BY SOLOMON DIBABA
The Ethiopian government declared an unconditional unilateral truce in Tigray to facilitate for a conductive farming season and as a gesture to enable easy access to relief supplies for needy citizens in Tigray region. The decision was based on the request filed by the provisional regional government of Tigray which was readily accepted by the federal government. Ethiopia conducted a planned pull out and not due to any defeat that TPLF is bragging about.
It is interesting to note how the western powers, global and regional partners reacted to the decision made by the government. It is a common knowledge that these partners were frequently asking for a smooth, peaceful and unrestricted logistics access to the provision of relief food for the population in Tigray which they claimed have already subjected to massive famine.
On the contrary, when the government of Ethiopia declared a unilateral ceasefire on the situation in Tigray, the USA, UK, Canada, China, UAE and the AU hailed the decision as a positive step by the government of Ethiopia. On the other hand when Ethiopia withdrew its armed forces from Mekele and the surrounding areas, a number of these countries staged a barrage of telephone calls to the Prime Minister Dr.
Abiy expressing their alarm as they were enraged by the pull out. This is a vivid indicator of their utter confusion about such an event they did not expect.
According to a press conference jointly made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, Ethiopia pulled out its forces partially as a gesture to quell the never ending demand from the western powers to provide easy and unfettered access to the supply of food aid to the needy in Tigray.
On the other hand, according to the press conference the government took this bold decision to facilitate more preparedness for defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Now the west is alarmed by the decision taken by the government to pull out the armed forces and the provisional administration from Tigray. This indicates three major shortfalls and contradictory perspectives on the part of the western powers and their media.
In the first place it indicates that the major powers in the west have no full information regarding the situation in Tigray but were basing their decisions on the propaganda package they were receiving from TPLF and its paid lobbyists without considering the reports from the government and the reality on the ground.
Second, some of the western powers particularly the US State Department was releasing continuous statements of threats to force the government of Ethiopia to abide to their commands without even caring to get more information on the treachery and the propaganda war that terrorist TPLF is conducting on Ethiopia. Instead of caring to verify the true and exact information from the government of Ethiopia the Western media is taking the fallacious propaganda of Tigray online and Digital Woyane as true and authentic sources for their biased newscasts.
The TPLF ragtag forces did not enter Mekele by defeating the Ethiopian forces but the army withdrew peacefully and with all its armaments well before TPLF interred Mekele. There was no war or any level of military confrontation.
Thirdly, by deliberately ignoring and at times disqualifying the massive relief efforts made by the government which expended more than 100 billion Birr to save lives in Tigray. The whole scenario indicates that the western powers are in a state of limbo and confusion regarding the measures taken by the Ethiopian government against the backdrop of the current situation inn Tigray.
Fourthly, the western media are talking about a ceasefire agreement between Ethiopia and TPLF trying to show false information while in actual fact the government of Ethiopia had declared a unilateral truce. Adding to their total confusion, TPLF has declared that it totally rejects the truce and is ready to advance on Eretria and the Amhara region of Ethiopia in its war on the people of Ethiopia.
Therefore, the Ministry of Defense has already disclosed that TPLF as a terrorist organization cannot be a threat to Ethiopia and the country has more urgent priorities instead. The Ethiopian government upholds a higher level of national responsibility and accountability to safeguard the unity and territorial integrity but the contradictory pattern of thinking among the major western powers emanates from their inability to effectively verify the objective reality in Tigray.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald July 3/2021
