Africa Speaks – Comunique on the ongoing Ethiopian conflict Inbox Africa Speaks

Ethiopians and their government are capable of resolving conflicts with secessionist elements in the Northern Corridor
ኢትዮጵያውያን እና መንግሥታቸው በሰሜናዊ ክፍል ያለውን የአሽባሪ እና የተገንጣይ አካላት ግጭቶችን መፍታት ይችላሉ።

Subject: This is a plea to African leaders to understand the nuances of Ethiopia’s protracted conflict:

We appreciate the efforts of all concerned leaders in mediating and conveying your concern over the ongoing confrontation between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), which the Ethiopian Parliament has designated as a terrorist organisation. Allow me to clarify a few items prior to the appeal; for those of you unfamiliar with the ground reality, it is critical to emphasise the conflict’s fundamental origins. “Ethiopians and members of the TPLF have been at odds for 47 years”. To put the conflict in context, it is not as recent as you may think; it has been occurring for less than a year. In 1974, TPLF terrorist groups began waging war against Ethiopians as a method of secession. Circumstances and the end of the cold war in the early 1990s permitted the TPLF’s rise to central power with the assistance of Western countries. This is perplexing because in the 1980s, Western countries, most notably the US, designated the TPLF as a terrorist organisation.

As hinted by its name, the TPLF rebel group had no intention of governing Ethiopia, as its manifesto stated that they intended to secede from the start. However, sad circumstances have compelled them to lead a country they despise. Nonetheless, as a contingency plan and for their own convenience, they established an autonomous federal structure that enabled them to accomplish the organisation’s primary objective. Similarly, they devised for the inclusion of numerous ethnic groups by emphasising the significance of reconfiguring Ethiopia’s governance system with a new arrangement aimed at constructing a nation-state by eradicating thousands of years of nation statehood.

Additionally, they included a provision into the constitution that allows for secession at any moment, including during a state of emergency, anticipating all eventualities. To illustrate further, despite serving as Ethiopia’s prime minister for over two decades, late Zenawi remained adamant in his goal to separate from Ethiopia and died as a TPLF leader. Even our Eritrean brother and sister fought for independence by raising a historical grievance with the support of the Arab world; However, ironic TPLF was the primary advocate for secession till the end and recognised the independence of Eritrea prior to any nation in the world. How on earth can any sane mind conceive of a situation in which a nation’s component secedes without plea? I hope these are some of the few facts about which many of our African brothers and sisters are uninformed. The other point about Tigray province is not only the home of Tigre, but also there are different ethnic groups such as Agaw, Oromo and Amhara, as well as indigenous people Afar, Irob, and Kunama, who are the proprietor of Axumite Kingdom. However, the Western media’s suffocating rhetoric is limited to the Tigre ethnic group.

Nonetheless, the TPLF secession scheme employs a pitiful method. As a result of Tigrayans’ economic, social, and more fundamental ties to the rest of Ethiopians. With the exception of the rebel leaders, independence from Ethiopia and the construction of an independent nation-state were utopian goals for the majority of the population. Additionally, the economic viability of the secession idea is in doubt, given the backward mode of production, paucity of fertile land, and finite supply of natural resources. Ethiopia’s economy, let alone the province of Tigray, must be integrated with neighbouring countries such as Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia in order to be more viable.

The Nature of TPLF

The TPLF is an organised crime syndicate that has operated as a rebel group for seventeen years and has spent the last thirty years in the shadow of Ethiopia’s government. The TPLF has inhumanely murdered, displaced, exiled thousands of Ethiopians across all walks of life, including Tigrayans. This terrorist organisation has terrorised its own citizens by detonating bombs in taxi ranks and hotels in order to strike opposition leaders and various groups. It is not an invention but the fact that the TPLF was an imperialist agent in the Horn of Africa. As we all watched, they were dispatching mercenaries to Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and as far as Uganda to assassinate members and leaders of opposition political parties, particularly the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The TPLF also made an effort to remove Ethiopian patriotism from its roots and cultural foundations. Because they know that Ethiopianism is an antidote against colonial and imperial domination.

