After Tigray was rocked by internal strife for a while its residents have begun to enjoy a breath of fresh air, for it gained normalcy following the Pretoria Peace Agreement.
Thanks to the commitment of the incumbent, in no time, once more infrastructural facilities are put in place to cater to basic needs and the like. Aids are elbowing their way to victims of the tragic unfolding. Electricity, telecom, and water services have resumed. As such banks, hospitals and schools are back in shape to the relief of service seekers. Estranged parents and relatives are now communicating to their hearts’ content. Ethiopian is shuttling back and forth carrying passengers simultaneously paving ways to dream destinations—Axum, Adwa… — reigniting the smokeless industry. The same is true with investment.
The ripple effect is being spread to the agriculture sector and others resuscitating the region’s economy. Facts on the ground portray the need to build on the gains to materialize the country’s envisaged affluence thereby Tigray’s turnaround.
Displaced people are returning to their abode consummating the peace deal with success.
The Disarming, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) task is bearing fruit. But a lot is to be desired as the aforementioned tasks are cost-intensive and obligate outlays in billions. Those extending help to the noble task deserve a high five with a reminder they must keep on the support till the region gets back on its feet. Others imbued with a humanitarian cause are expected to follow suit with magnanimity.
As PM Abiy Ahmed (PHD) told parliamentarians lately the Pretoria Peace Deal symbolizes reaching an amicable solution via negotiation setting the trend for victims of similar misfortune to emulate. What a cultural shift and what a victory for the country that is cautiously handling the matter that could otherwise boom strung as there are actors who want to fan the embers of conflict. “We want to home in on development loathsome of conflict and destruction. As the country belongs to all, there should not be rooms for polarization that result in a vicious cycle of conflicts. The curtain has to be put down on conflicts that have no purpose but destruction. Pursuant of political pluralization, the incumbent has invited exiled political parties,” An enduring progress attends peaceful dialogues meant to forestall conflicts.
The deal is one that demonstrated Africans could straighten out knotty issues by themselves slamming doors on unwarranted interference cloaked under hidden intentions. The Pretoria Agreement could be an exemplary act to many African countries and give them the lesson to resolve their differences without third parties’ interference. Now humans and infrastructures are immune against death and destruction. As history amply demonstrated it took a long period of time for conflicting parties to strike a deal in a sagacious way in a short period of time.
Getting conflicts behind our back and navigating the demanding task of bringing divergent outlooks to an intersection point through peaceful and all-inclusive dialogue we must translate our vision of building a great Ethiopia by by getting all stakeholders aboard.
The country is experiencing a turnaround in the development and execution of projects. Through introspection identifying our upsides and downsides, consolidating our merits, and doing away with our demerits we have to break away from poverty and join the ranks of the prosperous marching on the avenue of progress wholeheartedly espousing peace.
As peace and development cross-pollinate each other we must learn to zero in on both. For sure leveling the ground and ensuring that the perks of progress are distributed across the board, growth plays quite a role in mellowing the grievances of the public and facilitating ways for democratization. But for this to crystalize enduring peace has to be there.
The bottom line is we have to maintain our peace and simultaneously spur our development cognizant that we have to keep the two as the apples of our eyes.
The Ethiopian herald July 14/2024
