BY FITSUM GETACHEW
‘War is a nasty operation, a nasty activity; it is heinous and destructive and it should by all means be avoided. It is never a solution to any problem. Rather it exacerbates problems. The best alternative to wars is never to kindle it! ’ This was roughly and in a nutshell what prime minister Abiy Ahmed told the House of Peoples Representatives in the segment that included questions referring to security and ‘law enforcement campaign’ in Tigray and in the country as a whole when he appeared in the House to respond to questions presented by the MPs.
In his Q and A session in parliament on Tuesday Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made several important pronouncements not only on the Ten Year Prosperity Economic Master plan and the home grown economic reform for which the session was principally intended but also dwelt at length on several other current burning issues that are troubling citizens such as the GERD issue and the TPLF and OLF Shene attacks and related security issues as well as the response of the Ethiopian government on the vast destructive propaganda that TPLF residues and their collaborators are mounting against Ethiopia.
Among the most notable remarks the premier made what was very striking was the way he described what has happened not only in the post ‘law enforcement campaign’ in Tigray but also in the pre-campaign days in reference to the way his proposals for a peaceful settlement of any outstanding issues between the federal government and the regional administration of Tigray led by the TPLF.
He also described what exactly happened during the campaign largely admitting some of the allegations except that neutral bodies need to verify each and every accusation not only by the supporters of TPLF at large, but also by so called ‘concerned international bodies’ who say they have at heart the cause of the Tigray people.
Referring to the pre-campaign days, the premier said that he had implored the leadership of the TPLF to refrain from any propositions of war as it would be of disastrous consequences to principally the Tigray region, but also to the country as a whole.
He said he had even chosen some important personalities, well known business persons from the regional state to go to Mekelle and advise the leadership to come to their senses and settle for a peaceful roundtable negotiation because he did not like the news coming from TPLF headquarters.
He said it was all ‘talk about war and victories’ and that the Tigray people were fearsome warriors that would bring down not only the government of Ethiopia, but also be a major force in the Horn of Africa to be reckoned with! He said unfortunately even foreigners were tempted to believe their rhetoric and boasting as well as arrogance referring to vast reserves of arms and ammunitions and a huge army that would beat anyone!
However, the delegation I sent to Mekelle were forced to return empty handed the premier remarked. They returned convinced that TPLF had decided to force the federal government to compromise with them.
They were well advanced with their preparations for a war which they said would bring them back to Addis in triumph! They were boasting that it would take them two weeks to finish off the work but never had any plans if this failed.
The premier however told parliament that he did warn them that they would never win a war against Ethiopia and that any war for the region or the country as a whole was not at all worth it. All his advice and warnings were never heeded and that is the result of that ‘wrong decision by TPLF leadership’.
Talking about their arrogance and total incapacity of thinking, he said they made three major mistakes as regards their final behaviour. They prepared and waged a war against the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and humiliated them by stripping them of their uniforms and letting them go naked!
They took as hostage more than seven thousand soldiers including high and medium officers of the army taking them from the homes when they were off guard! It was a treasonous act. And they attacked neighbouring Eritrea so that it would involve in the battle and the issue would have international facet.
This had been attempted in another occasion as well when the Somali regional state former leadership did try to involve Djibouti by killing some citizens of that state when they tried a rebellion as soon as the reform leadership got to office three years ago. It failed then the premier said and it failed now.
Any attempt to dismember Ethiopia and expose it to enemies will always fail, the premier reiterated, expressing his full confidence that a united Ethiopia would never succumb to any alien influence because in unity we have great force and resolve, and recalled the battle of Adwa where farmers and not professional and well trained soldiers defended successfully the sovereignty of Ethiopia against colonizers!
The TPLF forces tried to expand the area of attacks and in two hundred different spots did they attack Ethiopian Federal forces at one time. It was the result of meticulous preparation and organisation the premier told parliament and the Ethiopian people.
Today after their defeat they are still thinking of winning back the war using the old fashioned guerrilla warfare which shows how backward they are and incapable of adapting to the modern days. What is more they attacked airports and infrastructure in the Amhara Regional state, cities of Bahir Dar and Gondar and directly launched full scale war in the bordering region of Amhara Regional State.
Fortunately, the attempt to involve Eritrea did not succeed directly and that spared us of any internationalization of the war and eventual involvement of international peace forces etc because this was a purely internal matter and no one except the federal government of Ethiopia had a say on the issue. The Ethiopian Armed forces reorganized themselves and launched an offensive that eventually resulted victorious, as pledged.
Speaking about the atrociousness of wars the premier told the House that war was by all means a nasty business in which lives are lost and destruction is the order of the day. He recalled how he had begged the TPLF leaders not to think of war as a solution for their problems and that by any parameter war was the worst alternative adding that he wondered how people thought that it is a solution.
War he underlined with emotion is never a solution to any problem! He said many people say that one wages war to defend one’s sovereignty; war is waged in the name of justice and equality and war is waged for this or that end or cause but in the final analysis, the hard fact it that ‘war is brutal and dehumanizing’ as once it is entered into, its costs are very difficult to calculate and several nasty things happen.
Besides the destructions and cost of lives, wars generate rapes and suffering to millions and that was exactly what we tried to avoid with this operation. However, the nature of war itself generates such nasty consequences which are impossible to control. That is what happened in Tigray and that was exactly what we tried to avoid at all costs. However the obstinate nature of the leadership of TPLF was an insurmountable obstacle that led to the current state of affairs.
The premier explained to the House however whatever the nature of law enforcement campaign, he said no one had authorized any atrocities to be committed and the army had to respect the ethics of the operation. He said every caution was taken to avoid civilian causalities and that was what had happened.
The premier said however that every illegal activity carried out in the campaign will be examined and culprits who were proved to have transgressed the ethics of the operation will be prosecuted.
There are no excuses for that he said because the principle is to avoid any excesses that do not have any relevance towards winning the battle and committing revenges or other heinous and illegal activities such as rape and plundering property or robbery.
This is valid for all actors in the operations and allegations regarding not only the Ethiopian defense forces but also Eritrean forces as well will be well examined and the two governments have agreed to deal with these illicit activities in tandem, he underlined.
Regarding the ‘involvement’ of Eritrean forces the premier said that Eritrean troops did occupy positions left empty on the border by withdrawing Ethiopian troops so that they wanted to fill in the gaps. They said they had security concerns owing to the large army of TPLF at large and they had to be on the guard against any eventual attacks.
The premier then answered questions about the alleged invasion Sudanese forces committed on the border and said that none of the two countries is in a position to engage in fratricidal war because he insisted that there is no way that Sudanese and Ethiopians ever engage in a war because they are the same people and cannot be involved in destructive wars.
He said the Sudanese government had committed an error and he hoped to opt for a roundtable negotiation to secure a solution instead of trying to resolve it using force.
He admitted that Ethiopia was at the receiving end of the attack by Sudanese forces but that Ethiopia would never engage in a war with Sudan to fulfill the dreams of some alien forces who want to see a weakened country. Wars are just destructive and do not guarantee peace and he said the best option to adapt regarding war is never to begin it.
The Ethiopian Herald March 25/2021
