BY TAMERU REGASA
ADDIS ABABA – Historically Welkait has not been part of Tigray even during the Derg regime and the terrorist TPLF has forcefully incorporate the area during his seizure of 4 Kilo and ruthlessly control it due to the place’s geo-political significance, a veteran diplomat closer to the issue said.
Speaking to local media, the diplomat Ambassador Teferra Shawl stated that the criminal clique unlawfully incorporated the Welkait area to Tigray State and has committed countless crimes against ethnic Amhara so as to change the demography of the area for its favor. TPLF leaders needed the area to set up a fake state like Kosovo the country.
The Horn Africa insight media in its article substantiated Ambassador Teferra’s argument and indicted in 1991, TPLF annexed the Welkait territory to the Tigray State and called it West Tigray. Later in 1995, the clique tried to legitimize the annexation by introducing Ethiopia’s current constitution, which divided the country into ethnic-based regions.
The opposition from the Amhara inhabitants of Welkait was swift and fierce and they have been challenging the unjust annexation of their ancestral lands and expressed which could not be feasible in Ethiopia as the area could trigger the fragmentation of grievance through an armed struggle called ‘Kefagn.’ They also formed a ‘Welkait-Tegede Identity Committee,’ and petitioned to regain their rights through constitutional means. However, TPLF managed to delay having to take action on the legitimate longtime claim of residents of the area through arresting and killing the committee leaders.
The area would offer TPLF access to the outside world through Sudan and it is essential for the flow of arms and finance for the faction to prevail in a sustained conflict with the government and declare an independent Tigray with an international border. For centuries, Welkait has been an integral part of the Gondar (Begemeder) Province, now part of the Amhara State, and is separated from the Tigray Province in the east by the mighty river, Tekeze, the article elaborated.
The Ethiopian Herald April 17/2022
