise between the two did not help succeed and things began to get worse and the gaps continued to widen rather than narrow.
What was even worse was that both sides traded accusations and allegations of seizing full power and TPLF leaders began to mobilize the public opinion of their region that the current leadership was aiming to ‘destroy’ them and their hard earned autonomy. This created further misunderstanding, the propaganda campaign multiplied by the days reaching a point of no return. A siege mentality was made to develop and instead of pushing for development projects, and trying to change the lives of the poor, the regional government of Tigray openly began to build a ‘regional army’ with collection of arms from wherever they could secure! It was when this build up was being carried out and trenches and fortresses were being built along the regional borders in open daylight that many people began to urge the federal government to do something before things got out of control. In fact as feared they did go out of control and then followed what everyone could subsequently see. Some have questioned the patience of the federal government in the interest of peace and avoiding any such confrontation that eventually became inevitable.
On the one hand the reformists believed that they had to continue with their works and continued changing the structure of government reducing substantially the number of officials who were disproportionately occupied b TPLF officials. On the other hand, TPLF officials felt they were systematically targeted and were ‘humiliated’ by the moves of the new officials from other parties mainly those who came from the two regions of Oromia and Amhara.
Basically, the problem with Ethiopian politics has been made to rotate around who comes from which language or ethnic group and how much representation each must have. This formula was evidently prepared to divide the country into ethnically based regional states and there have been systematic endeavours to undermine the feeling of patriotism and rather see everything from the point of view of regional states. This has been the legacy of thirty year rule of TPLF-EPRDF dominion. In a way, it was also probably the legacy of the student movement of the sixties who did contribute to the adoption of the understanding of ‘the right to self determination of peoples’ within the framework of a certain left wing doctrine allegedly drafted somewhere in Europe. Was it applicable to the reality in our country was something that was never questioned.
More than any other epoch in the history of the country has there been systematic ethnic division promoted by the EPRDF government as if those communities in Ethiopia never lived together and in perfect harmony for generations despite the language and cultural differences. The once united country was made to think first and foremost in terms of ethnic origin rather than nationality as citizens of one huge and strong country.
This state of affairs of course has had several negative consequences on the psyche of citizens and when a people do not think in terms of the general interest of the country, the way that induce to disagreements and disintegration gets wide open. This has become a huge cause for foreign interference. It is clear that when we are divided we become very vulnerable to foreign interference and even attacks.
Playing us against each other has become a major stumbling block to a united action ever since the fascist attacks of the nineteen twenties. This has exposed us to the recent campaign against our sovereignty and integrity. This kind of behavior is not unheard of in the history of the country because human nature is such that not everyone can be a patriot; and there are some who try to benefit from contacts with enemies acting as mercenaries, as internal collaborators, as spies who supply vital information and even national secrets to these aliens.
The recent campaign orchestrated by many media outlets has been well supported by unfounded and fabricated testimonials from monasteries or religious places to gain either politically or even financially. It is a pity that there are Ethiopians who due to their allegiance to this or that party have put in danger the very sovereignty and dignity of the country. That is what all the rest of the country must fight back here at home as well as abroad! These people must wake up and realize that we have only one country and despite our political differences we must never give way to aliens to interfere in our internal affairs. This is the most mortal mistake we are making and we need to be inspired by the glorious chapters of our history such as the Adwa Victory inflicting a major blow to invaders whoever they might be. A nation of 115 million people is worth considering serious and not be dismissed as if it was incapable of independently surviving.
The recent systematic and relentless attacks on the Ethiopian people cannot be qualified any differently than interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation which no country would succumb to without compromising its dignity. This would amount to getting reduced to a colony and this is clearly unacceptable. The pressure may have been presented as ‘economic’ as many development partners of the government have begun to put conditions on the release of promised funds or assistance etc. but it has clear political implications and it amounts to blackmailing. It also tarnishes the reputation of a once respected country with so much diplomatic successes in the past, from contributing to the founding of the League of Nations and the United Nations to the Organisation of African Unity and other important international organisations.
Ethiopia’s name cannot be associated with certain unfounded accusations such as ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ as Ethiopian troops are well known for their discipline and their professional stature all over the world wherever they have been at peace missions from Korea to Congo, from Rwanda to Liberia etc. Hence, there is no way that all of a sudden such a reputed army could be involved in what some international media and even diplomatic officials of certain countries have been engaged in suggesting. It is really sad to see these developments and that is why Ethiopians from all walks of life have been expressing their strong objection and dismay over these unscrupulous attacks. That is why the Ethiopian government has been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic moves explaining how things have been developing and who are exactly the actors in the law enforcement campaign which is a national call and one of the mandates of a sovereign nation. If Ethiopia allows any form of unwanted and uninvited interference this means that it has become a colony and it has lost its dignity and sovereignty; and this can never be accepted by any Ethiopian wherever they may be!
The Ethiopiam Herald March 17/2021
