BY ALMARIAM
PART ONE
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name…
Lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from the TPLF (D)evil.” (Lord’s Prayer adaptation.)
Thank God Almighty; we shall be delivered from the TPLF Devil soon!
Can you talk/negotiate with the Children of Lucifer?
It is official, at least from the Ethiopian Government’s side. Redwan Hussien, National Security Advisor to PM Abiy Ahmed on October 20, 2022 tweeted “AUC has informed us that the Peace Talks is set for 24 Oct, 2022 to be held in South Africa. We have reconfirmed our commitment to participate.”
But terrorist TPLF has kept mum. That’s because there will be NO NEGOTIATIONS! A couple of weeks ago, terrorist TPLF agreed to travel to South Africa for “peace talks” but at the last minute chickened out.
The million-dollar question is: Is it possible to negotiate with the Children of Lucifer?
I have studied the negotiation strategies and tactics of the TPLF over the years and arrived at key empirically supported conclusions. For the TPLF, negotiations are elaborate zero-sum games of deceit, duplicity, treachery, trickery, pretense and smoke and mirrors.
Infected with zero- sum thinking, TPLF leaders are convinced they can outsmart, outmaneuver, outfox, out manipulate, outplay, outperform, outcheat, outhustle and out bully their opponents. They are convinced in any negotiation, they must win all the time and their opponents must lose every time.
In the past, those who have negotiated with the TPLF have made a Faustian bargain. They have sold their souls to TPLF to gain a few crumbs.
The “zero-sum” negotiating strategy of the TPLF
Fighting in the bush decades ago, the TPLF leaders perfected their negotiation strategy: Weaponize “negotiations” to annihilate your enemies.
In the bush, the TPLF would invite leaders of opposition elements, dissidents within its ranks and others it suspects or wants to destroy to a “negotiation”, wine and dine them and then literally slaughter them overnight.
On November 4, 2020, that was exactly what the TPLF did to the leadership and troops of the Ethiopian Northern Command. They invited them to a “discussion” over dinner and overnight slaughtered them. Hours before the slaughter at the Northern Command headquarters, terrorist TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael negotiated for delivery of money to Tigray with PM Abiy Ahmed.
When PM Abiy airlifted 1.2 billion Birr to Mekelle Airport, Debretsion had already launched his “mebreqawi” (blitzkrieg) attack. Few truly understand how the TPLF has cleverly and strategically used “negotiations” to seize and remain in power for 27 years!
In 1991, the TPLF used “negotiations” in London to swiftly install itself in power. What a “negotiation” that was!
The TPLF hoodwinked Herman Cohen, then Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, at the negotiating table into announcing “the rebel leadership has assured us that they plan for a broadly based provisional government leading to a democratic constitution for Ethiopia.”
“Broad-based provisional government” ended up being a narrowly based minority apartheid state totally dominated by the TPLF. For decades, every time the TPLF found its rear end in the ringer and boxed in, it squealed like a stuck pig, “We are ready to negotiate! We are ready to talk!”
For the TPLF, negotiations, discussions, mediation, discussion, etc., are all games; Game of thrones; Deadly games. Zero – sum game; that means the TPLF always wins 100 percent of the time and everybody else loses 100 percent of the time.
Ultimately, negotiation for the terrorist TPLF is a “sick joke,” So said terrorist TPLF negotiator Getachew Reda.
A quick overview of TPLF use of “negotiations” strategies and tactics is instructive.
In 1984-85, when Tigray was undergoing severe famine, TPLF set up a scam organization called “Relief Society of Tigray” (REST) and negotiated with international NGOs for food distribution. TPLF leaders diverted $95 million of that aid for weapons purchases and other activities unrelated to famine relief.
In 2000, the TPLF negotiated to settle the dispute over Badme in a “final and binding” international arbitration. When Badme was awarded to Eritrea, the TPLF reneged and demanded further negotiations.
In 2006, TPLF leader Zenawi negotiated in “a handshake” with US General John Abizaid to wipe out Al Shabaab in Somalia. That handshake led to billions of dollars in U.S. military and other aid to Ethiopia. What is less known is the fact that Zenawi had also negotiated with Al Shabaab to continue minimal military presence so that Zenawi could use them as a boogeyman to milk the U.S. aid cash cow.
In 2008, in “elections for regional parliaments”, the TPLF won 1,903 of 1,904 seats. The TPLF won by 99.999 percent. In May 2010, the TPLF “won” all the seats in “parliament” by 99.6 percent. In May 2015, the TPLF “won” 100 percent of the seats in “parliament”.
Such total and complete zero-sum electoral “victory” occurred in a country where there are 79 registered opposition political parties.
In August 2007, the late TPLF leader Meles Zenawi “pardoned” 38 opposition political leaders to “give impetus to political negotiations in Ethiopia after more than two years’ crisis and stalemate.”
In October 2007, “in spite of continuing negotiations between the government and the opposition, the political environment continued to deteriorate.” In the 2007 “negotiations”, the TPLF had a double zero-sum game “win”. It validated the 38 railroaded opposition leaders were actually criminals because they accepted a “pardon”, and 2) forced them publicly to “admit” crimes they never committed to receive a pardon.
