BY ADDISALEM MULAT
In the early morning of 4 November 2020, the terrorist TPLF clique crossed the red line by attacking the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defense Force that was stationed in the region since 2000.
This heinous attack followed its atrocities and criminal acts in the past times. At an earlier time, the junta group were laying claim to having established a new administration in accordance with an unlawful election. Even worse, they openly self-confessed that they would not go along with decrees, orders, guidelines, and other related aspects of the central government.
Despondently, the traitors’ attack ended up making happen indescribable human suffering signifying uttermost brutality. Notwithstanding the fact that the terrorist junta did the whole thing they could to take control of the central power, all their efforts went for nothing through the concerted efforts of Ethiopians. And, Ethiopian government has been displaying a great deal of patience throughout the belligerent acts of the junta.
However, following the November 4 incident, the Ethiopian National Defense Force embarked on undertaking law enforcement operations intending to disarm the TPLF junta, put law and order into effect, resorting to appropriate administration and other things of a similar kind, the whole thing in the region set in motion getting off track.
After the Ethiopian National Defense Forces accomplished the law enforcement operation in the region, they left the area following the declared unilateral humanitarian ceasefire thinking that it would bring to close aggressions and grant the opportunity for farmers to bring to bear the rainy season from beginning to end.
However, the terrorist TPLF junta breached the unilateral ceasefire at the earliest possible time and set in motion opening fire on the Amhara State. This shows in black and white their unreadiness for peace. To the surprise of everyone, the terrorist junta kept on carrying out mass assassinations, destabilizing Ethiopia, perpetrating an unprecedented crime against humanity, democracy, and recruiting child soldier.
But again, the international community knowingly is still blaming the federal government condoning the terrorist group’s continued provocation and taking sides with the terrorist group. As a sovereign state, Ethiopia knows the dos and don’ts of the whole lot about international law.
Reacting to TPLF’s recent provocation against Amhara people and region and the silence of the international community, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said, “Through the recently declared unilateral humanitarian ceasefire, the Government of Ethiopia has shown to the world its good intentions for the wellbeing of the people of the Tigray Region.
The Federal Government believed that the ceasefire would cease hostilities and give chances to farmers to employ the rainy season while the people get humanitarian assistance without alleged impediments. The Government of Ethiopia has paid sacrifices in declaring the ceasefire, and it was a choice made consciously to give peace a last chance.
But true to its form, the TPLF chose violence to peace. It has demonstrated that it cannot survive without engaging in conflict. It has continued to use child soldiers by numbing them through drugs. The Ethiopian Defense Force is obligated to protect these kids.
The ceasefire could not bear desired fruits due to people who could not appreciate the sacrifices that the Government of Ethiopia has paid for the sake of the people of Tigray. Given the irresponsible actions of the TPLF that poses a great danger to the sovereignty of the country, the Federal Government, through mobilizing the people of Ethiopia, is determined to curb this threat. We will facilitate the humanitarian works and defend the country from the joint attacks by its domestic and external enemies.
The TPLF junta was lamenting that the Government of Ethiopia had been using starvation as a weapon of war. However, when the Federal Government declared the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire, the Junta soon forgets the famine accusations and intensified its military activities.
The international community also soon forgets its pronouncements on looming famine in the Tigray region. They said nothing while the Junta recruits children as soldiers. They even tend to point fingers at the Government of Ethiopia even when the Junta makes humanitarian corridors as centers of military conflicts.
Taking all matters that unfold after the declaration of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire, the Federal Government would like to announce that it is ready to take all the proper action to the wellbeing of Ethiopians and the nation.
The Government calls on the people of Ethiopia to protect itself from influences of unsubstantiated information and the propaganda machine of the Junta, whose remaining power is just fabricating falsified information. The people of Ethiopia should understand that our domestic and external enemies are working in unison to sow dissent and mistrust among us. The Government urges the people of Ethiopia to stand together and continue supporting the ENDF in every way possible and defend the country’s sovereignty and reverse the threat posed by internal and external enemies of the country.
The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) said that foreign maters of the terrorist TPLF clique and its remnant forces violated the federal government’s unilateral humanitarian ceasefire and attacked its satellite forces stationed in Korem and Alamata towns.
The group in what it constitutes war crime conscribes mostly underage children for military purposes.
In a press conference held yesterday, Lt. Gen. Bacha Debele stated that the TPLF junta and its external force hijacked the spirit of the ceasefire and use it to their advantage of provoking the small forces kept in nearby places for security reasons. Particularly in the southern Tigray Front in Raya and attempted to launch an offensive against the federal and state forces.
TPLF cannot accept ceasefire for it cannot thrive in peaceful conditions,” General Bacha said, adding that conflicts are the Junta’s way of expanding and it undermined the chance the federal government has given to the public to carry out their farming activities.
Bacha further highlighted that the people of Tigray demand peace and the criminal faction cannot fulfill this as it lives by conflict and within conflict. The international community and Ethiopians have witnessed in their naked eyes that they conscribed child soldiers. TPLF also took people from central Tigray to attack the national army.
The decision to take action is only ours and it is not the duty of activities to command the military engagement and our boundary is the Mereb River and nobody can stop us from operating in this area.
Noting that the ceasefire is giving chance to the Junta, the senior military officer stated that the army is doing its job and knows what to do. He also called on the public to extend all-around support to the ENDF.
As Ethiopians stand in unison to repeal the group, the international community is tight-lipped on the provocations of the TPLF terrorists groups and turning a blind eye on the crimes being committed by the group.
The unjustified interference of world power has not ever helped various nations worldwide get back on track. It rather plunged the countries to bottomless pit. The western intervention has made many nations such as Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine, and others not to continue as a country. As Ethiopia knows the nitty-gritty of dealing with its internal affairs, the country does not need the interference of a third party in its own internal affairs.
As a country, Ethiopia always stands tall no matter what the international pressure and conspiracies would be. The terrorist TPLF group and its foreign allies cannot make their dream become a reality given that the various Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples of Ethiopia have been working hand-in-glove more than ever before targeting at abolishing them from the face of the earth. Ethiopians are vowed to destroy them in the shortest possible time and get themselves fully engaged in the development activities of the country.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD JULY 16/2021
