BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
When the news sparks more questions than providing answers, when the turn of events are so dramatic and continually struck us by surprise, when disinformation runs high and throw us into bewilderment, when words fail to commensurate with actions, and even contradicts each other, when institutions fail to react to events the way they supposed to, then it is natural for people to stop, think and raise the philosophical questions. They may ask themselves or each other questions like what is….? Or what is it for? or Why?….
A few weeks ago, I was watching the EBC Amharic news. The anchorman posed such kind of question to a guest expert sitting next to him. ‘What is the international community?”, he inquired. Startled by the question, the expert came up with a response decorated with the usual vague diplomatic clichés. The jury is still out on the definition of this highly over-used fashionable phrase. However, some analysts who are frustrated by the injustice of the world order may prefer to define it a bit differently.”The international community is a fictional term used as a vehicle of conveniences of or a cosplay by the West to advance their influence and interests across the world under the pretext of humanity, justice democracy, and development.”
The mounting pressure on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia is a case in point here. International agencies and civic societies like UN agencies, which are mainly managed and financed by the Westerns are waging a relentless and concerted diplomatic campaign to force the Ethiopian government into submission to the will and interest of the West, led by the Americans.
The US has already imposed its first sanctions against the Ethiopian government, and the second is on the pipeline. International agencies and NGOs are continually leveling impossible demands and baseless accusations that jeopardize national security and infringe upon the sovereignty of Ethiopia.
As days go by, as the crisis in Ethiopia’s north drags on, it is becoming more conspicuous that the action of the Americans and their allies are well concerted with a clear purpose that has no regard for the security and integrity of the Ethiopian state. From the start, they have maintained their stance that wrongly assumes the Ethiopian government as an impediment to peace in the nation. They are inclined to consider the terrorist TPLF as a victim instead of an aggressor.-They do this knowing too well TPLF is a criminal enterprise primarily responsible for the mess Ethiopia finds itself in today.
The Americans and their puppet agencies prefer to overlook TPLF war crimes that could be considered genocide and crime against humanity. Some international media outlets have uncovered a few of the war crimes perpetrated by TPLF with compelling evidence. The Americans know who is disrupting the flow of humanitarian aid to the Tigray region. They know who is burning and looting food aid warehouses. But they do not say it. For the sake of giving lip service to the situation, they just denounced the crime but failed to name the culprit.
For instance, the OCHA has condemned the recent massacre in Afar of over 200 innocent civilians including children. International media houses have reported the genocide with clear and detailed accounts. Wounded survivors of the attack have given their eyewitness account about the incident, reiterating the attacks committed by TPLF. However, OCHA’s condemnation does not specify the culprit. It is not news to anyone now that TPLF has been rampaging the Afar region since a few weeks ago, killing civilians and looting and vandalizing proprieties. NO body other than TPLF can be held responsible for carrying out the massacre.
The similar fashion with which the Western powers and their agencies react to events in Ethiopia indicates that their actions and plans are master-minded from a nerve center in Washington. The reaction of the other UN agency, Unicef has a similar tone and spirit with that of OCHA. “The food security and nutrition crisis is taking place amid extensive, systematic destruction of health and other services that children and communities rely on for survival. …The humanitarian catastrophe spreading across northern Ethiopia is being driven by armed conflict, and can only be resolved by the parties to the conflict.”, stated the UNICEF chief from its headquarter in New York. Who is driving the armed conflict now? It is clear for all to see. Why not they say it?
What is even more puzzling is this. Almost a week has passed since this tragic incident occurred. But Amnesty International, the self-proclaimed defender of human rights, did not utter a word about the atrocious crime committed by TPLF. Had the action been suspected of being committed by the Ethiopian government, they would not have hesitated to name and shame the government, holding press conferences instead of publishing press releases.
The other issue that revealed the skeleton in the closet of the US policy against Ethiopia is the mounting pressure to open the heavily guarded border with the hostile neighbor Sudan. Under the pretext of expediting the provision of humanitarian aid supplies, the White House and its aid agency, USAID have made unsuccessful attempts to rally international support to put maximum pressure on the Ethiopian government to open the border.
The Americans are doing this with the full knowledge that TPLF has thirty thousand well-trained fighters on the Sudanese side of the country’s border waiting for opportunities to infiltrate into Ethiopia to unleash a terror campaign causing another wave of massacre and destruction. Even reports indicate that US officials and aid agencies authorities have visited the Sudanese refugee camps hosting the TPLF fighters who are receiving support from UN agencies under the guise of refugees. Some aid organizations and their staff have been caught red-handed in providing logistical support to TPLF.
After all, Americans’ request for the opening of the Humera corridor is unnecessary. The National Disaster Risk Management Commission has recently dismissed the Americans’ proposal as unnecessary and infeasible. Even if a situation developed in the future that necessitates an additional port other than Djibouti, the Sudanese port would not be a viable option, due to its remoteness from Tigray relative to other alternative ports.
It appears that the Americans and their allies are aiming to repeat what they did in the 90s. Back then, as the TPLF army advances towards Addis Ababa, the White House got heavily involved in Ethiopian politics to ensure the easy termination of the Mengistu regime and the TPLF’s uncontested swift ascension to power. The Americans have always been saying that they want to see the territorial integrity of Ethiopia maintained. But that was just lip service. The helped TPLF knowing too well it is working to dissociate Ethiopia into two independent states. The Americans’ motive is to see a regime in Addis Ababa that would toe the policies of sustaining their core interest.
The current White House is occupied by corrupted influential politicians that have long ties with the TPLF. Some analysts argue the American policies and actions detected by the personal views of those individuals walking in the power corridors of the White House and Capitol Hill. Lobby firms have a significant impact on personal outlooks, and therefore the decisions of the Senators and Congressional leaders. The current White House is overwhelmed by advisors and officials that were members of the Obama White House were ‘cheerleaders’ for TPLF.
It may also be good to note that influential personalities in the Whitehouse like Susan Rice and Samatha Powers are supposed to appear in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their political crimes that contributed to the “Armageddon” seen in Libya, Yemen, and Syria. When Melese Zenawi [the former TPLF Premier] died, Susan Rice was grief-stricken and came all the way to Addis to make an emotional speech at his funeral. In 2015, the first sitting US president to visit Ethiopia, Obama, has described the then autocratic TPLF-led regime as a democratically elected government.
It is ironic. Ethiopians and Ethio-Americans were the staunch supporters of the last year’s change of the White House. From the Ethiopians’ point, the happy change has turned situations to go from bad to worse. Trump’s White House was talking of bombing the GERD, and now the Biden’s is conspiring a concerted effort to obliterate Ethiopia by backing an anti-Ethiopian terrorist group.
Despite the mentioned explanations, many Ethiopians are still looking for answers to their philosophical question.-why?-why has the White House become such a Pro-TPLF?. Here is what an Ethio-American recent comment on this issue; “People are puzzled. Does the US and Western Europe have a hidden agenda? Why do they pressurize Ethiopia in the context of the Tigray crisis? What is it? The US government and western powers have some explaining to do to the Ethiopian people. We need to know what they are up to.”
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald August 17/2021
