It is now months that we are living very challenging times in our country. We are in front of various hurdles and our trajectory towards democracy, development and justice is being tested severely. More than ever before, Ethiopians need to unite and all push into one direction with the guidance of the government, burying insignificant political or ideological differences amongst ourselves.
As the country is battling against its sworn enemy, the terrorist TPLF which has vowed to dismantle the country even when it is digging its own graves by extending its atrocities towards Amhara and Afar regions, Ethiopians should also be clear with what they need to do to defeat this enemy once and for all and then save the country from humiliation and endless suffering.
The war has its own costs and no one can underestimate the extreme tragedy that has befallen on us with the fascist acts of TPLF and its allies. But there are other ramifications to this war that need to be addressed side by side. The first task is of course the urgent need to defeat, destroy and bury TPLF. This is no wonder a prime priority to the Ethiopian government and it has stated it repeatedly. But this is not going to be an easy task nor can it be achieved in a very short period.
We should not forget that TPLF has always been preparing for this eventuality of attacking Ethiopia if it was not to be on the drivers seat of the country. We have heard in the past when the former prime minister was threatening that if EPRDF i.e. TPLF was not to govern the country, Ethiopia would be dismantled! (Implicitly he was threatening that he would see to it that the country falls apart!)
It has been preparing the public psychologically and no wonder it is paying all the unnecessary sacrifices by obeying to the letter the orders of the irresponsible and unscrupulous commanders of TPLF who have absolutely no regards for the sacred human life that is wasted.
The evidence available testifies to the fact that TPLF has been preparing for this assault for years by accumulating all sorts of armaments stealing from the federal government, by amassing billions of dollars in their coffers both at home as well as abroad, by preparing all sorts of international contacts, political personalities abroad as well as at home, military leaders at home, leaders of international organisations that are now arguing for the cause of TPLF and all sorts of training of youths inciting them to consider every Ethiopian as their enemy and that they cannot achieve the dream of having an independent Tigray Republic as long as there is a strong Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
This was of course the plan to keep the country under their hegemonic rule. It was as if TPLF was the guardian of Ethiopian integrity. But it was well known by non TPLF people that it was a means of hoodwinking the Ethiopian people who after twenty seven years of patience decided to face the TPLF discriminatory rule openly and throw it out of power using all means available paying the sacrifices needed.
In its three decade monopoly of power in Ethiopia, TPLF chiefs have done little to improve the life of Ethiopians and even in their own native state they made insignificant progress compared to the resources they availed. They were busy preparing the ground work inventing and creating as well as enhancing the possible differences among Ethiopian communities residing in various regions they created on purpose and trying to incite hatred and suspicion among these communities. At the same time, they inculcated their constituency that they will continue to rule Ethiopia the way they like or else dismantle it to then declare their own strong independent republic!
There is now enough evidence to show that in this process they have not been operating alone. They have prepared the alliance of even historical rivals and enemies of Ethiopia to join them. After all they have repeatedly declared that they would work even with the devil provided it helped them in their nefarious intention of dismantling Ethiopia and have it erased from the world map! Oromo extremists gathered under the name ‘Shene’ are among their allies and what is surprising and equally alarming is the reticence and more importantly the implicit support of Western nations including the major international organisations such as the UN and its partners in this endeavour.
There are little doubts that all these bodies do know about the short term and long term objectives of this terrorist group are. Some suspect they even advise, encourage and support them at least if not openly and directly but through their allies, through the media outlets they dominate and through their financial institutions they administer. Fortunately, the Ethiopian government does know what is going on exactly including the shameless support of UN affiliated bodies in the war efforts of TPLF.
The media outlets associated with TPLF continue to hammer stories of atrocities committed by Ethiopians against the Tigrean people thus trying to influence the Western government to impose sanctions against Ethiopia by alleging that Ethiopia is prohibiting the access of food and humanitarian aid reaching Tigray whereas it is the long proved and used strategy of TPLF to use famine of their own people as a weapon of war so that the international community will be forced to intervene on their side alleging humanitarian obligations. This was what happened four decades ago and they still believe it can work!
Similarly, the so called international human rights agencies have been taking sides glaringly with the TPLF by accusing only Ethiopia of violations while they never mention what TPLF has been doing in all the areas that it has occupied in Amhara and Afar regions! They never dare to report on atrocities committed on these people nor do they condemn the usage of child soldiers which is a crime against humanity. No wonder therefore that there is a clear unity of purpose between TPLF and its Western allies and that is why in an unprecedented move the UN Security Council has convened several times to discuss Ethiopia and attempts have been made to pass a condemnation of the Ethiopian government. But the veto power of Russia and China has thwarted such one sided resolution.
