BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
After the downfall of the military Derg regime, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) came to power and had put in place ethnic federalism that undermined people’s individual rights. The constitution was also framed to advantage the terrorist TPLF’s long term plan of secession.
In the years the callous TPLF had undermined all human and democratic rights and embezzled the country’s resources and military power and finance among others. at the same time established weak institutions that led to manipulation easily to the interest of the group.
To secure its tight grip of power the group had tried to create alliances with many local and international institutions with vested interests that put the country sovereignty at stake. Yet the terrorist junta used to brag as if it was the only capable group to control the Horn region.
Above all, TPLF has been fanning tremendous inter-ethnic conflict in various parts of Ethiopia through instigating ethnic divisions among communities. It had ordered and used militia loyal to its cause to conduct war in border towns shared by different ethnic groupings, reducing once promising urban centers to rubbles. While the Federal government is dealing with TPLF’s chaos internally, TPLF was winning the propaganda war on the global stage, which only emboldened them to continue their destructive activities.
In all its covert actions it had tried to lobby the international community and through the media that Ethiopia is experiencing democracy as well as development but the reality is far beyond the lines.
In my view, this is because for years, the international community has tended to ignore all of the TPLF’s crimes while imposing unjustified pressure on the Federal government. This means the International Community is effectively giving the TPLF a free pass.
As Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad said in his article entitled “Abiy is Ethiopia’s underappreciated hero” noted that allowing TPLF to regain control is not a solution. And even if they were to remove a legitimately installed government, the TPLF has created too many adversaries with practically every region in the country, and would face enormous opposition in its quest to reclaim power. The attendant chaos would create instability and human displacement in Africa’s second most populous country. The prospect of such a scenario is frightening, since it would be one of the greatest refugee crises in modern history, with regional and international ramifications.
I share the position of Abdiwahab Sheikh because the group’s main target is to rob Ethiopia and engage in illegal activities. Before all this grimness comes, the international community should have to call a spade a spade. Otherwise the world will witness another round of the heinous atrocities of Maikadra and Metekal and Denbidolo and Cinaksan as well as Shashemene.
The group is undermining the unilateral cease fire and the group spokesperson Getachew Reda, also an executive committee member of the TPLF declared the war will continue “until no Kalashnikov remains.” In short, TPLF does not share Abiy’s goal for a peaceful coexistence; to understand this, consider an occurrence that occurred at the end of last month.
Various evidences are coming out that on August 9 2021 the terrorist TPLF massacred 240 civilians including 107 children in its attack conducted in Afar Region. Although all atrocities were carried out despite the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire declared by the government, the terrorist group has continued its provocative attacks in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.
The world should know that the attack orchestrated by the terrorist TPLF has targeted cities and schools in the “Kalikuma” area in the Ethiopian Afar region, at the same time hundreds of thousands have also been displaced due to the heinous acts of the terrorist TPLF in Afar.
The international community should put pressure on the terrorist group that is destabilizing the security and stability of the country after the Ethiopian government announced a unilateral ceasefire for humanitarian reasons and to provide an appropriate atmosphere for farmers to practice their agricultural work.
Once again, I would like to remind the international community that they should not take much longer time to call a spade a spade.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald August 11/2021
