[TLM Editorial Viewpoint]
The calls for justice from the hundreds of thousands who suffered, including those who died and those who were tortured and raped, remain unanswered. Over the past fifty years, these voices of pain and demands for justice across Tigray have not been properly addressed. If genuine justice for Tigray is desired, one must consider TPLF’s dictatorship, which has rigged elections and turned the country into a state under a single leader’s control. We, Tegrawot, find ourselves in a political and economic crisis, desperately needing every possible means to escape our sinking situation. Instead, the TPLF leaders, who are supposed to assist us, seem to worsen our plight by pouring water into the swamp, accelerating our decline.
Our aim here isn’t to seek revenge but to uphold justice and accountability. Building a peaceful society requires us to take action against those who violate others’ rights under the false pretense of political goals and statecraft. We must stand firm and not let known criminals, who carry out horrible crimes against innocent people, continue to abuse their power and fuel conflicts. Our economy is fully controlled by the TPLF and its allied corrupt investors through Mafia-like enterprises fronting for political organisations such as Sebhat’s TPLF. Countless crimes have been committed by the TPLF leadership, Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael and his associates, from the murder of civilians and slandering political opponents to the looting of Tigray’s resources.
The people of Tigray have delivered a verdict against the treasonous government system known as the TPLF through various means. However, their recent actions have caused significant distress, including the detention of youth to be used as human shields. According to those close to the situation, 30,000 youths aged 13 to 60 were apprehended and transferred to a temporary detention facility for additional military training. Over more than fifty years, the TPLF’s rule has become an absolute repressive and the non-existence of law and order. The TPLF leadership has compromised our national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and our nation’s resources have been plundered. Additionally, our people have suffered severe political repression.
Although the TPLF leadership has been trying to suppress the movement for political change, it was caught off guard when the people of Tigray rejected the corrupt leadership. Attempting to replicate a previous unified effort, it devised a plan to fabricate a scenario that would supposedly restore Tigray’s territories and independence. This involved infringing on the rights of young people—intimidating, arresting, killing, and forcibly conscripting them and spreading hatred through social media propagandists in the diaspora and in Tigray to those who refused to join its military.
Tigray exemplifies how the TPLF imposed strict control over food aid, forcing farmers into labor on unproductive terracing projects in exchange for food. Elderly individuals, usually staying behind to care for the household farm, and mothers carrying their babies and rocks through rugged mountains are often disappointed at month’s end when their aid is reduced to a small amount or withheld entirely.
In simple terms, the TPLF’s policies of maintaining war and famine for political leverage and economic benefit pose a greater threat to the people of Tigray today than the natural causes of famine, which can be effectively addressed through appropriate economic and political reforms.
It is tragic to hear, read, and witnesses well-educated Tigrayans, especially those living in safe, democratic western countries, advocating for the continuation of the TPLF’s brutal and repressive regime that maintained authoritarian rule and corruption through fake elections and brute force for the last fifty-one years. Despite harassment by the TPLF cadres, the young people, who make up the significant part of the Tigray population, remain strongly committed to pro-human-rights, pro-democracy, and pro-freedom causes.
In Tigray’s current situation, the people have limited options, as any resistance may endanger their safety. Underground cadres are nearly as numerous as the population, and they have recently established systems to control the population. Residents of Mekelle say the regime has introduced measures to manage daily routines and has prematurely closed schools. The intense pressure on youth and women is understandable, primarily because most young people actively support opposition groups.
In an unusual and troubling turn, the TPLF leadership, during their malicious propaganda campaign against Tigray, exploited millions of people caught in this crisis they created as leverage in negotiations with Eritrea, called Alliance (Tsemedo ፅምዶ). Their treasonous proposal to transfer Tigray’s sovereign lands to Eritrea in exchange for continuous military supplies reveals a disturbing personality and a perplexing intention to seize the economic, political, and sovereign authority of their own country and people. Strengthening and broadening the climate of opposition demands consistent effort and a widespread movement both domestically and in the diaspora against the TPLF. Only a few unwavering reactionaries are willing to defend the corrupt and paid social media propagandist when public anger is intense. This is a sad tragedy and painful betrayal for the people of Tigray. The TPLF will be remembered for its repressive ideology, treacherous actions, and atrocity crimes as its legacy in the history of Tigray.
It’s good and acceptable idea to Tigrian young
peoples, we are in a bad, ugly situation now we don’t died for one party (TPLF) or Debretsyon. Please give your voice.