The UN knows it cannot intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation with a functioning and legitimately elected government. But the Ethiopian government has found clear evidence of this activity and it had no choice but to expel all those high officials caught red handed. The reaction of the UN and some Western countries however has been shocking because they expressed hypocritically their dismay over such Ethiopian legitimate move. Ethiopia has argued that it has caught red handed these officials siding with the terrorist TPLF by letting them use their communications gadget for terrorist purposes and let them direct the humanitarian aid meant for the population in need to strengthen their assaults against Ethiopian people. They should know that taking sides is a major interference in the internal affairs of Ethiopia.
Unfortunately, Ethiopia still has the memory of past interventions in its internal affairs when this TPLF itself managed to control the entire country some thirty years ago. Then, there was a government that was not so popular and Ethiopians had enough of it. Today the situation is quite different. Ethiopians have learned what consequences such interference would entail and it cannot allow history repeat itself because the first victory of the TPLF against Ethiopian people was facilitated and orchestrated and finally achieved thanks to the decisive support of bodies such as the UN and several other western nations notably the US thus preparing the ground work for total takeover of the central government in 1991. This is what the TPLF leadership hopes to attain again. But they forget that we are not in 1991 and Ethiopians now know what to allow and not to allow to any foreign power.
TPLF cannot have the support they desperately need especially from the UN and other affiliates so that they can continue with their aggressive moves against innocent Ethiopians they find on their assault. They may count on the weakening of Ethiopia through the threatened sanctions by the Western nations and cripple the economy, but Ethiopia now has all the partners it needs and will be supported by African countries and countries that are friends and allies of Ethiopia in its attempts to foil TPLF aggression and its cohorts such as the OLF Shene, another terrorist group hated and condemned by Ethiopians.
Western imperialism cannot succeed as it did in other times. Today, there is an elected government that has the trust and support of its citizens and no country can decide the destiny of Ethiopians but Ethiopians themselves only. This is what the Ethiopian Ambassador and permanent representative at the UN told the general assembly. If Ethiopians are united and pull into one direction with the guidance of their government, TPLF and its allies can have no chance of success despite the huge sacrifice Ethiopians have been forced to pay. It is true people may die, many would be displaced, many sad days may come to pass, but eventually the downfall of TPLF is its final destiny and it will be annihilated along with its venomous narratives. Ethiopians have now woken up and they will not give any more chance for its revival.
Incidentally, it should be noted that it is sad that the people of Tigray have been trapped by the venomous rhetoric of the TPLF and have been hoodwinked totally by the false and invented narratives they have been inundated with, not allowed to check from alternative sources if whatever the TPLF says has a grain of truth or not. For almost fifty years lies after lies have been fed to the Tigrean people telling them that the people of Ethiopia are their enemies and that they have to hate them! However, those who have been out of the direct spell of the power of the TPLF do know that they have no choice but to live with their Ethiopian compatriots and in harmony and peace. They know that millions do live outside Tigray and no one has ever discriminated nor made any criticism of their staying or living wherever they preferred. It is only the narrative of the TPLF leadership who want to dominate and govern the entire country in monopoly using the resources only for their clans and cohorts. They somehow succeeded in doing exactly that for three decades but now Ethiopians have said ‘your time is up’. The Ethiopian people have woken up from their deep slumber.
It is sad that those who believe in the false narratives of TPLF are ready to die for a bunch of die hard criminals whose only objective is to impose their dictatorial ideas on Ethiopians. That is why Ethiopians need to come together wherever they may be and support the efforts of their government and security forces to wipe out these terrorists and defeat all of their murderous intentions.
Unless Ethiopians act as one and inflict the decisive defeat on these forces there can be no hope of peace in Ethiopia and Ethiopians can never aspire to live with their compatriots in harmony. That is why it is imperative to entertain the same state of mind and the same psychology and show TPLF that a united Ethiopia is well above even the coalition that TPLF tries to construct and march on Addis. Every Ethiopian and every member of the Ethiopian Diaspora wherever they may live and all friends of Ethiopia need to get together and act as one against the conspiracy of trying to dismantle the country.
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
The Ethiopian Herald