BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
So far, no one comprehends that the people of Tigray have been paying unnecessary sacrifices only for safeguarding the power of T-TPLF officials since the inception of the party. The group was initially established to resist the dictatorial rule of the then-military Derg regime. However, it replaced that military regime and rather resumed a somewhat similar mode of despotic rule throughout the country.
Yet people in Tigray faced the worst level of the terrorist group’s arbitrary and despotic rule that it put in place across the nation for nearly three decades.
TPLF’s opponents in the region identify the party’s intolerant and undemocratic culture as being the main factor that explains its nearly uncontested dominance over Tigray for decades. The party has controlled everything through its entrenched power across all public spheres, including the media, bureaucracy, security, and the judiciary.
The party is notorious for its five-to-one network, where one party member monitors five people in businesses, schools, workplaces, and even households. This system has been the source of TPLF’s control, particularly in rural areas where the state’s reach is less apparent. Establishing this repressive structure has allowed the party to suppress any dissent at the grassroots level.
Above all, women were a victim of T-TPLF rulers. Apart from gender violence, women are still the target of this group as they are exposed to rape and other violence. The undemocratic group is known for its war-mongering behaviour as it is not able to respond to public queries instead. The blind group which has no public trust has been now and then forcefully pushing the people to be involved in endless war. If they will not lose the power and the benefit, the group of T-TPLF has no worries about the increasing death of civilians especially children and women during the time of war.
Even though they have not obtained the ears of international organizations, some political party members are now and then trying to be the echo of the Tigray people who have been oppressed for a long. The Terrorist TPLF’s triggering of another round of war is a genocidal attempt to destroy the remaining people of Tigray, ethnic Tigray politicians. The criminal faction is committing war crimes by recruiting underage children and the elderly.
The renewed conflict is a clear indication that the T-TPLF continues to believe in a military solution and fully disregards the plight of innocent civilians. The terrorist enterprise is forcibly conscripting the Tigray youth for another round of aimless and destructive war to quench its thrust for political power, said Tigray Democratic Party (TDP) President Aregawi Berhe (Ph.D).
With the federal government’s unwavering commitment to resolving differences amicably, the outlawed group is employing the age-old human wave strategy by using children and the elderly as human shields.
The criminals have been terrorizing the people of Tigray and forcing each family to contribute at least one child to the war front which is a clear violation of international laws and norms. Accordingly, the global media and other concerned bodies need to play their role in exposing the group’s crimes and force it to stop provocations.
It is visible evidence that those children are not even able to hold the weapon given to them, let alone fight with the Ethiopian joint forces. Apart from using children as cannon fodder, the T-TPLF continues committing atrocious crimes on the civilian population of Amhara and Afar.
The radical clique incited another round of war and ordered the people of Tigray including children, elders and others to join the war efforts simply to eliminate them from the earth said Nebiyu Sehul-Mikael, former Head of Prosperity Party’s Office in the Tigray State.
The intention of the T-TPLF is merely to destroy the existing generation of Tigray and they have no care for the well-being of civilians under their control. The recent call-for-arms is a failure sign of the group’s ill-conceived aim.
From the beginning, the war is incited by the leaders of the radical element and their close associates who could benefit from the situation and it is not in the interest of the people of Tigray. The war is not public; rather it is the interest of a few elites to achieve their hidden interest and that is why they are engaged in forceful conscription of underage children and the elderly.
T-TPLF has repeatedly bitten the hand-stretched for a peace deal. If the international community wants to stop the evil deed of the group over the people of Tigray, it has to cooperate with the Ethiopian government and bring the criminals to justice.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald 25 September 2022
