Ethiopia has been engulfed in a ferocious battle of survival for the past year or so with a terrorist organisation that seems to thrive with the support of some foreign powers. It is now no more a secret that there were well identified foreign elements that have been interfering actively in the internal affairs of Ethiopia with all the resources they can use covertly and overtly. They are using their influence most notably with their media but also financially and technologically while trying to debilitate the Ethiopian government through threats of sanctions. The government of Ethiopia has reported it has averted more damage by blocking these efforts under the pretext of humanitarian aid. Siding with a group that has publicly declared that its intention is to dismember Ethiopia can only be described as a form of war!
The records must be put straight because the war was provoked by a treacherous attack of TPLF forces on the Ethiopian Northern Command stationed in the Tigray Regional State. About eighty per cent of the military might of the country was stationed there. It was a force that kept the country safe from any potential invasions. But the TPLF terrorist group boldly tried to destroy it by stabbing it in the back thus exposing the country to invasions!
Nowhere in the history of any country have we heard about such betrayal and yet no country in the world particularly in the west who usually elevate themselves as human rights advocates have said a word against it! Some even have gone to the extent of justifying it subscribing to the paranoiac narratives of TPLF. We have heard time and again openly through their media that TPLF carried out a ‘preemptive attack’ on Ethiopia and demolished it.
These developments have not been mentioned or admitted by large part of the international community who now are seen arguing for TPLF. It is a shame that no one decent Western government came forward to at least express their disapproval of such a devastating blow to Ethiopia by an internal force. For a number of reasons these countries may side with TPLF. For a number of reasons these countries may disagree and oppose the current Ethiopian government. But not to express even a slight disapproval of the kind of attack that TPLF forces carried out on peacefully sleeping soldiers is just disgraceful. This shows to what extent these forces are linked with the terrorist forces and when they now argue that unless the Ethiopian government stops every hostility they will impose strong sanctions. This shows how interested they are in the survival of TPLF.
Ethiopia has been at the receiving end of all sorts of atrocities by these forces who took advantage of the unilateral ceasefire it implemented submitting to the pressure of the international community. However, many have criticized for the disastrous consequences that followed on the regions adjacent to Tigray. The terrorists TPLF forces showed all their true face by carrying out untold suffering on these regions’ inhabitants and their entire socio-economic infrastructure. That was when the Ethiopian government had no choice but to prepare for full scale war as if a foreign foe had crossed the border. The leaders of the terrorist organisation said they would collaborate with historical enemies of Ethiopia to dismantle it!
Now in the past year we have been able to distinguish which countries would side with Ethiopia and which ones are on the side of the terrorist TPLF. TPLF has been the main force of government in Ethiopia for the last three decades and during that span of time it had the support of so many countries including mainly the western ones, the US and UK included. These countries never moved a finger to denounce all sorts of injustices the government they support committed during all those years. They maintained it on power with all sorts of assistances, including military and financial ones. The Ethiopian people were made to tolerate such a repressive regime for 27 years before they decided that it was too much. And in fact after fierce and protracted protests they did manage to put it away in 2018.
In June 2021 a new general election was carried out and a newly sworn in government came. Today, Ethiopia can boast its legitimately elected government and that is what runs the country. But this has not been palatable to TPLF and its allies who have continued to oppose the federal government. For three years TPLF retreated to Tigray and continued to prepare for this war, but no ally of TPLF advised it or discouraged it from beating the drums of war as if it could win against the Ethiopian people.
The Ethiopian government has been searching for every available avenue to avoid a confrontation with TPLF and the Tigray people who are one of the historical peoples of the republic. But obviously the leaders of TPLF are interested in their personal agenda only rather than the plight of the Tigray people. After forty six years, TPLF has not been able to live up to its declared original plan of liberating its people from poverty and backwardness.
They have not even helped its people come out of handouts. Of the nearly six million people in Tigray about two million were still recipients of food aid in the form of safety net and yet TPLF controlled the entire economy of the country and monopolized all the resources. They used these resources to enrich a certain group of people who invested in vast real estate development not only in Ethiopia but also abroad. Rich bank accounts have been reported in off shore banks in foreign currency and yet the majority of Ethiopians were battling with abject poverty. And it is this group which still insists that it should be entitled to lead the country or dismember it. In fact it has always been sowing words of hate and division among communities so that no one has trust in others, disseminating enmity among communities. The narrative that only if TPLF was on the lead would there be peace guaranteed in the country was continuously hammered on Ethiopians! Now was the time to put in to practice.
