[By Admasu Baraki]
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Concerned citizens, especially journalists, should disseminate the peace agreement and expose spoilers of peace to the public and to the international community. The public need to be informed about what is in the Pretoria agreement to build confidence among citizens so they can support its full implementation to end the suffering of our people.
To ensure sustainable peace, it is crucial to clearly articulate the goal of the peace process and condemn spoilers’ actions. These spoilers believe that peace agreements threaten their power, worldview or interest. Thus, these spoilers should be neutralised using punitive measures. To reassure the public about the benefit of peace, it is crucial to maintain the peace process by fully implementing the CoHA agreement. The priorities should be to promote enabling conditions for voluntary repatriation of IDPs & refugees.
Understanding the nature of the Gang of Four and the renegade generals, foot soldiers of Isaias Afeworki, is crucial.
- The TPLF Gang of Four in Tigray are driven by the belief that they must achieve total power, due to fear of accountability and entitlement.
- They view the conflict in terms of victory or defeat.
- They actively opposed any peace process that does not grant them their desired outcome, which is power.
The question is how do you mitigate their disruptive influence and work towards a more sustainable peace?
- First of all, we need to have an inclusive, accountable & strong government in Tigray that can withstand spoilers’ attempts.
- The FDRE and international community should prevent the external actors, including the Eritrean government, from supporting or enabling spoilers.
The fact is Eritrea is the only state in the Horn at a state of war with each one of its neighbours. It fought wars with Yemen over Hanish, clashed with Djibouti over Doumeira, and provoked and antagonised Sudan for decades. Its meddling in Ethiopia is just the latest of Afewerki’s adventurism. Eritrea has held no election since independence in 1993, has no functioning Parliament, no constitution, no independent judiciary or media, and its sole party has never held a congress.
Isaias & his army are the major spoilers in the region; if the international community is earnestly looking for a peaceful solution, a settlement will not happen without taking care of the butcher of Asmara, Isaias Afeworki & the gang of four in Tigray.
The key 🔑 to unlock the crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and in general the Horn of Africa is in Eritrea. The godfather of the evil mission is the brutal Eritrean regime that’s been behind this whole chaos in the Horn of Africa at large, and without holding its leaders accountable alongside their counterparts in Tigray, it is impossible to ensure sustainable peace.
The genocidal regime of Eritrea led by Isaias Afeworki, the TPLF faction led by the Gang of Four in Tigray, and the expansionist Fano in the Amhara region believe that the emerging peace threatens their power, worldview, and interests. Accordingly, they are using violence to undermine peace efforts to achieve it. The renegade generals in Tigray see the Pretoria peace agreement as a betrayal of key values, and the expansionist Fano believe they are excluded from the Pretoria agreement and seek to alter the peace process or destroy it.
The international community needs to understand that when spoilers succeed, as they did in Angola in 1992 & in Rwanda in 1994, the results are catastrophic. In both cases the casualties of failed peace were infinitely higher than the casualties of war. When Jonas Savimbi refused to accept the outcome of UN-monitored elections in 1992 and plunged Angola back into civil war, approximately 300,000 people died. When Hutu extremists in Rwanda rejected the Arusha peace accord in 1994 and launched a genocide, over 800,000 Rwandans died in less than three months.
The departing train strategy needs to be implemented so that the full implementation of the Pretoria peace agreement can continue without the total spoilers, protecting the parties who are pursuing peace. The TPLF faction led by the GANG OF FOUR in TIGRAY and the expansionist Fano are total spoilers and should not be accommodated in a peace settlement; they must be marginalised so that they can do little damage.
- Eritrea’s strategic depth policy, its goal of Eritreanisation of Tigray by occupying Raya Rayuma, is being implemented by the unlawful TPLF faction to counter the threat from Ethiopia.
- FDRE is responsible for protecting its population from crimes against humanity by the unlawful TPLF army supported by the Godfather of all chaos, Isaias Afeworki.
- The international community is responsible to act when a state fails to protect its population, in line with the Pretoria agreement and international laws.
Therefore, the TPLF should be designated as a top spoiler as soon as possible. Failure to take decisive action against the extremist political cult of the TPLF in Tigray and the expansionist Fano will embolden further lawlessness and intensify human suffering. It will also accelerate the total collapse of law and order in the Horn of Africa with serious implications for global trade, peace, and security.