BY SOLOMON WASSIHUN
Historians, naturalists, and anthropologists have always been fascinated by Ethiopia. Lately, Ethiopia has also become an exciting place for political scientists a nation that defy their theories, narratives and forecasts. Until a few weeks ago, they confidently swore Ethiopia is a nation with uncertain future, trapped in an intractable quagmire of political crisis, and that the days of the Ethiopian state is numbered. Now, they are proved wrong. Ethiopia is back on its legs and still in one piece, looking into the future with optimism and confidence.
The landscape of Ethiopian politics is changing at a breathtaking pace, to say the least. It is hard to follow, let alone analyze. The good thing is the change is for the better. The dark cold winter of war is leaving, and the scented shiny spring of peace is already high on the horizon.
The breaking news that came last Monday morning was a bombshell that took everybody by surprise and made us jump for joy. Arguably, it was equivalent to the news of the first filling of GERD, The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam back in 2020 in galvanizing the nation with joy and a bright future. The visit of a high-level delegation of the federal government in Mekelle has made it certain that the peace process has reached a point of no return. The days of the war in northern Ethiopia are surely behind us. The big event was a symbolic act that signaled the yearning of Ethiopia for lasting peace and stability is attainable.
No one could have imagined that the handshake and hug between the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Ethiopian Federal Government and the TPLF leader would take place so early this week. No one expected federal government politicians to fly to Mekele so soon to be welcomed with open arms by TPLF officials.
Political analysts were incredulous to see numerous high-ranking civilian government officials arriving in Mekele with no prior security presence of Ethiopian armed forces in the city. “Some 40 senior government officials arrived without being accompanied by their bodyguards and the Ethiopian Defense Forces. This shows the determination of the federal government to take concrete confidence-building measures that will make a difference in the progress of the implementation of the peace agreement signed last in Pretoria,” says Kebede, a Tigrayan political activist who was also a member of the disbanded Interim Administration of Tigray Region that were in power in 2021.
Beyond its symbolic value as a confidence-building measure, the visit of the federal government was a ground-breaking event as the first-ever meeting between the TPLF leaders and federal authorities without the presence of a third party as a mediator or as a facilitator. The two sides have used the opportunity to sit side by side to assess the progress of the implementation of the peace agreement.
It appears that the visit of the officials has shifted the gear and increased the acceleration of the tangible changes in the move toward returning the Tigray region to normalcy. Just two days after the officials’ visit, the Ethiopian airline’s passenger plane touched down in Mekelle carrying civilians from Addis Ababa for the first time since June 2021. The time the Ethiopian government withdrew from the Tigray region declaring unilateral ceasefire. In addition to Mekelle , Ethiopian will resume a regular passenger flight in few daytime to Shere, the town in the west end of Tigray region.
The return of Ethiopian airlines back to the sky of the Tigray region replacing the fighter planes and drones has been an emotional experience for Mekelle residents. Some media sources have reported that residents of the city were crying and ululating with joy when they saw the first passenger planes in the sky as it approached the Alula Aba Nega air terminal in Mekelle.
Several Immediate Families, husbands, wives, children, and parents were reunited for the first time after being separated for at least 18 months, following the sudden eruption of the war and the termination of any civilian communication and transport lines to and from Tigray.
Concurrent with the resumption of the regular civilian flight to Mekelle, it was reported the telephone services to Mekele resumed operation two days after the visit of the federal officials. People elsewhere in the nation or overseas can now access their loved ones in Mekele, and similarly, residents of some 27 Tigrayan towns including Mekelle can now reach their loved where ever they are in the world, to relieve them from their worries about their relatives’ safety and whereabouts that has been lingering for almost two years.
Three days after the visit of the federal authorities, Mekele has become the host of peacemakers that brokered the Pretoria Peace Deal, formally known as the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement [CoHA]. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and their entourage of diplomats and experts descended last Thursday on Mekele.
The visit of the peace negotiators was not accidental as the visit of the Ethiopian officials. It is to be recalled that Kenyatta announced the plan of his team of negotiators to travel to Mekele during the press briefing he gave at the second round Nairobi meeting of the peace talks.
The African peacemakers’ team led by Obasanjo will see for themselves the fruit of their hard work revealing itself live on the ground. Apart from conducting the assessment of the implementation of the agreement, their physical presence will surely give further impetus for the much needed acceleration of the progress of the peace process. With the arrival Obasanjo team in Mekelle came the long-awaited launching of the AU Monitoring, Verification and Compliance Mission in Ethiopia. This is a major event in Mekelle that has been immediately praised on the same day by the American Secretary of State saying: “Another important step toward securing lasting peace for the people of northern Ethiopia.” This shows how closely the world follows what is going on in Tigray region.
The full implementation of the surrender of heavy weapons, as well as light weapons of TPLF fighters, will hopefully be conducted soon. The entrance of the Ethiopian defense force into Mekelle is also another major step in the implementation of the Pretoria peace accord. With such a series of groundbreaking events we are witnessing now, it is obvious that the second month of implementation of the peace accord is making up for the sluggish progress in the first month.
It is now safe to say that, the peace process which started slowly and surely is now propelling in full gear towards its goal. -Ensuring lasting peace in northern Ethiopia and beyond. Ensuring the voice of reason and peace triumph over the voice of vengeance and violence.
The Ethiopian ambassador to Kenya, who has insider knowledge of the northern Ethiopian conflict as a former senior field commander, Gen. Bacha nailed it when he summarized the progress of the peace process: “ Until the last meeting held in Nairobi, question doubting the success of the peace process were running high. However, after the meeting the chain of events asserting the fast progress of the peace process happened. From now onwards, there is nothing that can be turned back. The peace process is going on the right track at full gear.”
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 5 JANUARY 2023
