ዜመ_ኢ-1_20130428_እንግሊዝኛPRESS RELEASE
(English translation of the Amharic original)
_______
London, 6th January 2021.
A traitor to Ethiopia from its beginnings, the T.P.L.F. (Tgray People’s Liberation Front) carried out on the night of 3rd of November 2020 particularly barbaric massacres of both civilians and members of the military stationed in the northern districts of the province of Gwender / ጐንደር, in the whole of the province of Tgray / ትግራይ, and in the northern districts of the province of Wello / ወሎ፟, in a dastardly act of complete desperation and disregard for the sanctity of life. In all, this criminal organisation has murdered many thousands of fellow citizens, destroyed considerable property, including infrastructure. By attacking military posts, it has exposed the country to external threats; furthermore, the T.P.L.F. has claimed full responsibility for these horrendous acts of treason.
There are no adequate expressions of sorrow and condemnation in the face of such evil and perfidious acts, other than to say that the organisation, T.P.L.F., should be dissolved and banned, and its leadership apprehended, and deferred before national law courts for crimes of national treason, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
However, as the foreign implanted apartheid system and undisclosed participants and accomplices are behind these treasonous acts and massacres, the whole issue should rightly be examined by national judicial authorities within the framework of the transitional government. In this regard, the Ethiopians’ Citizen Democratic Union (E.C.D.U.) will make public its position in due course.
The outlaw organisation T.P.L.F. has received no mandate from the patriotic and respected inhabitants of the province of Tgray; all the crimes committed against country are its own and those of imperialist forces that created it, financed it, organised it and remotely controlled it over the past fifty years. The inhabitants of the province of Tgray know they are innocent; the whole of the Ethiopian people know of the innocence of the inhabitants of Tgray, and the people of the World must also know of their innocence. As a testimony to their fidelity to their country, ignoring the repeated appeals of the T.P.L.F., the inhabitants of Tgray have shown their full support for the “law enforcement campaign” by scrupulously following the Ethiopian army’s directives in all the areas of operations. Whenever necessary, the inhabitants have also fought alongside members of the Ethiopian army against the lawless force that had been oppressing them for so long.
The Ethiopians’ Citizen Democratic Union (E.C.D.U.) expresses its deepest sense of grief over the killing of innocent Ethiopian civilians, and the sacrifice of the brave who confronted and vanquished the evil of fascism; it prays for the redemption of their souls. The E.C.D.U. sends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families and the whole Ethiopian people, and prays unto God to give them strength. The E.C.D.U. is confident that as soon as Ethiopia re-constitutes her democratic State, the victims and the bereaved shall receive compensations.
Until then, the E.C.D.U. addresses, with its best wishes, its patriotic appeal to:
1) the inhabitants of the province of Tgray, freed from 30 years of T.P.L.F. tyranny: «our most sincere congratulations on seeing this day of liberation; it is now your responsibility to peacefully hand over to law enforcement officials those criminals still hiding in your midst and busy preparing for you a new cycle of sufferings»;
2) the inhabitants of the districts unlawfully transferred to the “Tgray homeland” from the provinces of Gwender and Wello: «to you too our most sincere congratulations on seeing this day of liberation; until the time the “homelands’ apartheid system” is dismantled and Ethiopia has democratically implemented a new administrative structure, keep steadfastly what is of your right and for which you have already made great sacrifices»;
3) to the entire Free People of Ethiopia: «our most sincere congratulations in this day of victory ; however much we regret the fratricidal nature of the struggle, what is vanquished is the evil spirit of nihilism, imported from the Western World, that had been setting the Ethiopian people against themselves; its defeat now signals a better tomorrow for Ethiopia, once again our congratulations. Until the time the apartheid system is once and for all banished from the entire land of Ethiopia, do not be fooled by those tricksters who, claiming to “uphold” the illegitimate “constitution”, announce fake “elections” and other make-believe. Instead, rise up in unison to take back control over your country Ethiopia, while safeguarding and ensuring her national unity and territorial integrity, for the purpose of making your new Constitution and establishing your new democratic State of Right».
1: Blood on the hands of imperialism.
Ethiopia is paying the heaviest of prices as a result of the forcible imposition upon her by the United States of America and certain Western nations back in 1991, of the apartheid system that South Africa had just rejected, in the shape of the F.D.R.E. (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia) régime; an act of perfidy that dwarfs “Pearl Harbour” in its infamy. This was also an act that betrayed vengeance against the country that has always been at the forefronts of the anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist and anti-apartheid struggle. The régime was further placed in the hands of none other than the treasonous T.P.L.F.
