BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
The press releases issued recently by the TPLF regarding its stance on the possible peaceful resolution of the northern Ethiopia conflict indicate that TPLF is a terror group detached from reality, with little commitment to peaceful resolution of the conflict. TPLF’s history shows that it never settled its internal and external conflicts and difference with peaceful means. It always uses peace rhetoric to buy time to strategize and mobilize resources for violent attacks against its rivals to wipe them out of existence.
From the beginning, The Ethiopian government has left no stone unturned to stop the tension building up in the Tigray region from exploding into war in November 2020. Even, after the TPLF ignited the war, the federal government has taken several peace initiatives to contain the further spread of the war.
After the TLPF rejected the first unilateral ceasefire declared by the Ethiopian government last year in June, the terrorist group reluctantly accepted the second attempt by the federal government last March to put a halt on the ongoing war with the declaration of the humanitarian truce.
The recent remarkable improvement in the inflow of humanitarian aid supplies to Tigray is the direct result of the truce declared by the federal government. But TPLF is trying to score a point by spreading outright lies that it is due to its military and political pressure on the Ethiopians that enabled the Tigray people to get more access to humanitarian supplies.
Since the declaration of the humanitarian truce, TPLF has been at work preparing for another round of war, forcefully sending young and old Tigrayans to military camps and mobilizing resources through fundraising and other criminal activities. As TPLF’s military build swells up, so does its appetite for aggression and destruction. When TPLF feels well-armed and organized, the tone of its leaders’ rhetoric and the mouth of peace media tend to assume their true color. Their warmongering tendency. It was almost exactly a year ago, that TPLF launch its military offensive against the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar rejecting the unilateral peace offer of the federal government.
A few weeks ago TPLF has disclosed the list of its demands which it said are not negotiable in the future peace negotiations if there is one. The funny thing is the terrorist group has prioritized topics it won’t negotiate on, instead of mentioning things it is willing to talk about in the possible future negotiations. This by itself is indicative of the terror groups’ tendency and mindset on the notion of peaceful settlement of the conflict in northern Ethiopia.
One of the most laughable unrealistic non-negotiable demands of the TPLF posed as a precondition to reach a negotiated ceasefire is the demand to hold a referendum on the
independence of the Tigray region. In fact, seceding Tigray is the very original ultimate objective of TPLF right from its inception almost 50 years ago. According to some analysts, the current generation of TPLF leaders fears the idea of staying united with Ethiopia, because they knew the Ethiopian people including ethnic Tigrayans would soon or later bring them to book for the crimes they committed for several decades.
It is safe to say TPLF ruled Ethiopia for 27 years more like colonizers rather than an Ethiopian, using strategies and tactics of governance typical of colonizers. It employed all techniques embattlement to turn thousands of TPLFites millionaires overnight and to try making Tigray the Taiwan of Africa at the expense and even demise of the rest of Ethiopia. The racist system of administration has allowed TPLF to build disproportionate concentration capital, human resource development, and investment activities to shift to Tigray. A case in point is the relative distribution across regions of road networks, airports, state universities, heavy industries, and private manufacturing investments and development programs by NGOs.
TPLF has already begun working on its insane unrealistic ambition of implementing its dream of detaching Tigray from the rest of Ethiopia. The Tigray regional government is assuming itself as a quasi-sovereign state calling itself The Government of Tigray, and Debretsion assumes the title of President of Tigray. He correspond letters directly to and from foreign governments and multinational agencies like the UN. The funny thing is neither the Americans, the UN nor the Europeans ever question the legitimacy of TPLF’s acts because they want it. After all, if the crazy and paranoid Debretsion declares a free Tigray, the Americans and Europeans would rush to open embassies in Mekelle. TPLF has forced mosque and church leaders in Tigray to sever their link with their headquarters in Addis Ababa and declare independence.
Another laughable act of TPLF is that it wants to hold a referendum in its futile attempt to secede Tigray from Ethiopia while demanding the continuation of its economic dependence on the federal government. TPLF wants money from the federal government but does not want to be subservient to the federal government. Before asking for such demands, TPLF must prove itself to abide by the Federal law, and succumb to the power of the superior power of the federal government and the constitution.
What is even funnier is that TPLF demands compensation for the damage that occurred in Tigray during the conflict. That sounds like a precondition for negotiation between two independent states. This demand causes us to remind the TPLF leaders, the wishful thinkers, of three facts. One, TPLF is not a legally elected party. It is having Tigray people over a barrel and held a sham and unconstitutional elections unrecognized by the National Election Board of Ethiopia.
Thus TPLF can not represent the will of the Tigray people. Two, who is responsible for the igniting of the fire of the war that consume the life of hundreds of thousands and destroyed properties worth billions of birr? The TPLF leaders themselves have admitted that, they have started it by attacking the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Army and firing missiles at Gondor, Bahir dar, and Asmara.TPLF leaders are the sole agents of death and destruction in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia.
The third point is a question to the TPLF leaders whether they are ready to pay compensations for the unspeakable genocide TPLF fighters did during its invasion of the Afar and Amhara regions? Would TPLF apologize and pay compensations to innocent unarmed civilian families it massacred? And the towns and villages it ransacked? And the universities and hospitals it looted, and churches and mosques it desecrated? And thousands of women and children it gang-raped and left with mental and physical scars for life?
TPLF also does not want to talk about possible at least downgrading and downsizing its heavily militarized armed wing, which way beyond acceptable for regional governments. A nation cannot have two defense forces, and neither can Ethiopia. If TPLF realy respects the constitution it wrote 30 years ago, it would not have posed such unconstitutional demand. Article 52 of the Ethiopian Constitution allows regional states to establish a regional police force, not a regional Defense Force: “States shall have the power to establish and administer a state police force, to maintain public order and peace within the State”.
Many analysts believe that, TPLF realizes that its selfish interest could only be served by war and terror. It does not care about the further worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, if the conflict is further protracted. Let us not forget that the war did not affect the Debertsion and his comrades from enjoying the luxuries of life. They are experts on how to thrive under chaos. No matter the situation on the war front, their families remain safe and sound. Unlike the majority of Tigrayans, they enjoy comfortable and secure residences, and still enjoy electricity, internet, and all amenities of comfortable life. TPLF should be pressured to be genuinely committed to peace by substantially weakening its military capabilities and drying up its clandestine financial sources whose networks extended up overseas.
Abday Seid was one of the senior officials of the Provisional Administration of Tigray Region, which was in power for a few months while Tigray was under the control of the federal army in 2021. Abday is now a fighter who joined TPDM Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (also known by its Tigrigna acronym “Demhit”) – A militia group of patriotic Tigrians who took up arms to rout TPLF out of Tigray. “In its entire life, TPLF has never been serious about peace. Those of us who know TPLF leaders can never be cheated by their spacious claims portraying themselves as peace lover. The truth is, TPLF lives by the sword, and therefore it should be wiped out by the word. TPLF only understands the language of guns. That is why I joined TPDM to speak to TPLF in a language it understands.” he says
The Ethiopian Herald June 29/2022
