As a country of over 100 million people, strategic geopolitical location and rapidly growing economy, Ethiopia is taken as an important partner for other countries and international organizations in ensuring peace, stability and development.
But ignoring all these positive roles of the country US and EU are poking their fingers at it taking in to account the orchestrated propaganda campaign of the defunct TPLF terrorist group and its sympathizers abroad.
In reaction to the well-organized disinformation campaign against their nation, Ethiopians in the diaspora have staged unreserved activities of demonstrations and meetings that aim to expose the plot of the junta as well as depicting the right figure of the situation in the country especially in Tigray.
Among htem , Ethiopians who are members of he Defend Ethiopia Task Force in Switzerland have sent a letter to the US President to express their concern over the actions of the United States against Ethiopia and to reconsider the measures so as not to repeat the mistake that the US committed in the 70s.
“Ethiopian people have paid a heavy price with thousands of lives to liberate themselves from the TPLF brutal ethnic tyranny that perpetrated multiple ethnic based massacres and atrocities attested by credible international organizations like Genocide Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many more”
The task force members in their letter further indicated that the people have lived through multiple wars and know the ugly consequences of war that our people in Tigray are currently going through and we agonize and deeply sympathize with them. It was to avoid the cruel consequences of war that we have done all in our capacity to resolve the political difference between TPLF and the Ethiopian government through a round table discussion.
Based on the obvious facts, Ethiopians were waiting for the world to condemn the TPLF and urge its leaders to be brought to justice. Yet, they were caught in total surprise by the announcement on May 23, 2021, by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s slamming visa sanctions against Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and other individuals together with his call for the Amhara region forces to leave Tigray and the government to negotiate a cease fire with the now defunct terrorist organization TPLF, they indicated.
Ethiopian government has arranged unfettered access to all international aid organizations in almost all zones in Tigray and is delivering food and other supplies. Even in areas where security is uncertain, military convoys are giving cover to the staff and operations of international aid organizations. International media organizations are granted access and reporting from all over Tigray, the taks force letter stipulated.
Despite all these positive cooperation between the Ethiopian government and international organizations, we are deeply suspicious of the motive of the US administration that is rushing with its heavy-handed sanctions and threats even without waiting for the result of the UNHCR investigation. For the last three decades, Ethiopians residing outside of Ethiopia and friends of Ethiopia have been marching in big western capitals, sending protest letters to their respective authorities to address the brutal crimes of the TPLF ethnic tyranny believing that the western world shares the aspiration of 120 million Ethiopians for democracy. What a bitter deception to see the western politicians supporting TPLF a ruthless terrorist group that brutalized and embezzled our country for three decades.
While we highly appreciate the concern and engagement of the US administration to end the tragedy in Tigray, the way it is currently handling it is counterproductive. It will only further exacerbate the situation by encouraging the remnants of the TPLF to continue sporadically disrupting the normalcy that is being ushered after the TPLF forces are annihilated and the organization itself is officially designated as a terrorist organization.
For any well-meaning government and international organization, supporting the provisional administration of Tigray and the Ethiopian government that are delivering 70% of the total aid in Tigray is the right thing to do. Ensuring such a support will pave the way for bringing normalcy to Tigray rather than trying to breathe life into the TPLF dead ethnic tyranny and resuscitate a regime that the Ethiopian people rejected after suffering for 3 decades under its brutal rule. Any move to resuscitate the TPLF regime in any form is going against the will of 120 million Ethiopians and a sure way of destabilizing the Horn of Africa.
“It is a travesty of justice to sanction the Ethiopian government that has no choice but to enforce law and order and defend the country from the war that TPLF imposed on it instead of condemning and sanctioning the TPLF junta that has caused the entire crisis out of nowhere”
They indicated that all these unwarranted near-hostile moves by your administration, we are afraid that history is repeating itself. In the 1970s, Jimmy Carter’s administration took a hostile measure against Ethiopia by blocking arms for which Ethiopia has made a full payment thereby strengthening the leftists’ rhetoric of showing America as enemy of Ethiopia and facilitating their move to drift Ethiopia towards the socialist camp. That mistake cost the US 17 years of effort to unseat the socialist military rule and took the lives of millions of Ethiopians.
The Ethiopian herald June 19/2021
BY STAFF REPORTER