As a consequence, for the next 29 years, Ethiopia was to be subjected to unimaginable sabotage, repression, discrimination, corruption, and overall mismanagement where, every year, billions of dollars’ worth of the country’s hard earned foreign currency were syphoned off outside the country with total impunity; all of this under the leaden silence of the “mean”-stream media. The latter do not fail to propagate, though, the “double digit growth” rates that the Ethiopian economy has supposedly achieved, failing to add that this “double digit growth” refers to the nominal growth rate and not the real growth rate; the nominal growth rate is worse than wiped out by a galloping double digit rate of inflation, resulting now in a stunted economy.
The T.P.L.F. led régime tried to meticulously carry through all its assigned key tasks meant to lead to the ultimate liquidation of Ethiopia as a State; among others:
1) by agreeing to carry out an unlawful referendum for the secession of the province of Eritrea, thereby illicitly giving away to her enemies a significant part of her people, her territories of Bahr Mdr / ባሕር ፡ ምድር and Denkel / ደንከል, as well as her entire Red Sea shores;
2) by endangering the national unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia by partitioning her population and territory along ethnic lines;
3) by addressing the Ethiopian people divisively as “peoples” on the basis of the foreign imposed “constitution”, in an attempt to deprive Ethiopia of her sole, rightful and sovereign people, her citizenry;
4) by trying to undermine the citizen language Amharic in favour of English;
5) by trying to substitute the idea of ethnicity to that of citizenship, as well as fomenting inter-ethnic strife that have led to daily massacres, mass displacements and exiles;
6) by mercilessly persecuting, torturing and killing all those who opposed it;
7) by embezzling the country’s resources and State revenues;
8) by other equally deplorable acts.
Nevertheless, the T.P.L.F. was unsuccessful; instead, it is now liquidated.
Three years prior to its own liquidation, in 2017, hard pressed by the popular unrest in the country and fearing for its own existence, the T.P.L.F. sought a way out to complete its unfinished business of destruction from its hideouts in the “Tgray homeland”. In so doing, it relinquished its dictatorial powers to its remaining partners in the remnant F.D.R.E. régime; without however showing any remorse for its past wrong doings other than to say that it is itself «rotten». Then, as the Holy Scriptures tell us: «The dog is turned to his own vomit again …» (2Pe. 2:22), the T.P.L.F. left Addis Abeba to return to its bunkers in the Tigray “homeland”, from where, through its latest horrifying series of atrocities committed all around the country, it showed once more to the whole World its truly vitiated, treacherous, fascistic and nihilistic nature. It is practically certified that to commit its crimes, the T.P.L.F. has benefited from the complicity, even the participation or the logistic support of some of its partners in the highest positions of power in Addis Abeba, with whom it backs the ongoing policy of “yugoslavisation” of Ethiopia through “ethnic cleansing”.
There is no doubt that the barbaric killings committed in the districts of Welqayt / ወልቃይት, T፟egedé / ጠገዴ, T፟elemt / ጠለምት, and Kafta Humera / ካፍታ ፡ ሑመራ, particularly around the town of May Kadra / ማይ ፡ ካድራ, by the T.P.L.F. militia, on the 3rd of November 2020 until they beat retreat, taking the lives of well over 1’500 civilians, are all the result of a fascistic thought process bent on avenging the defeat of fascism in 1941. It is also a massacre similar to the one committed in Yugoslavia’s Srebrenica enclave, with the purpose of likewise triggering the process of disintegration of Ethiopia.
The reasons why the districts of Welqayt, T፟egedé, T፟elemt, and Kafta Humera [refer to map 1, PDF], were unlawfully transferred from the jurisdiction of the province of Gwender to that of the Tgray “homeland”, back in 1991, were:
• firstly, to take revenge on their inhabitants, whom during the invasion of fascist Italy (1935-1941), had, under the leadership of such resistance leaders as Bitweded Adane Mekwen-n / ቢትወደድ ፡ አዳነ ፡ መኰንን, accomplished extraordinarily heroic feats of arms that earned their region the nickname of “graveyard of fascists”;
• secondly, to provide the Tgray “homeland”, which imperialism has earmarked for “independence”, a corridor to the Sudan;
• thirdly, to make the “republic-to-be” Tgray “homeland”, in possession of large tracts of fertile agricultural land, with the addition of the districts of Rayya (ራያ፟) and Allamat፟a (አላ፟ማጣ), also unlawfully transferred from the jurisdiction of Wello (ወሎ፟) province in 1991, thereby giving Tgray more than food self-sufficiency, its “lebensraum”.
