BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Ethiopia today is undergoing pretty challenging days and you feel it in the air because you also hear it from citizens talking about the destiny of the country. The security situation presents some challenges especially in certain areas where factions of certain political groupings have been involved in attacking innocent villagers etc. We also hear of ethnic clashes in some areas and there is some unsettled matter around the Ethio-Sudanese border which may have added to the woes of citizens.
Above all, the situation in Tigray has been the focus of the government in terms of delivering aid to millions who need it desperately following the disruption of regular life at the end of the law enforcement campaign the federal government took following the TPLF naked aggression against the Northern Command. This it has been underlined by the premier as the daunting task that has required the full attention of the government taking a lot of its resources and this has been a very critical part of his intervention in parliament.
One of the main topics on which the premier was asked to deal with during the session in parliament some days ago was the issue of law and order which is still an ongoing agenda. There are thousands of outlaws who are operating in the Tigray Regional State, the premier noted. The attempts by hidden and runaway forces, remnants of the TPLF army and militia seem to continue here and there and this has been another challenge to the efforts of the government to rebuild the region, repair the ruined infrastructure etc. In several other localities, flares of violence are provoked to try and destabilize the government trying to create a lack of confidence in it. This is a systematic method of the former rulers who used to rule by fear and intimidation in a very cynical manner. They used to provoke some crisis and then posture themselves as the saviors of the nation. We all remember several incidents of such occurrences when the TPLF-EPRDF government administered the country single handedly.
Today, now that they are practically erased from the political landscape, there are a few die hard elements who still take the joy of creating havoc here and there in a desperate and outdated attempt of seeking attention or trying to show to the world that they are not done with. The premier said this is likely to create some problems, cause the death of some innocent civilians, and other soft targets; but in the end, they are bound to disappear for good because a rebirth of the TPLF is out of question by any stretch of the imagination.
Many wonder ‘what will be the destiny of the Tigray people now that there is this huge vacuum in the face of the absence of any organized and serious establishment except the attempt by the interim CEO faced with serious challenges’. The legacy of TPLF is really destructive and painful because it has created lots of pain and suffering to millions who have little to do with its ideology. The indications are that the people of Tigray as a whole have not benefited that much or as much as it should have from this government because priority was given to a few individuals and their affiliates busy getting filthy rich, dominating the economy with vast investments in practically every sector. It was a direct result of the advantage the clique of few families took while keeping away others who belonged to other ethnic or language groups.
It is well known that TPLF was founded and thrived on narrow nationalism and ethnic division in the wider context of the country where they meticulously and unscrupulously planned to live for ages. People were eventually inevitably wary of such a blatantly unjust system even if in the beginning it was well received as a reaction to the almost two decade of ruthless reign by the military government when citizens seemed enthusiastic about the change that was felt in the air everywhere in the country.
In the statements the premier made the other day on what the situation of the country looked like and what was in the pipe line, few expected any breakthroughs or miracles. But in the end many were fascinated by the way he tried to depict the situation. Most remarkably he made several revelations which earlier were may be tactically denied or left with vague answers by some government officials.
In this sense we can say the premier openly stated several things that were in doubt or not ascertained earlier. He revealed and presented the point of view of Eritrean soldiers on Ethiopian soil and he not only openly thanked the Eritrean people and government for the support they gave to Ethiopian soldiers in desperate need of shelter and protection but he also revealed that they were reorganized and made able to fight back for their country! He said the distressed Ethiopian soldiers were restored to their original dignity and pride and returned to full battle gear.
However, he also rejected any illegal activities that may have been committed by Eritrean forces; but also by Ethiopian nationals; and serious investigations would be carried out with relative accountabilities he pledged. He said no one was above the law and the Ethiopian government did carry out discussions with its Eritrean counterpart reaching a consensus on this particular issue. The premier also suggested that there were a series of provocations by certain run away TPLF remnants who continue to attack certain Ethiopian military and even civil personnel engaged in delivering aid and this may have enraged the armed forces who may have resorted to some excesses. This could be probable but there will be investigations in all of these regrettable allegations. In the face of attacks by guerrilla forces here and there the armed forces may have overreacted. The premier revealed that there were thirty thousand convicts who were in Tigray jails and were released free with every possibility of them committing all sorts of robbery and violence and other criminal behaviour that no established authority could take care of.
The premier told the House that the new structure by the interim administration was established in almost every city and town down to the level of villages. He also revealed to the world that there are may be a hundred thousand former soldiers of TPLF still at large hiding among the public, but we should not discard the possibility that these people are capable of inflicting some losses to the federal forces, he noted. This has made the distribution of the aid to innocent civilians a huge challenge. That was why he was forced to make another call to all those who have the Tigray people at heart to come forward and stretch a hand, coming back to their senses and join their communities instead of persisting with other useless activities that can only prolong the agony and suffering of the people.
