BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
In a massive wave of demonstrations held across the nation recently, denouncing TPLF and supporting ENDF, one of the placards the Ethiopians carried that strikes me most says: “TPLF is a cancer of Ethiopia.” The analogy may sound harsh, but it is true. This description perfectly fits the TPLF junta. In layman’s terms, the deadly disease is the destructive outcome of the unruly pack of the body’s own cells. Similarly, the TPLF junta is a pack of criminals hailing from the Tigray people. They have become an existential threat to the nation and the root cause of the misery of Tigray people, grilled by war and hunger.
TPLF ‘s toxic outlook and detachment from reality primarily emanates from the diabolical error of its racist narrative that tends to set Tigray people apart from the rest of the Ethiopians.TPLF deliberately overlooks the fact that The Tigray people are deeply inextricably intertwined with the rest of the Ethiopian people through various interactions that have been going for centuries. They are peacefully living everywhere across Ethiopia in harmony with fellow Ethiopians. They have made considerable contributions in the centuries-old nation-building process with their blood and sweat.
TPLF’s ethnic-based divisive strategy aims at the ultimate purpose of building a ‘dynasty that controls the political power and the economy of the nation. It also focused on weakening the unity of Ethiopians to avoid threats against TPLF’s minority hold on power. “By its nature, TPLF can not even qualify as an ethnic-nationalist group; because its goal is not to defend the right and privilege of any nation or nationality whatsoever. It is simply a group of thugs organized on ethnic line to amass wealth and power to serve their selfish interest and that of their cronies,” says a UK-based analyst.
The other point that could explain why TPLF can not represent Tigray people is that the two are as different as chalk and cheese regarding religion. The majority of Tigray people is a devout follower of the Abrahamic faiths [mulem/christian].On the other hand, TPLF is intrinsically a godless Maoist that only uses religion as a playing card to manipulate public opinion and advance its divisive political agenda.
Nagasi is a US-based human rights activist. He was born and raised in Tigray. With the Ethiopian national flag behind him, he recently sat down for a televised interview to shed some light on the present challenges and the future hopes for Tigray. “ My parents raised me in a way I am well aware and proud of my Ethiopian identity. Both my parents at home and my teachers at school were telling me that Tigray was the bedrock of the Ethiopian state. And that is the truth. And the whole world knows it.
Sadly, the mentality of the majority of the present-day youth highly contrasts with the young of my time. Mind you! TPLF ruled Tigray with an iron fist for more than a generation time. Now, the majority of the young are under the spell of the racist ideology of the TPLF. Nevertheless, we still have reasonable cause for optimism. There is still a considerable portion of youth in Tigray and rising public figures, that firmly believe in their Ethiopian identity. There are even young Tigrayans in Tigray who want to take up arms against TPLF. Tigray is the victim of the racist and divisive ideology of TPLF. The responsibility of saving Tigray from spiraling down into chaos due to this ideology mainly rests upon us, Tigrayans that uphold their Ethiopian identity.” he said Negasi has a point.TPLF has subjected Tigray people to a continual cycle of conflicts. Under the rule of TPLF, Tigray has been the centerpiece of 3 devastating wars: the TPLF led a civil war against the Derg during the 80s, then the TPLF led the Ethio-Eritrea war in the 90. And now the TPLF ‘s terror campaign against its own people. There is one fact that makes the latest TPLF belligerence different from the previous two. This time TPLF is not fighting against a specific political entity, like a party or government. It is fighting to destroy the Ethiopian state.
Due to all the three devastating conflicts that broke out in the Tigray region, thousands of Tigray youth have perished, others were disabled. Farmers lost their harvest and their cattle and degraded to life depending on food handouts. After over three decades of rule of TPLF, during the peaceful times before the outbreak of the latest conflict, over 30% of Tigray people have been relying on safety net programs to meet their basic needs. The regional capital is still in dire need of water supplies.
Reflecting on the relation between TPLF and the Tigray people, an analyst recently commented: “Rather than pronouncing it as Party, it would be better to describe TPLF as share company of a gang headed by a family emanating from Adowa. TPLF cannot represent in any manner whatsoever the Tigray people. It is a gang whose activities are strategized and executed by the key manipulators of Adowa. You can hardly find key TPLF leaders that have no blood and matrimony link with the Adowa clan. The primary concern of the TPLF has never been the Tigray people. What the real concern embezzling the country’s property to enrich their inner circle and deposit money in their overseas bank accounts.”
As things stand now, the Tigray people are effectively a hostage taken by the ruthless rebels turned ruler, the TPLF. The junta is terrorizing people into submission to be subservient to its tyrant rule. Its reply to divergent ideas is torture, summary executions, or exile. TPLF has brutally executed over fifty civil servants who had been working with the provisional Administration of Tigray.
Beheading and mutilating prisoners and dragging their dead bodies as a public display, denying food and medicine to captives, humiliating war prisoners in public is common practice in TPLF’s Tigay these days. This situation is diametrically opposed to how the Ethiopian government handles the TPLF prisoners whose safety and rights are fully protected.
TPLF trains young children in special camps to turn them into ruthless killing machines. TPLF may have adopted this system of brainwashing children as a tool for a terror campaign from such notorious African terror groups as the LRA of Uganda, RUF of Sierra Leone.
Describing TPLF’s ignorance and immorality that make it unfit to lead Tigray people, an official of Tigray Democratic Party said: “ TPLF claims that it the defender of the right of Tigray people. That is a flat-out lie. The reality is the TPLF junta would not have an iota of remorse if the misery of the Tigray people. We can prove this from the reality on the ground. For instance, the junta has recently taken disastrous actions that costed the lives of thousands of Tigray people. TPLF is throwing thousands of child soldiers, the elderly, and women into the flame of the war with a primitive style called the human wave attack. The TPLF junta’s grand plan is to disintegrate Ethiopia. and making Tigray an independent nation, so they can have land and people they can manipulate with impunity.”
TPLF does not stop manipulating the Tigray people to advance its political agenda even after they get killed. The rebel leader took the bodies of its soldiers back to Tigray, strip them of their military fatigues, and bury them in mass graves. Reports indicate that they are bent on concocting a video documentary that falsely accuses the Ethiopian government of the mass murder of civilians in Tigray.
It has never been clearer now that TPLF is the enemy of the Tigray people. A civic society [Ethiopian -Tigrians Civil Organization ] leader from the Tigray region says: “We do not need a fortune teller with a crystal ball to tell us TPLF has no future. It is nearing its final collapse. But TPLF does wish to die alone. It is on a suicidal mission taking the lives of thousands of Tigray people along with it. So now, the Tigray people have to make a choice. They can choose TPLF, a terrorist gang that brought them nothing but decades of war and misery. Or they can say enough is enough, and confront their oppressor, and relieve themselves from the yolk of TPLF rule. The choice is theirs.”
The hopeless thing for TPLF is that it is now positioning itself against the whole Ethiopian people, not just the Ethiopian government. The Ethiopian people have risen in unison, mobilizing resources to deal with TPLF once for all. It is incumbent upon the Tigray people to fully join the Anti-TPLF campaigns. Several Tigray elites like Negasi have already been involved in the drive to erase TPLF and its racist and divisive ideology from Ethiopian politics.
The Ethiopian Herald August 5/2021
