[TLM Editorial]
It is likely too late to examine and investigate the motives of Debretsion and his associates, including their cadres and military officials. Every action they took continues to baffle many Tigrayans. By now, it has become clear that we should not continue in wonderment; the stakes are too high for us to remain aloof. We must stop and evaluate what has occurred and what awaits us as Tigrayans. We have been passive and bickering about irrelevant issues in the face of this rising existential threats. We are nearing the endpoint of their destructive endeavors, which could lead to the end of Tigray, as far as their political visions indicate.
TPLF leadership cannot legislate by decree like an absolute monarch and must be held accountable for their actions. They cannot solely determine the fate of our Tigray. It has become a sad affair to witness the TPLF’s attempts to obscure the truth from the public. The people of Tigray have not been informed, and their voices have been ignored when addressing many issues that adversely affect the viability of Tigray. Therefore, we must question the motives of the TPLF leadership and their ability to analyze concrete problems while addressing the current issues between the Eritrean and Ethiopian (PP) administrations. Unsurprisingly, time-honored political leadership techniques that allow policy shifts to meet new realities are undermined and forgotten due to their inability to understand the region’s geopolitics.
As always, the TPLF leadership lacks the wisdom to recognize the fundamental imperatives of the Tigrayan people’s needs and aspirations to assert their future regarding relations with Eritrea. It is realistic to conclude that the TPLF leadership governs the interests of the leadership in Asmara. From this regime, one should not expect consideration of reality or the courage to acknowledge the many mistakes in dealing with Eritrea.
We, Tigrayans, have become accustomed to hearing gruesome and graphic images of the abuse and torture of our fellow citizens by Eritrean soldiers persist. Moreover, many of us believe that personal political views within both leaderships complicate the issue between Tigray and Eritrea, yet we are naive in reconciling our thoughts. It is time to acknowledge that the two leaderships in Tigray and Eritrea represent Eritrea. We believe our politicians, with a clear and loud voice, should consistently engage us regarding Eritrea. It has become evident that the TPLF leadership of Tigray advocates a detrimental policy that undermines our hope, and the two leaders represent Eritrea at the expense of impoverished Tigrayans. Lives have been lost due to an unjustified war, and many innocent civilian lives have been shattered, leaving both societies so torn apart that it will take time for life to return to normal.
In 1991, PM Meles repeatedly defended his acceptance of Eritrean independence by asserting that a “military option” was not a realistic solution after thirty years of struggle by the EPLF. Mr Zenawi held several press conferences, declaring that war with Eritrea would carry too high a political and economic risk. In 1993, during a referendum on the future of Eritrea, the Eritrean people faced a choice between voting for freedom or continuing in bondage as part of Ethiopia. From the outset, it was evident what the current autocrat had in mind when he authored a manuscript titled “The Struggle of the Eritrean People: From Where to Where? (Tigrigna)”. This reflected his objective to separate from Ethiopia, especially distancing himself from the Tigrayan people. In his writings, he attempted to trivialize Ethiopia’s rich history over many millennia as simply “fairy tales”. With a skewed viewpoint, he declared: “The fact is that at the very moment, i.e., 1890, Ethiopia emerged as a state; Eritrea, which was not part of Ethiopia, was also created as a state by Italian colonialism.” The EPLF’s notable victory over Ethiopia was possible due to the sacrifices made by the people of Tigray. History will remember TPLF leaders who dug trenches to safeguard their Sahel base during the Derg’s Red Star Campaign. Our brothers and sisters laid down their lives for Eritrea under the leadership of Meles.
Unlike the colonial experiences of other African countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea share a unique historical relationship that intertwines them as one entity. The General Assembly decided to federate Ethiopia and Eritrea on December 2, 1952. This arrangement granted Eritrea considerable self-government and autonomy, including its legislation, police, and taxation powers. The co-federal government controlled only foreign affairs, defence, and the ports. As the United Nations made clear, the new federal arrangement represented a compromise among the wishes and welfare of the inhabitants of Eritrea, the interest of peace and security in East Africa, and the rights and claims of Ethiopia, particularly Ethiopia’s legitimate need for adequate access to the sea. After forty years, this declaration was obliterated by the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and the Red Sea coast, along with many peripheral territories, was handed over to Eritrea. This has not only angered the Ethiopian people but has also surprised the world community at large.
In 1991, when the EPLF seized power, it undertook ethnic cleansing to eradicate Ethiopians and any street name or pro-Ethiopian sentiments by expelling and confiscating the property of thousands of Ethiopians living in Eritrea. The callousness of the way they were expelled was a shocking act, to say the least. The EPLF dictator’s answer when he was confronted about the tragedy was, “They were thieves and liars.” It was too late; the EPLF had taken precautions to conceal this deadly act from international organizations and the news media. Today, many Ethiopians and Tigrayans cannot recover from the EPLF’s nightmare. The PM administration neither officially complained nor retaliated against this ethnic cleansing and inhuman atrocity.
