TLM Editorial View on the TPLF Leadership’s Dictatorial Ethos and political Journey to Destruction That is Eroding the Unity of Tigraians
We all expect the people to rise and oppose continuous resistance. We know from recent experience how well the TPLF regime understands the language of resistance, as illustrated by its precipitated pullout in the face of a growing Oromo student insurgency. Tegaru’s resistance is fuelled by anger against the committed and stubborn leadership of TPLF gangs. It is absurd even to think that leadership with such a blood-soaked history is to safeguard and defend human rights. Last month, Getachew warned, “We are heading towards a cliff edge,” and conflict could erupt “any minute.” A broad range of mediators—from Tigray’s clergy to Western diplomats—have attempted to heal the rift, without success, as competition to control Tigray’s gold mines and state-owned enterprises heats up.
The current intrusion of power by Debretsion groups and Eritrean agents must be corrected without delay by arresting these criminal groups headed by Debretsion (a mouthpiece) and Sebhat Nega. Shabia agents should have been persona non grata; they have no business to set foot in Tigrai. While the Pretoria Agreement had severely eroded the inflated psyche of Eritrean authorities, the leadership demonstrated its survival kit at the expense of Eritrea to commit another genocide.
The war forced upon Tigrai ruptured the volatile friendship. Still, TPLF continued to make a mistake in taking corrective action and muscled its political power to defend Tigrai’s territorial integrity. This proved the demented psyche of Eritrean authorities, who got away when they bombed civilian areas and killed many innocent children. Eritrea bombed the Ayder School in Mekele twice within one hour on June 5, 1999. The massacre of Ethiopian civilians in such barbaric activity is still vibrating in many of our souls. To refute the usual lies, the barbaric Eritrean attitude is informative: “One to one hundred–that’s the exchange rate,” declared Eritrean Air Force Commander HabteZion Hadgu in June 1998 (Reuters, June 9, 1998). It is not in our psyche, culture, philosophy, upbringing, values, and history to attack civilian targets, victimize, and terrorize innocent people.
The so-called law enforcement campaign in Tigrai, which killed more than a million people, raped thousands, destroyed hundreds of villages to the ground, and forced over two million people to be displaced from their homes, food, and rape used as a weapon of war linked to state and military policy. Ethiopian, Eritrean, Amhara Special Forces, and allied militias committed “serious abuses and violations of human rights,” and there are “reasonable grounds to believe that a number of these violations may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. The nature, scale, and organization of the operations suggested preplanning and design by the Ethiopian and Eritrean leadership that many of them amounted to the gravest crimes under international law. There will be a time when those barbarians will face justice.”
The day of judgement is fast approaching; thus, all those serving Fetlework (Mengerino), military and civil service associates, and diaspora supporters have one last chance to vindicate and correct their mistakes by serving a group bent on destroying Tigray. However, this will not absolve Debretsion and associates of the treasonable act they committed against the people of Tigrai. Debretsion, Sebhat Nega, and close associates are criminals who have been violating the human and political rights of Tegaru. For the last three years, Tigrai’s wealth had been looted, illegally transferred to the private ownership of sham corporate structures, and fully controlled by TPLF leaders and senior generals, which are all tied to the monumental corruption created by the economic monopoly and lack of accountability.
There was also corruption in the leadership of TPLF, of which millions of dollars were raised for victims of genocide; the funds are not accountable. Sebhat Nega was EFFORT’s leading representative and executive for years, controlling mega millions in such investments. In their cardinal violation of trust and the trust of the Tigrai people, they have enlisted very many corrupt individuals, among whom the most dubious and chronic enemy of the people of Tigrai is senior military generals, who continued to steal our gold through a scheme where they have no accountability except to their partners in crime, the leaders of the TPLF. Debretsion wants to suspend Pretoria and use it as a political tool by placing obstacles to implementation and saying it’s Getachew’s fault.” When a group of senior military commanders denounced the interim administration and called for its overhaul in late January, Getachew called it a coup d’état. The sharp escalation prompted panic among Tigray’s population.
The power struggle between the Interim administration and TPLF fuels the simmering silent conflict that Abiy Ahmed is hatching. TPLF’s reckless leadership and careless steps may pay a heavy price to the Tigrai people. Concealed agendas hatched by a few generals interested in illicit gold mining are worsening the crises. We must always guard against a distractive slide into the division of cancerous polarization, leading to additional loss of lives. A lack of cooperation threatens realizing the democratic forces needed to build peace and stability.
Were TPLF and the Interim Administration blind, or was the intolerable pursuit of their agenda going to keep them on course to a better end? Whatever their motive, there seems to be no end in sight. Perhaps the TPLF and the Interim Administration misjudged the height and breadth of the steps leading to this dais because they failed to act on time. It can be argued that the TPLF network organized in the Diaspora by a handful of exiles intensified the growing paranoia, blaming the Interim Administration. The sobering fact is that there is not much the TPLF supporters in the Diaspora can do abroad to change Tigrai’s future. What we can do to help our Tigrai is to support the mechanisms that allow the various political and social forces to dialogue with one another to resolve the current impasses and establish a peaceful and lasting democratic institutions.
The wave of protests that swept Tigrai cities set in motion a process of regime change by sending a powerful signal that there should be no more meaningless war. As Tegrau, we have to move towards a better understanding of our checkered history with TPLF and not sweep it all under the rug as if nothing had happened in the last fifty years. The act of disclosure will help us to remove all deceit, corruption, nepotism, and Aweragism. We need to undergo cleaning our souls from deeply buried mistakes and a sense of guilt. Only after such honest acknowledgement will we be able to work in unionism as responsible people.
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