The mid-February 2013 massacres that resulted in thousands of innocent civilians being killed [refer to map 2, PDF], for the purpose of “cleansing” from “non-native” citizens or Amhara:
• the “Oromo / ኦሮሞ homeland” (in the Wellegga / ወለ፟ጋ፟ districts of Gouliso / ጉሊሶ, Qilt፟ou / ቂልጡ, Djarso / ጃርሶ, Horro / ሆሮ፟, Gwdrou / ጕድሩ …),
• the “Beni Shangoul Goumz / በኒ ፡ ሻንጉል ፡ ጉምዝ homeland” (in Metekkel / መተከ፟ል, Mandoura / ማንዱራ, Boulén / ቡሌን, Dbat፟é / ድባጤ, Kamashi / ካማሺ, … districts),
• the “Deboub / ደቡብ homeland” (in Semén Béntch / ሰሜን ፡ ቤንች, Madji / ማጂ, Konso / ኮንሶ, Amaro / ዐማሮ, Malé / ማሌ, … districts),
were being routinely acknowledged by the usual press statement of the E.P.R.D.F.-Prosperity Party led FDRE remnant régime, until the time, according to the statement of the Foreign Ministry spokesman, the «red line was finally overstepped» when army divisions stationed in “Tgray homeland” were attacked by T.P.L.F. forces; only then was the régime forced to launch rather belatedly the “law enforcement campaign”. Numerous evidence have confirmed that until the 3rd of November 2020 attacks on the army, the remnant F.D.R.E. régime had been “blaming” on T.P.L.F. operatives the so-called “ethnic cleansing” massacres – which in fact are anti-citizen (anti-Amhara) massacres – committed elsewhere in the country, but failed to take any action, as the régime was tacitly agreeing to the end result of these anti-citizen attacks: the consolidation of “ethnically cleansed republic-to-be-homelands”. As we were about to complete this press release, we have learned with great sadness the massacre of a further 200 innocent citizens or Amhara, in a single village of the “Beni Shangoul Goumz homeland”, on the 25th of December 2020. These massacres took place only a day after the visit of Dr. Abiy Ahmed to the “homeland”.
That is why, the E.C.D.U. reiterates its position that the remnant régime’s main officials, including the “president” Mrs. Sahle Werq Zewdé, the “prime minister” Dr. Abiy Ahmed / ዐቢይ ፡ አሕመድ, other régime and “homeland” officials, will be equally answerable before the law, on grounds of treason and participation in crimes against humanity, as the T.P.L.F. leadership itself.
It is with the authorisation of dictator Dr. Abiy Ahmed that, in 2017-18, thousands of Oromo Liberation Front fighters, previously trained, armed and stationed in the military camps of the outlaw Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, inside Eritrea, have returned to the “Oromo homeland”, fully armed and without restrictions on their movements or activities. They have since been responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent Ethiopian civilians and the displacement of millions more. The Ethiopian people know that the dictatorial rule of Dr. Abiy Ahmed has allowed these crimes to continue; and the “merchants of death” have chosen to award Dr. Abiy Ahmed the “Nobel Peace Prize”.
It is to be remembered also that the remnant F.D.R.E. régime has already contemptuously made clear that it will not compensate any of the tens of thousands of victims of the June 2020 massacres, looting and burning committed by bands of hooligans organized and led by the “Oromo homeland” militia as well as the O.L.F. paramilitaries.
The Ethiopians’ Citizen Democratic Union (E.C.D.U.) expresses its great satisfaction with the news of the Ethiopian army’s successful annihilation of the treasonous T.P.L.F. force, and their capture, on the 28th of November 2020, of the town of Meqelé / መቀሌ which the latter used as its headquarters. The members of the Ethiopian army are the product of Ethiopian Civilisation ሥልጡንሕዝብና, a Civilisation of Right; despite the unrelenting nihilistic propaganda and brainwashing they have been submitted to over the past fifty years, they have, on that day, demonstrated by their victory that they have managed to uphold the eternal ideals upon which their country is founded. Fascism is vanquished for the second time in 80 years.
