BY HAILE DEMEKE
Prioritizing the advantages it would bring to the people of Tigray, the federal government declared a unilateral humanitarian ceasefire following a successful law enforcement operation in Tigray state. This move was supposed to give unhindered humanitarian aid to the affected communities. Unfortunately after the withdrawal Ethiopian National Defense Forces, the terrorist group launched fresh attacks on the neighboring Amahara and Afar states undermining the peace and stability of the country.
The federal government believed that the ceasefire would give chances Tigrian farmers to freely undertake agricultural practices during the rainy season. Also, the decision also is also aimed at helping the affected community get humanitarian assistance without any alleged impediments and it was a choice made consciously to give peace a last chance.
Despite the government’s encouraging decision, the rhetoric of humanitarian agencies and international media outlets remain the same. They have kept pointing fingers at the federal government for all atrocities and disruption of aids caused by TPLF terrorist group.
True to its form, the group has chosen violence over peace hindering humanitarian assistance providing to the region. This is a stark testimony that the group cannot survive without engaging in conflicts. Condoning the group’s violent actions to destabilize neighboring regions and hinder delivery of humanitarian aids, some humanitarian agencies are now calling for a new humanitarian corridor through Ethio-Sudan border. Even worst, some organizations are seen giving orders on troop a mobilization which is against their jurisdiction and principle of humanitarian aid.
Contrary to what USAID and other humanitarian agencies claim, there is adequate food reserve in the country enough to help the people in Tigray and beyond. Visiting a warehouse in Ethiopia this week, Samantha Power, Head of the USAID twitted that the warehouse in Ethiopia holds 58,000 metric tons of provided food, to feed the people of both in Tigray and elsewhere in the country. Given this fact, the idea of opening new corridor is a fraudulent plan that has nothing to do humanitarian assistance. What is needed to deliver the arrived aid to Tigray now is to stop the belligerent actions of TPLF not opening anew corridor along Ethio-Sudan border.
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Bahir Dar University Yayew Genet told The Ethiopian Herald that TPLF terrorist group attacked convoy carrying humanitarian aid and blocked them from reaching Tigray. So far the government is providing humanitarian aid to the people of Tigray via Afar state. The terrorist group deliberately launched strike on the Afar corridor disrupting humanitarian assistances. And, a plea for opening up a new corridor via Sudan is another tactics of the terrorist group to import weaponry, he added.
“The reason why the terrorist group keeps attacking the Djibouti corridor is very much tied with having a new corridor via Sudan,” he added.
The group 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 group intensified its belligerent actions. Still, the international community is turning a blind eye to this tricks, as to him.
National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) Commissioner Mituku Kassa for his part said that TPLF terrorist group has blocked over 170 heavy trucks carrying humanitarian aid via Afar to Tigray state by launching terroristic attacks. The groups has been requesting for the opening of a new corridor to achieve their ill-intended objectives. This indicates that the criminal group has proved that it has no concern for the people of Tigray, Mituku added.
Currently over 170 heavy trucks carrying humanitarian aid, which were previously blocked by the TPLF attack, have arrived in Tigray. The TPLF requested the opening of western corridor via Sudan and Djibouti while the already functional one is big enough to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Tigray, according to Mituku.
The question raised by some western countries and international organizations to open corridor via Sudan is unacceptable, he added.
Prior to the declaration of unilateral ceasefire and withdrawal of the federal troops from the state, the federal government stored food and non-food items to serve people of the state for two months. However, the TPLF has used the resources for another purpose, and exposed the people of Tigrat to starvation, he said.
After attacking the convoy which delivers food and non-food items to the people of Tigray, the group is pointing its finger at the federal government. Some western countries and international organizations are also exerting unfair pressure against the government of Ethiopia to open corridor via Sudan.
The pressure to open a corridor via Sudan is unacceptable and there is no need of opening new humanitarian corridor as the Djibouti corridor is good enough to provide humanitarian assistance to the people Tigray region. Assistance is being provided to the people of Tigray by the federal government via Afar state. TPLF terrorist group is misleading the international community by creating new agenda of opening new corridor.
“The demand for the opening of a new corridor under the pretext of delivering aid to Tigray is unacceptable. The international community and the media have remained silent about the atrocities and the road blockade by the terrorist group,” he said.
Even though some countries and their institutions insist on the need for additional corridor openings, the government has strong positions that the Djibouti line is sufficient to provide assistance to the community. There is no need for new humanitarian corridor, according to Mituku.
Tigray Democratic Party Head, Aregawi Berhe (PhD) for his part said that the TPLF criminal group is colluding with some western countries and international organizations to get new corridors along the Ethio-Sudan border. The intention behind having new corridor and attacking Afar corridor is a bid to achieve hidden agenda not to benefit the people of Tigray, he said.
The criminal group has been misinforming the international community pretending that it is the representative of the people of Tigray, but it is the federal government that has already provided and continued providing the people with all the necessary assistances.
The group together with its partners in crime both inside and outside the country keeps confusing the global community and the question of opening new corridor via Sudan is a clear indication of their ill-intended objectives of dismantling the country, he stated.
The repeated requests from international humanitarian organizations to open a humanitarian corridor via Sudan are the demand the terrorist group for other purposes. It is not about importing humanitarian aid, Aregawi added.
As Ethiopia is sovereign country, it is only the government that has the ultimate right on troop deployment and withdrawal inside the country’s territory. The power of enforcing law and order in the country is the mandate of sovereign state which doesn’t needs intervention of a third party. All sovereign nations across the world have equal sovereignty and no country is superior to others. Humanitarian assistance is provided through bilateral collaboration of federal government and international organizations. Exerting unwarranted pressure on government to open or close corridor is not the mandate of the humanitarian agency.
The Ethiopian Herald August 7/2021
