BY MULATU BELACHEW
ADDIS ABABA- Ethiopian America Intellectuals in the Diaspora have called on U.S. Congress and Senate to stop further progress of H.R.6600 and S.3199 bills on Ethiopia.
According to a statement obtained from Network of Ethiopians in Geneva for Action Taskforce (NEGAT), the intellectuals have called the congress and the Biden administration to reject the proposed bills and the instead focus on holding accountable the leaders of the TPLF and other terrorist groups for the atrocities committed across the country.
They also urged the U.S. to recognize the ancestral lands of the Amhara state that were forcibly annexed by the TPLF and condemn any claims by the TPLF over these areas.
The intellectuals, moreover, demanded the congress and the Biden administration to conduct an independent investigation of all atrocities committed in the country and bring the perpetrators to justice besides calling them to support the creation of an independent peace and reconciliation commission that works toward the establishment of genuine and lasting peace and democracy in the country.
In the statement the intellectuals issued on April 10, 2022 to Senator Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nacy Pelosi stated that: “We write to strongly oppose H.R.6600 and S.3199 and call on members of the Congress to stop further progress of the bills. The bills are inherently anti-Ethiopia and have the potential to destabilizing the country and the entire Horn Africa, and to destroy all attempts toward peace and democracy in the region.”
The bills, which ostensibly are intended to reinstate the terrorist group, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), not only violates the sovereignty of an independent African nation but also are armed at suppressing any dissent in the Diaspora against repression and subjugation back in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia needs peace, justice, democracy, and stability the statement stated but these can only be established by recognizing the atrocities committed by terrorist groups such as TPLF and Shene, the Intellectuals underlined.
In order to stop the war, the U.S. should hold the leaders of the terrorist group accountable for the ongoing barbaric atrocities in the Amhara, Afar and other states, as well as for the crimes committed on the Ethiopian people during the 27 years of rule by the TPLF, as to the statement.
The intellectuals said that, any brazen claims by the TPLF terrorist group over the ancestral lands of the Amhara and Afar are categorically rejected and the invading forces of the group be unconditionally withdrawn from Amhara and Afar states.
Intellectuals also said that, genuine friends of Ethiopia and those who really care to see the prosperity and stability of the country should take constructive measure that buttress the economy. Desist from taking the economic measures that punish the people of Ethiopian that have suffered too much under the successive dictatorship and repression in the last 40 years.
The Ethiopian Herald April 12/2022