At this point, we need to specially mention the watershed moment when a particular event neutralised an otherwise nefarious scheme. The Ethiopian army stationed in northern Ethiopia were on the verge of collapse following the sudden attack by the T.P.L.F. forces on the 3rd of November 2020. At this critical point in time, the green-yellow-red Ethiopian flag carrying popular forces from the provinces of Gwender, Wello, Gwedjam and Shewa, headquartered in Bahr Dar, advanced with surprising rapidity into the area to rescue the beleaguered army, and in a lightning counter-attack carried out with great determination and heroism, they decisively put out of action the renegade forces of the T.P.L.F., despite having inferior numbers and armaments; in so doing they have almost miraculously averted a potentially disastrous situation for the country, as was expected in Meqelé and Addis Abeba. This popular force has taken the lion’s share in the success of what came to be known later as the “law enforcement campaign”.
Even if the officials of the remnant régime were in the end forced to launch the operations they named “law enforcement campaign” because the situation would have otherwise gone out of their control, the mere fact that, having withstood pressures from outside forces, they successfully completed it, may be remembered in history as an honourable gesture to country and people.
Nevertheless, what the officials of the remnant régime call “law” is their lawless stance that does not recognise the Ethiopian people and tramples upon the people’s sovereignty. As the true law enforcement campaign is one which goes as far as respecting, first, the sovereignty of the people and, second, giving way for a transitional government by making effective the nullification of the foreign inspired and unlawful F.D.R.E. “constitution”, responsible for so much carnage witnessed so far in the country. The E.C.D.U. advises the remnant régime’s officials to show courage by going the full distance. What history will remember as a truly great service to country and people will be such a final act at this critical political juncture.
2: A faltering remnant régime that has somehow undergone a shed.
It is to be remembered that, six years ago, in July 2015, “Nobel Peace prize” winning US President Mr. Barack Obama, had visited Ethiopia, and addressed the Ethiopian puppet house of representatives where 100% of the seats are held by the ruling E.P.R.D.F. party. In his speech, president Obama extolled the burgeoning “democracy” in Ethiopia and extended the billion U.S. dollar annual aid to the dictatorial régime. The then head of intelligence of the repressive F.D.R.E. régime, today’s strong man of the remnant F.D.R.E. régime, and another “Nobel Peace prize” winner, Dr. Abiy Ahmed / ዐቢይ ፡ አሕመድ, speaking before the same puppet Ethiopian house of representatives on the 30th of November 2020, has made extensive “revelations” on the open secret of the tyrannical nature and workings of the régime. The E.C.D.U. has listened attentively to his pronouncement; the latter has merely consolidated the conclusions the E.C.D.U. had already arrived at, but nothing new was found in it. What the E.C.D.U. was hoping to hear from Dr. Abiy Ahmed was detailed information regarding the basis on which the T.P.L.F. agreed to transfer to Dr. Abiy Ahmed and his team their dictatorial powers back in 2017, and which side’s breach of this secret agreement led to the present crisis. As this is not yet revealed, the E.C.D.U. hopefully expects Dr. Abiy Ahmed and his team, as well as the surviving members of the T.P.L.F. leadership, to give their side of the story to the investigating commission that will be set up during the transitional government period.
The one thing noteworthy in this official declaration of Dr. Abiy Ahmed is the irrefutable conclusion to be drawn from it: the systematic nature of the multidimensional damage inflicted on Ethiopia by certain foreign powers over the years, through their proxy holding régimes, in their relentless attempts to destroy her. Over the past 30 years, imperialism has established, supported and maintained in place the tyrannical and nihilistic F.D.R.E. régime in Ethiopia for a purely predatory purpose, while at the same time paying lip service to human rights and democracy. The E.C.D.U. seizes this occasion to ask once again the international community to recognise Ethiopia’s victimization, without requiring any further evidence than this.
With the complete annihilation of the T.P.L.F., the F.D.R.E. régime has lost its support column; its collapse is only a matter of time. Today, the “Tgray homeland” is de facto dismantled; the other “homelands” will follow. The whole of Ethiopia (including Bahr Mdr / ባሕር ፡ ምድር and Denkel / ደንከል) is on the eve of a new restructuring of her administrative regions. The entire Ethiopian people and their army are rising up for this fundamental transformation. Even if it cannot be said that the one hundred year old imperialist enterprise has lost its “raison d’être”, it is certainly much weaker now; as for Ethiopia, she is not yet out of the woods either.