Ethiopians have always known about the true nature of TPLF and its allies. But it would never have thought that TPLF would actually wage a war of extinction on Ethiopia and they would never have expected that countries such as the US and other westerners would openly side with it. We have heard experts say that the west is never worried about the well being of a people or a country, as long as their strategic interests are met.
The Horn of Africa is a key strategic place in today’s world. It is the source of the Nile and countries that live in the basin have their own interests in the Nile waters. It borders with the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Moreover, Ethiopia is one of the most significant countries on the continent for a number of reasons. Other African countries look at it as an emblem of pride, dignity and independence. It is a historic country that has managed to keep at bay every form of colonialism and campaigned in all liberation struggles of Africa for the reinstatement of African pride, contrary to the imperialistic and neo colonial advances by any country.
The current attack by TPLF against Ethiopia is not one that is thought and devised only by the TPLF. There are ample pieces of evidence that show that there are other forces behind this force. The way the war in the north of Ethiopia has been covered by the international media has shown us how deeply interested the western countries are in a victory of TPLF. It shows how compromised they are with a terrorist body that continues to provoke untold suffering to a sovereign country and it shows how much they are involved in helping TPLF.
No word of condemnation was directed against this terrorist force even when they kill indiscriminately peaceful people targeting them only for their identity. This is unheard of even by western standards. The international media of these nations have deliberately omitted those atrocities from their reports while trying to glorify whatever ‘conquests’ they might have secured in the battle. They have been acting as their promoters and loudspeakers affecting negatively the morale of the Ethiopian people and misinforming all those who had good relations with Ethiopia. They have been campaigning to isolate the country from the outside world by dissemination of false information that the country’s government is about to fall and that the ‘rebels’ are advancing on the capital etc.
Ethiopians are now wondering how long should the rest of Africa wait before loudly raising their voice in protest when a sovereign African country is being attacked unjustly on all fronts by those who believe they have the destiny of the country in their hands. How long will African countries wait before they take a firm stance on this catastrophic development that could dismember the country? Ethiopia is a key country in Africa and the seat of the African Union. How long will the AU watch from a distance before speaking out loudly condemning every western interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country?
We think it is now high time all African countries summon a meeting and adopt a unique, vigorous and unequivocal stance on developments in Ethiopia before the war takes another shift with open interference of foreign troops in support of TPLF. Already there is tangible evidence of direct interference with logistical and technical support given by some western powers for TPLF and attempts are being made to give them more support by denouncing what Ethiopia does to defend itself and try to help the more than two million internally displaced people. There are already warnings of famine in areas that have been invaded by TPLF terrorists also because they have deliberately destroyed every means of livelihood of the people!
No word of disproval and still less of condemnation were heard on the part of those who are now actively advocating for the life of TPLF. Ethiopians have now reached the conclusion that the country will never have peace as long as TPLF’s philosophy survives. They are convinced TPLF should wither away as an ideological factor and the people must be liberated from it opening an fresh chapter to begin to live in peace with their historical neighbours. Original members of TPLF who then defected having seen the real plans of the body have written books on how TPLF has always been a terrorist force imposed on the Tigrean people and they never had any chance of opposing it as the consequences were the usage of utter and ruthless force. Thousands who disagreed were exterminated the writers have reported.
They argue TPLF is a fascist organisation that has never proposed a democratic government as it is controlled by a few families. It is now high time that this force be completely routed out of Ethiopia and offer a new beginning to the regional state and the country as a whole. All those who have invested in this terrorist force so that it is used to advance their agenda will be disappointed because a united Ethiopia is no match to any force. In this exploit the rest of Africa and all those who have at heart the sovereignty of nations will have to stand firmly by the side of Ethiopia.
Africans must realize Ethiopia’s destiny will inevitably affect their destiny.It is time now more than ever before for Africa to stand united and show its resolve in defense of Ethiopia’s sovereignty while Ethiopians will of course continue to battle in the fronts and defeat the terrorists. Africans must say “Hands off Ethiopia!” Hands off Africa! “Stop Western imperialism in Africa!!!”
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
ETHIOPIAN HERALD NOVEMBER 25/2021