In 2009, the TPLF engaged in “negotiations” for the release of political prisoners, only after the political prisoners “had signed a paper admitting they tried to overthrow the government in an ‘unconstitutional’ manner.” Double zero-sum game wins for the TPLF again.
In 2009, TPLF thug master Meles Zenawi led the African climate change negotiators to the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen and delivered a zero-sum ultimatum: Fork over $40 billion or we will “delegitimize you.”
In 2010, the TPLF negotiated for the release of Birtukan Midekssa, the first female Ethiopian political party leader and current head of the Ethiopian Elections Board, after she “apologized for denying being granted a pardon in 2007” and “imploring the prime minister to grant her a second pardon for her to be able to see her aging mother and child.”
In 2010, the TPLF engaged donors in “negotiations” to allow them to send election observers and called their election report “useless trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage”.
In 2013, TPLF head honcho and current leader of the attack on the Northern Command Debretsion Gebremichael said, “Ethnic federalism is equality. TPLF supremacy is nothing but a conspiracy. To say Tigreans are supreme (everywhere), that is not the reality. That is a zero, Zero.” True. It is a zero-sum game for the TPLF.
In 2016, after the Addis Ababa Master plan faced popular opposition, the TPLF said they wanted to negotiate the plan. Not a chance.
In 2016, when the first state of emergency failed to control the popular uprising, the TPLF again said they want to negotiate. No one was interested.
In October 2016, the TPLF showed their entire negotiating strategy when they massacred 800 plus people celebrating the Irrecha Festival in the town of Bishoftu, some 45 miles southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
In 2017, when the second state of emergency failed to control the popular uprising, the TPLF pleaded they want to negotiate, too late. Whenever the TPLF talked about negotiations, it also always tightened its political grip and continued its massacres, mass arrests, mass detentions and mass torture of innocent citizens.
Cry “negotiations” when drowning in the deep blue sea of oblivion
Today, the terrorist TPLF finds itself between the devil and the deep blue sea. But I repeat myself. I should have said, “The TPLF devil finds itself in the deep blue sea (a/k/a deep doo doo) and is sinking to the bottom fast.
As the TPLF drowns in its own sea of doo doo, its Western bankrollers, paymasters and press-titutes are drowning the world in lies, damned lies and disinformation. The TPLF successfully weaponized the word “negotiation” to seize and keep power for 27 years.
In its September 11, 2022 statement, terrorist TPLF identified its spokesman Getachew Reda and one of its “generals,” Tsadkan Gebretensae, as leaders of its negotiating team at the African Union sponsored peace conference.
On July 5, 2021, the TPLF peace negotiator designee Reda told the Associated Press the idea of ceasefire and negotiations is a “sick joke”: “So we have to make sure every inch of our territory is returned to us, to the rightful owners. Second, you need to get all the services. It could be air services, transportation services, electricity, telephone services and everything.
The people of Tigray are part of the Ethiopian Federation. They deserve every service the rest of the country gets. There’s no way we will negotiate about anything whatsoever until these services are restored to the people of Tigray.
Abiy government’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire should be treated with the contempt it’s so richly deserves because it is so vacuous. It means nothing.
First and foremost, we destroyed his army and they are still fighting to hold onto territory. They have been destroying the livelihood of our people. They cut off lights. They cut off electricity. They have cut off telecom. They are doing everything to make life absolutely miserable for our people. And they tell you, they have unilaterally declared a ceasefire so our peasants can survive the planting season. That is a joke’ A very sick one.
So our response is, it should be treated with a contempt it so richly deserves. (Italics added.)
Like the African hyena in the jungle, the TPLF hyena on the prowl having temporarily escaped the trap says, “Contempt for ceasefire and peace negotiations.”
Reda has always categorically rejected the possibility of peace talks under the sponsorship of the African Union (AU) and has rejected the AU-designated mediator former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo.
Interviewer: How did you decide to change your mind from just a few weeks ago you were saying no talk under the umbrella of the African Union. Now you’re saying you’re open to peace talks.
Reda: Well, to set the record straight we have never rejected the role of the African Union. We know the African Union as a continental organization has a role to play in resolving conflicts in Africa.
Unless we get permission, the African union cannot mediate the negotiations. That’s it. Finished. What we’re saying is that we will not waste time with a person (President Obasanjo) who gives out sacramental bread in the name of St. Abiy (PM Abiy Ahmed).
Recently, terrorist TPLF “general” Tsadkan Gebretensae and leader of the TPLF negotiating team declared there is nothing to negotiate because the TPLF has already won the war.
“What I am answering is the question, ‘After this, is it even possible to raise the question of negotiations?’ The war is finished. The conflict is getting finished in war. It is being finished in the war. With whom are we going to negotiate? They’re not giving us an alternative opportunity. Have forcing the conflict in war. Therefore, it will end in war. The conditions that would prevent conclusion of the conflict by are now being cleared.”
On September 11, 2022, terrorist TPLF raised the white flag and declared it want to negotiate. It wants peace.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald October 25/2022
