Part one
Background
2013 Ethiopian calendar is in many ways an exceptional year! We do not remember such an eventful year as the just ending year 2013, I believe in living memory! There were absolutely crucial historical developments in the dynamics of the country’s existence. It was a year like any one could never have foretold or imagined, not only a year ago but even a lot earlier or even during the last days of the year 2012.
History has shown us on several occasions that Ethiopia has had to pass through several ups and downs in its existence that could be defined as ‘modern Ethiopia’. Extending the story back to several centuries would immerse us in a completely different context and that would not be appropriate for this article. But even counting the most recent century and the years that passed by, the country had to go through several shocks and waves in its fight for survival and sovereignty because its very geopolitical setting has made it vulnerable to such risks. Imagine it as the gateway between Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Could there be anything more crucial than this?
Equally one must not forget that the source of the mighty Nile river also has its immense significance in terms of how it is managed because millions rely on this river for their survival. Controlling the sources of the Nile has thus been one of the most important strategic interests of many countries, not only Egypt and Sudan, who do rely directly on the waters of the Nile, but also their allies who in one way or another would like to see them guaranteed from any form of negative influence by Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is of course reputed for its independent setting and its famous challenge to the western world that ended in its successful preserving of its independence, unlike any other African country that submitted to the imperialism of Europe and the West in general. Hence, Ethiopia, it is asserted by many that it represents the spirit of independence and sovereignty when it comes to any alien influence. So much so that Ethiopia has been recognized as a key player in the liberation struggle of African nations that were under colonial rule. It was an inspiration to most African countries who had to fight for their independence.
In all this the symbolic victory of Adwa is a landmark in the history of people of colour. Many historians still say that Ethiopia’s example has been a huge disappointment for the imperial ambitions of the west and they consider it a spirit that permeated others under colonial yoke.
Hence, Ethiopian history is full of invasions coming from alien lands both near and far but were all regularly fought back and foiled by the heroic resilience and resistance of its patriots. Rejecting all forms of foreign domination has always been a part of the psyche of Ethiopians. It is a part of the intrinsic psychological identity of Ethiopians. The ancient history of the people of this area is full of heroic battles and the fierce resistance of such a nation has always been a hard nut to crack for any foreign interference.
Hence we can recap that the country has been tested with several forms of aggression and assaults but has survived thanks to the resilience of a people that are hardened by tough times including epochs in which there were complete failures of crops due to erratic weather or pandemics such as what was called the Spanish flu of the 1920s throughout all those years the country survived fighting back in full gear.
But what happened in the year 2013 was perhaps what it never expected nor experienced in modern days. The enemy was one that was part and parcel of its own sovereign land!
The infamous attack against the Northern Command
Focusing only on the major developments of 2013, it will be remembered as a year when actually the existence of the country called Ethiopia was put to severe test! Following the ‘reformist movement’ that was initiated by Abiy and company the fracture within member parties of the EPRDF the coalition that ruled the country for decades became clear. TPLF’s open defiance of the new government was declared again and again with no mystery made of it!
Arrogant menaces were extended against the federal government exhibiting extreme overconfidence in the military might of the newly established and well armed regional special forces. They also relied on the deposit of most of the country’s military arsenal that the leadership of TPLF used to attack and inflict a huge damage on the Ethiopian National Defense Forces. This has obviously provoked the outrage and resolve of all nationals and the federal forces to immediately respond in kind.
November 2020 will be remembered as an infamous chapter in the history of the country because it was when the betrayal of internal forces was committed against comrades in arms in the most heinous and atrocious of circumstances! Brothers massacred brothers in the most brutal and unexpected of manners that even foreign attacks made against Ethiopians never had such cruelty and betrayal of the most fundamental principles of belligerence that materialized in the slaughtering of so called enemy forces in their sleep and when they least expected it!
Never in the history of this country has ever happened anything of this sort and in that sense it was not only totally unexpected but also so dangerous that the consequences could have resulted in an all out genocidal war as we have experienced nowhere in the history of humanity. But there was one important factor that the TPLF terrorists did not take into account or consider. They thought that Ethiopia was a pack of cards ready to be dismantled into small pieces based on ethnic origin or identity! They were proved totally wrong!
Ethiopians are not that type of people. Ethiopians have very deep bonds amongst themselves that developed along the centuries and knowing the trap that TPLF renegades tried to prepare, they downplayed their atrocious deeds, not overreacting and not extending the attacks to others who are innocent. The propaganda of the TPLF leaders did not work. TPLF leaders have in fact resulted to be deeply fascist and self righteous with megalomaniac attitudes.
