BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Some of the countries that are going through unimaginable crises and wallowing under the quagmire of strife are the victim of proxy war and unguided external intervention. From Libya to Syria, many developing countries got into a bottomless pit due to unwarranted third party intervention. Millions of lives are lost, infrastructural facilities damaged and the existence and future wellbeing of the countries remain bleak.
Countries with undeveloped economies are increasingly becoming a battlefield of superpowers with humanitarian assistance and human rights violations being used as a pretext of external intervention. Aid is being used to arm-twist governments and human right has also turned out to be the fig-leaf for hidden political agendas.
In many instances, the leaders of western countries have come to admit the wrong and failed policy they adopted towards Libya and other countries. But, no regret could heal the damages inflicted in the nation that have been left in dire and fragile situations.
Today, some western countries are seen trying to repeat the same mistake in Ethiopia, a nation that takes its sovereignty and national dignity seriously. Since the start of the law enforcement operation, there has been a tsunami of misinformation and unwarranted pressure against the Ethiopian government in an apparent attempt to help the terrorist TPLF group and dismantle the nation. Humanitarian assistance and human rights protection are the usual masks to justify their intervention in Ethiopia.
In this regard, humanitarian agencies are spearheading the sinister objectives of the west that are seeking humanitarian corridors to advance their political agendas. That is probably why some scholars and experts are warning the agencies to not mix up humanitarian agenda with a political motive.
In the present circumstances, Samantha Power USAID Chief is paying a visit to Sudan and Ethiopia. Given her past record, many experts are urging the chief to take a neutral policy toward Ethiopia.
Lawrence Freeman, Political-Economic Analyst for Africa is an outspoken opponent of the current policies of neo-colonialism. Besides, he is a highly respected researcher, writer, and speaker on a variety of topics concerning Africa.
He said regarding the law enforcement operation that took place in Tigray region, “Prime Minister Abiy, responded to the attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force, (November 4, 2020),
by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), as a leader should. He used the military capability of his nation to defeat the enemy within Ethiopia.”
“Whatever grievances the terrorist TPLF might have had, a violent assault on the government’s military is an insurrection. Americans have learned that lesson afresh on January 6th. Preserving the sovereign nation-state from a rebel insurgency is the most supreme responsibility of a Head of State. There is no higher “rule of law,” as President Abraham Lincoln properly understood.” he added.
“Who benefits if Ethiopia is torn apart by war? As the case of Libya has demonstrated; not Africans. If Ethiopia was to be torn apart in inter-ethnic warfare, tens of millions of Africans, not just Ethiopians, would suffer extreme hardship,” he stressed.
He stressed that it is not too late for the Biden administration to correct its policy towards Ethiopia before more Africans suffer from the spread of ethno-nationalist war.
He further stressed that following the liberation of African nations from the yoke of colonialism three score years ago, African leaders, who fight to improve conditions of life on the continent, always face opposition from within and without. There exists financial-political elite, perhaps identified as an oligarchy, who see Africa for its material resources and financial gain. They attempt to exploit nations through international finance, manipulated terms of trade, and raw material prices controlled by the City of London-based commodity cartels.
“Secretary of State Blinken along with several other officials from the Obama administration are leading President Biden’s global foreign policy with their mantra: “democracy, human rights, and rule of law.” But what do these words mean other than a desire to impose their world order on other nations,” he opined.
Prime Minister Abiy’s non-ethnic-based Prosperity Party won overwhelmingly in a democratic election deemed fair, free of violence and intimidation, and credible. Ethiopia Election: A Vote for Peace, Unity, and Prosperity. Millions of Ethiopians approved of Prime Minister Abiy’s policies, giving him the mandate to lead for another five years. That is democracy.
Be that as it may, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen said that Power’s forthcoming visit to Ethiopia should bring positive outcomes in persuading TPLF dissidents to accept the federal government’s unilateral humanitarian cease-fire.
In his Twitter page post, Cohen stated that Power’s visit is expected to address TPLF leaders’ defiance to a unilateral truce that has remained to be the stumbling block to efforts to open humanitarian relief corridors to the people of Tigray.
By doing so, the Administrator’s stay would attain its goal of rescuing the people of Tigray from starvation and putting a fertile ground to future political settlements, Cohen added.
Reflecting on the issue ahead of Samantha’s visits, Wossen Melaku, an Ethiopian political analyst with years of experience in teaching and research said in an article published at The Star, said that Power in her own words, said she is coming to “press the Government of Ethiopia to allow full and unhindered humanitarian access to prevent famine in Ethiopia’s Tigray region”. This is a noble mission. Starvation must be averted by all means. Indeed, that is also what drives the Ethiopian Government today.
But, in trying to press the Government of Ethiopia to allow full and unhindered humanitarian access to Tigray, I urge Power to understand the situation on the ground better. Critical as humanitarian access is, it is not necessarily in the gift of the Ethiopian Government alone. The senseless war imposed by the TPLF on all of us, Tigreans included, has made access to Tigray a dangerous adventure. Too many aid workers have given their lives trying to help us. That must stop.
“In today’s Ethiopia, Power’s insistence on unhindered humanitarian access to prevent famine in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is clearly noble-intentioned and must be supported by all means.”
But, that exclusive focus on the Ethiopian Government also betrays her lack of understanding of terrorist TPLF’s role in all this – its use of starvation as a strategy to gain sympathy and support from the likes of Power and her Government. I fear that Ms. Power’s laudable commitment to the cause of human rights, first sparked 32 years ago by the image of the heroic struggle of Chinese students for democracy in Tiananmen Square, has been hijacked by TPLF’s murderous agenda. To take a current example, if TPLF were to cease hostilities in the Afar region, humanitarian aid could reach our citizens quickly.
Power has the passion as well as the expertise to understand humanitarian issues better than most. However, to succeed in her mission in Ethiopia, she needs to better understand our complex reality. Her visit to Addis can only help. That is why she must be welcomed and helped to get closer to the actors. She has a good track record of informing herself with personal observations on the ground. She remains a war reporter at heart. If she allows herself the opportunity to observe carefully, she will see through TPLF deception, he added.
The Ethiopian Herald August 4/2021