The government he said is in search of only a few individuals in the leadership circles that the government needs to put in custody and persecute legally and not every militia or soldier and that it needs the participation of every Tigray national to reorganize and return to peaceful, settled life.
The premier implored everyone who has some affiliation with the Tigray people to abandon the path of demagogy and unfounded narratives or rhetoric and help rebuild the region because it is cruel to subject millions of people to unbearable suffering. He dismissed the calls by those who lead comfortable and luxurious lives abroad having robbed the wealth of the nation by recruiting journalists, media outfits and lobbyists to advocate falsely and disseminate fake or exaggerated statements that contradict with the reality on the ground.
The premier noted that during the three decades during which the TPLF ruled over Ethiopia it did establish very good friendship with several influential international bodies including media outlets thanks to the financial clouts they enjoyed and still do enjoy; and this has put the Ethiopian government at the receiving end of all sorts of allegations of atrocities and criminal behaviour while it was the TPLF criminals who actually destroyed their own infrastructure and even resorted to killing their own citizens in the first place! Every effort by the Ethiopian national defense forces has resulted meaningless in the face of all sorts of organized criminal behaviour perpetrated by the fugitive remnant forces of TPLF, the premier pointed out to the MPs.
The premier also said that it is about fourteen leaders that the government chases and will sooner or later seize but had little to do with the thousands of elements that were associated with the TPLF but would not have any intention of arresting and detaining them because it would not even have the facilities to do that. He thus called up on them once again to come back to their senses and resume their normal lives.
The premier also pledged that the interim administration would last only for a few months until elections are carried out once things get normalized. In the mean time the daunting task of reestablishing law and order there and help re-establish normal life continues to be a huge challenge because there are still sporadic, organized attacks against the military establishment and in the end, it could cost too much for the government as well.
In the face of investigations on what the military might have done illegally, this could create a controversy among the forces but the premier underlined that there were extended sessions of assessment of the entire operation with the operation Ethics. He said it is important to keep the operations clean and free from vengeful or criminal behaviour because whenever there are similar operations the victors could fall prey to certain undesirable behaviour and that has to be kept under strict control the premier told the MPs. That was why he said that various sessions of discussions were carried out pertaining to the various actions taken before the operation began, during and after the end of the main operation. This applies not only to Ethiopian soldiers but to all those who were involved in the operation in one way or another. The moral integrity of the military is key and it also affects the way we go ahead in administering the country.
As commander in chief of the armed forces there is a huge responsibility on the part of the premier to lead the military and the civilian government in the midst of such crisis, not only in Tigray but also in various parts of the country where there are messengers of death and armed people in multiple informal associations. What is also another challenge has been the potential for the economy to run certain risks owing to the economic situation amid the threats of sanctions and suspensions of aid from some influential partners.
Meanwhile, the premier has admitted that his government has been pushed to the limits to accept foreign intervention so that the situation could be put under shared control to which he had no choice but a blunt, negative answer because the issue of sovereignty is critical to any government that sits at Arat Kilo. He said there was no compromise over dignity of the nation. There could never be a puppet government in Ethiopia he reiterated energetically.
Now that the electoral season is well underway, citizens are challenged by inflation and there is this veiled feeling of a potential danger on the border with Sudan, the premier tried to calm down the situation because he excluded any form of conflict with our neighbours which he called our brothers. He dismissed any association of the Sudanese government with any kind of alien forces as never being able to ruin the brotherly relations with Ethiopia. He insisted that Sudanese and Ethiopians are the same people incapable of conducting any form of hostilities between them.
He however admitted that Ethiopia may be undergoing uncertain or unsettled days but he was hopeful that things will take a brighter turn in a short time. The premier even suggested that the outcome of the election could very well determine the future of the country because there are so many forces that are trying to destabilize the country and push it towards uncertainty. That was why the premier invited every Ethiopian to pull into one direction and do their part to keep the country united and strong so that it can keep the ship from sinking with one hundred and ten million souls. He said for that to happen even God will not be against it, and like it happened several times in the past, Ethiopia will pass this ‘shock’ successfully and with the new economic plan it could be among the firebrands of Africa in the coming ten to thirty years, the premier expressed his fervent hope.
The premier seemed irritated and overburdened by several factors but finally he tried to reflect a positive view for the future of the country. He was optimistic but he warned that people need to look at the bigger picture of a huge country and not restrict themselves to narrow regional and local politics trying to divide the country in several minor pieces which ‘would be the joy of our enemies’.
Urging everyone ‘let us stand up together and face the challenges of the day and bring the country one step ahead towards progress and prosperity, the premier concluded his interventions. The premier was seen full of passion and energy and tried to convey his message very clearly and energetically, including to the international community. Many were noted sympathizing with his ideas and vision for the country; but the doubts and attacks have come from those who are there trying to gamble politically, irrespective of the dangers such gamble may provoke on the future of the country.
The Ethiopian Herald April 1/2021