The faltering F.D.R.E. remnant régime, like a snake that has just undergone a shed, is projecting a business as usual attitude, beyond the coming “elections”, planning for the long term, and busy setting agenda for the whole Horn of Africa region. Politics should however be practised in the realm of reality and not that of wishful thinking, even less of evil thinking. It is clear that the end result will not be in the favour of the remnant régime.
With fierce determination to achieve its predatory anti-civilisation aims, imperialism seems to have decided to rehabilitate its creation, the FDRE régime, in a bid to make it complete the mission for which it was created. This signals an imminent purge of those high ranking Ethiopian army officers who have emerged victorious in the recent operations and are irremediably opposed to the régime’s nihilistic aspirations.
Whatever happens, darkness will never triumph over light; Ethiopia shall pull through these dark times in freedom, in unity and in integrity, towards a brighter tomorrow, guided and fortified by the light of her Civilisation of Right.
3: Decision time.
The E.C.D.U. wishes to strongly advise the officials of the remnant F.D.R.E. régime against following in the footsteps of the T.P.L.F. leadership, by trying to give life to the unlawful “constitution” and thus «… return to their vomit»; the demise and annihilation of the T.P.L.F. should serve them as a lesson.
Instead, the E.C.D.U. urges once again the officials of the remnant F.D.R.E. régime to follow the right way forward, and accept the legitimate request of the Ethiopian people for the respect of their sovereignty, by agreeing to call a national conference where the representatives of the Ethiopian people shall discuss the issue of the formation of a transitional government, thereby opening the new political chapter leading to the drafting and adoption phases of a new democratic Constitution for Ethiopia.
Finally, as a token of their positive overall posture vis-à-vis the above, the E.C.D.U., together with its best wishes, further urges and encourages the officials of the remnant F.D.R.E. régime to quickly make effective the following:
1) the anti-citizen (anti-Amhara) attacks that are perpetrated in different “homelands” around the country, and until recently attributed to the now defunct T.P.L.F., are still continuing unabated, with evidence showing the involvement of highest placed officials of the remnant régime; these acts constitute crimes of national treason, and must be stopped from their sponsoring points at once; to that effect, “prime minister” Abiy Ahmed, on who’s watch the massacres are repeatedly occurring, must be removed from his responsibilities, and be placed under house arrest, pending investigations;
2) political leaders such as Mr. ‘Skindr Negga / እስክንድር ፡ ነጋ and media professionals who were wrongfully arrested following the regime-organised June 2020 massacres, must be released from prison immediately;
3) the divisive expression “peoples” drawn from the vocabulary of the enemy and misused with fascistic fervour by officials of the régime to designate the one Ethiopian people and sole sovereign of Ethiopia, thereby making the country ownerless, such a hostile expression must be extirpated from declarations of officials of the remnant regime, and the media that are under their control;
4) the reprobate stance and acts of enmity avowedly practised until now against Ethiopia’s unique citizen language, Amharic, must be publicly condemned and revoked, so that due respect, attention and care is shown to it;
5) the pentagonal star on a blue background – symbol of the now further diminished fascism, imperialism and apartheid – were previously placed on our national flag by an unlawful “promulgation”; the régime must now peaceably remove it by issuing another “promulgation” to that effect.
The Ethiopian flag constitutes for the Ethiopian people the representation of their freedom, their sovereignty, and their unity; or, in other words, the Ethiopian flag is to the Ethiopian people their symbolic representation of an independent country standing on the foundations of its own civilisation. Today, the Ethiopian people, together with their army, have once more risen in unison with their green-yellow-red national flag to fulfil their sacred duty to regain their freedom, reassert their sovereignty, and restore their democratic State of Right. In this regard, they do not need to request or obtain authorisation from anybody. Should any tyrannical force dare to oppose them, the Ethiopian people are fully entitled to fight them by all means, peaceful or otherwise; in the absence of a legitimate government, as is the case today, the Ethiopian army is duty bound to submit to the authority of the Ethiopian people ፨
Secretariat of the Provisional Executive Council,
E.C.D.U.
==============================
የኢትዮጵያውያን ፡ ሀገራዊ ፡ ሥልጡንሕዝባዊ ፡ አንድነት ።
UNION CITOYENNE DÉMOCRATIQUE DES ÉTHIOPIENS