Their senseless belief was that they could continue to rule the country of one hundred and twenty million with their venomous and divisive propaganda applied across the board. They had built up a narrative that put one ethnic group against others and their entire existence has been motivated by the hate they had on other ethnic groups. That was what they relied upon when they attacked the Northern Command. They had this plan of imposing their perceived military might over all of Ethiopians and continuing to control them by dividing them along ethnic lines!
Ethiopians of course proved them wrong because there is this spirit of patriotism that no propaganda could ruin or destroy! Ethiopia was more than a bunch of ethnically varied people linked by superficial means and that showed how they did not do their historical homework on Ethiopians. Their narrow minded psychology will of course get them doomed and annihilated because that is what all Ethiopia loving people pledged them!
TPFL was so full of confidence that it counted on a full-fledged victory and following the so called preemptive attack it had declared that it had completely annihilated the Northern Command of the Ethiopian national defense forces. It did kill several Ethiopian federal troops and took many others as prisoners.
Following such unprecedented and unexpected and totally irresponsible assault the Ethiopian Defense Forces immediately regrouped and reorganized and prepared a counter offensive that neutralized almost the entire TPLF leadership. In fact, in waves of attacks and chasing of these leaders many were either seized and put in detention or neutralized in their attempt to resist. In three fantastic weeks in November the ENDF totally drove out of their stronghold in Mekele and all major urban areas of the regional state. The only salivation the core leaders of the TPLF junta was to hide into caves and tunnels they had prepared earlier for decades.
The ‘invisible’ enemy
When the ENDF controlled Mekele there was the sensation that the TPLF back bone had been broken and only surrendering would have been the best alternative for them. However, this was not exactly what had happened. The military controlled the urban areas and fought openly against those who confronted them neutralizing them, but as time went on it was impossible to control the civilian dressed military or militia who every now and then continued to attack the ENDF from the back! It was brutal months of battles against an invisible enemy that had no scruples to respect any of the rules and codes of conduct of military operations!
There were continuous sabotages in every field of activity so that normal activities could not be carried out. Infrastructure was deliberately targeted to destroy them so that no one could use them. They reduced every possible infrastructure to rubles showing how irresponsible and ignorant these forces could be with no scruples for their own people for whom they had claimed to fight etc! The federal government’s efforts were all made to fail with deliberate sabotages and even the interim administration was not allowed to operate because TPLF remnants continued to attack and kill these well intentioned people trying to make some sense of the lives of innocent civilians.
There were lots of divisions and suspicions among people of the regional state in a desperate move to destroy everything and accuse the federal government of carrying out ‘genocide’. And in this effort they were well supported by TPLF sympathizers abroad who were on their pay roll with the money plundered from the coffers of the country during the three decades they were in power!
As all efforts of the federal government to make some sense of the regional state continued to fail due to the sabotage well orchestrated and prepared by the TPLF remnants, there was pretty little the federal forces could do and at a certain time seeing the endless attacks even by normal civilian victims of the propaganda of TPLF forces and sympathizers, there was this historic decision to unilaterally cease hostilities and abandon the area leaving them to ponder over their destiny.
The federal government tried every opportunity to reach to the displaced and rehabilitate them, but in vain. As days passed the TPLF remnants got even more organized and armed and began to mobilize all the youths in the country and began to attack the federal forces. In the end, the international community was the one that put a lot of pressure on the federal government of Ethiopia to cease hostilities and sit down for peace talks.
Rejection of any interference in internal affairs
The government was clear on its stance. No one is allowed to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign country without breaking international rules and that would have amounted to a serious consequence on the part of several friends of Ethiopia who were watching developments very closely. Ethiopia had to reassert its rights to manage its internal affairs the way it liked best. The TPLF fight against the Federal government and the latter’s reaction was nothing more than a purely internal power struggle that had to be resolved internally. There was no way the federal government could sit down and negotiate with a renegade group of now declared terrorists who just were bent to destroy the country! This was in their daily declarations and it was to be found out that it was in fact in their original policy document. And in this scheme unfortunately there were several master minds coming from abroad trying to break up the country and make it a divided group of small entities, not able to exert any form of influence in African affairs let alone in the international scene!
The so called human rights organisations continued to try to influence affairs in the country by extending their long arms through their media outlets and their paid so called ‘experts’ and analysts predicting dooms day for the country! But all their narratives were to be proved meaningless and baseless. It showed how superficial their understanding of Ethiopian affairs could be.
Part Two follows
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
The Ethiopian Herald 9 September 2021