During the war with Eritrea in 1998, the Prime Minister sabotaged Ethiopia’s war against the Eritrean unprovoked invasion from the beginning to the end, when the war was called off abruptly, with our troops progressing ahead and ready to capture Asmara. Meles signed the Algiers Agreement with Eritrea (the aggressor party) to hand over undisputed sovereign territories without the consent of the Ethiopian people.
When the EPRDF came to power, the hope was not only to destroy the Derg but also to change the socioeconomic and political stability of Ethiopia and its citizens. The PM’s political stance, which is blindly imposed on the Ethiopian people, is crippling the security of the nation by rogue regimes like Eritrea. Many innocent Tigreans are being smuggled across the border into human bondage in Eritrea to work as laborers for free in various sectors of the Eritrean economy. According to reliable sources, over eight hundred innocent Ethiopians have been documented as abducted under the watch of the highest leadership of the Ethiopian regime in 1998-2000. This smuggling has persisted for a long time, and the number may be much higher. Our fellow Tigrayans, how long must they endure this human tragedy, becoming prey to feed Eritrea’s immense appetite for human labor and subjected to dehumanization? How long will the EPLF continue to evade accountability for mayhem, physical abuse, torture, verbal insults, and beatings? How long will their campaign persist in draining our Tigrayan spirit and determination? The TPLF leadership has travelled a road to nowhere in dealings with Eritrea for nearly fifty years.
Due to political and economic crises, many able-bodied young people are leaving Eritrea. The abduction of innocent Tigrayan individuals is replacing them, snatching them from their land and families. No good will ever come from feeling guilty or being compassionate; we must act now so that our fellow Tigrayans who are abducted at gunpoint against their will can escape the horror of slaughter. Our passive stance encourages genocide. The Eritrean regime holds minimal regard for the lives of Tigrayans. Therefore, we urge fellow Ethiopians and friends of Tigray, humanitarian organizations, and senators in your respective states to describe the chilling, gruesome human trafficking as modern slavery.
The former PM Meles introduced new approaches by Eritreans to exploit Ethiopian wealth, evident in the “Agreements of Friendship and Cooperation” between the two conflicting countries. The agreement to eliminate all trade barriers between them was significant. It outlined the harmonization of trade policies, utilizing the Ethiopian ports of Assab and Massawa as free ports and adopting the Ethiopian birr as a common currency until Eritrea issues its own money. Also agreed upon were protocols for the free movement of people and the establishment of residency, along with a defence pact. These agreements were not disclosed to the public and were utilized as confidence-building measures. (The Ethiopian-Eritrean Conflict Zenebeworke Tadesse) He proposed unfair economic and trade negotiations without tariffs for Eritreans. Eritrea rapidly became a major coffee-exporting country. The black market operated by Eritreans, which sought to undermine the Ethiopian currency and plunder Ethiopian wealth, was overlooked by his regime. The PM signed multiple unequal economic and military treaties with Eritrea, including the “Assab Agreement”, which granted free access to the utilization of the Port of Assab, billions in loans from the National Bank of Ethiopia, and served as a co-signer on behalf of Eritrea. These actions violated established international norms between the two states.
Meles “considered Ethiopia as the last colonizer (colonial power) If this bizarre definition of colonialism is accepted, then Eritrea must negotiate its territorial entity with Ethiopia within the framework of the OAU charter. Since Ethiopia administered Assab as an indisputable part of its territory, and the Assab population was almost exclusively Ethiopian, the OAU charter will do little justice to the Eritrean claim of this port and its hinterland. Similarly, the colonial treaties will be of little help should Ethiopia advance its claim to Debre Bizen and its dependencies based on Italian colonial treaties of the 1900s. (Haile Mariam, Larebo Colonial Treaties in the Context of the Current Ethio-Eritrean Border Dispute and Settlement). The Ethiopian people have never had any say about Assab and the Afar people’s fate.
In our opinion, the real threat to stability in Tigray comes not from Ethiopia but from Eritrea’s ill-conceived support. The perspective among the Ethiopian people and intellectuals, which lacks tolerance for opposition parties, land reform, and Eritrean policy, is creating a wider rift and shaking the foundation of the leadership. Any peace and democratic platform must be built on the conviction of Tigray’s interests for today, tomorrow, and the future.
The Eritrean agent, along with his cliques in power, will continue to create havoc and destruction. Tigranes in the diaspora should coordinate their struggle with their fellow Ethiopians worldwide to save the country from falling prey to this chaos. Our history and other societies repeatedly teach us that it is only when people organize strong campaigns on the streets and in the workplace that fundamental changes can be achieved. We must not rely on hope by simply sitting idle, thinking we can avert TPLF’s disastrous path or that a regime lacking accountability will value the lives of Tigrayans. The tragedy is apocalyptic in its dimensions; yet the EPLF remains unmoved in its stance of apathy. We must unite to reclaim our future.