We can provide numerous illustrations when we assert that the TPLF’s objective is to carry out the colonisation plan. As previously stated, after implementing ethnic and linguistic federalism in Ethiopia, they attempted to export the model to neighbouring nations. Somalia was the initial victim state. The Somali people are a single ethnic group with a common language and religion but several tribal groups. When they saw that nothing could be penetrated, they devised a plan. Italy, the United Kingdom, and France colonised Somalia, and using colonial history as a guide, they carried out the controversial operation. And they sowed discord by endorsing a separatist faction. Somalia is now divided along tribal lines, with “Somaliland attaining de facto independence.” Even if the development had historical roots, the TPLF capitalised on the departure to maintain control of the subregion.

Similarly, for years, in order to be a regional actor and representative of the west, the TPLF has attempted to indirectly groom the Al-Shabaab Militant group in Somalia and meddle in Somalia’s domestic affairs. Additionally, as a proponent of the Eurocentric Balkanisation system, which is currently being implemented in South Sudan. Today, South Sudan has an ethnic federation that is modelled after Ethiopia. They have attempted to use similar distractions in Kenya and Uganda to weaken the government’s hand. Similarly, in 1998, they waged war against Eritrea over a sliver of land, which cost both sides hundreds of thousands of lives.

The TPLF is a sham communist organisation with a divided and isolationist mentality. Without a doubt, the TPLF’s deed is a continuation of Fascism, Nazism, and Apartheid with a limited colonial mindset plagued by an inferiority complex. The TPLF as a colonialist agent has plotted several the destruction of Ethiopia’s sociocultural fabric and resistance against imperialist strategies it is unrepairable; unless a miracle happens. Not only is the TPLF a threat to the rest of Ethiopia, but also Tigrayans were victims of segregation. In order to understand the current government, one must recognise that it was born from the umbilical cord of the TPLF/Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. And Ethiopians realised that the present ruling party, dubbed “Prosperity,” is operating the same authoritarian structural and state machinery as the TPLF/EPRDF, including the constitution and ethnic-based federal system. However, the party is gaining appropriate support and endorsement due to its mindset being distinct from that of the old guard. Additionally, the people who aspire to authentic Ethiopianism will be reborn under this leadership. If the current administration is unable to overhaul the system, the vicious circle will continue to exist.

The Looting Machinery of TPLF

According to some studies, the TPLF is a mafia organisation that has amassed over 30 billion dollars in looted by exploiting the ethnic card against the Ethiopian government. The TPLF leadership and its sympathisers have committed theft and illicit money transfers from Ethiopia’s poor society. The organisation has been involved in grand corruption, state capture, and illegal financial flows that contributed to the success of criminal activities.

The TPLF has organised an economic hit firm named the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), which works in a manner similar to an economic hit man. EFFORT which belongs to TPLF, is a conglomerate with more than 12-billion-dollar capital that was trading for the last 30 years in the name of Tigrayan and make sure the rest of Ethiopia bleed. The irony of TPLF is that, despite billions of dollars available for military spending, they continue to pretend and beg the world community for wheat, pleading for assistance because they are starving. As an expression of the looting, the TPLF has established a propaganda machine from Nairobi to Doha, financed by ‘EFFORT’ funding from Genève and Washington. The TPLF has employed a large number of lobbyists worldwide, most notably in western countries.

The question is, “Why is there such outrage from the international community when there are other major global problems?” Who is behind the TPLF’s sensationalist propaganda approach that has sowed panic throughout the world, as though the rest of Ethiopia’s more than a hundred million people are non-existent and unite against a single ethnic group? We are aware that the TPLF apparatus operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from neighbouring countries to major western capitals. Why are western media outlets failing to report on women who have been raped at gunpoint, robbed, and assaulted in the Amhara and Afar regions? This appears to be a concerted effort to avert such massacres. Why is the Ethiopian government’s unilateral ceasefire being sabotaged by the TPLF and the western media? The West is not condemning the TPLF’s terrorist strikes while attempting to corner the Ethiopian government through economic sanctions and endless blame; What does this blindness indicate?

What is the Neo-Colonialism Agenda in Africa Particularly in Ethiopia?

The new indirect rule does not come as old days with European face and troops; rather, it will duplicate someone who looks like us and represent them at most devotees. The current rally with