Fooling Eritreans and Ethiopians

by Amanuel Biedemariam

The ethnic cleansing of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin was indication of the propensity to how low the apartheid regime of the TPLF can stoop to hold on to power. What they did then was try to create a non existent scar amongst the friendly peoples and, set a precedent that will ultimately come back to haunt them. Unfortunately, the TPLF cadres have embraced mischief, deceit, lies, hegemony, manipulations, ethnic cleansing, genocides, extrajudicial killings and creating mayhem as a mode of governance. They have demonstrated what true nature of governance based on the darkest inclinations of humanity looks like.

Lately, a group of these criminals has been roaming around as a political party in the US calling themselves Medrek. While Medrek is an Ethiopian matter, since they have made Eritrea a platform and a focal part of their campaign, there is no choice but to react. And it is also opportunity to give another perspective to the unsuspecting Ethiopian and expose, that they are criminals that need to face justice, not messiahs that will save Ethiopia from darkness.

Their campaign started in Seattle Washington and met stiff resistance from Ethiopians that rejected the personalities and their messages outright. They then went to Washington DC, Atlanta and other places to conduct similar seminars. This time however, they slightly altered the messages and tweaked the delivery to appease the resisting parties.

The core of the Medrek is comprised of Gebru Asrat TPLF and chairman of Medrek, Seye Abraham TPLF and former Defense Minister of Ethiopia and, hodgepodge collection of TPLF subsidiary groups with familiar names to fill-in the blanks and, to legitimize the so-called Medrek.

Regardless of what they call themselves today, they are TPLF-Weyane cadres that were and remain affiliated to the group of Tigrayans that have been looting Ethiopia while wreaking havoc in the region afflicting untold suffering in Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea for over 20years. They are the core of TPLF-EPRDF, party to a group that committed and continues to commit major humanitarian crimes.

They base their platforms on two-core subjects; anti Meles Zenawi rhetoric and, Eritrea.

Anti Meles Zenawi Rhetoric

Their main aim is to appear moderate by demonizing their former boss Meles Zenawi, by denouncing his tenure as characterized by Temsgen Zewde,

 “A leader of the most brutal and oppressive regime, characterized by massive human rights violations, arbitrary arrests of opposition members, suppression of free press, exorbitant cost of living and flagrant rigging of election results, as a ruler of the most oppressive system and one who strongly believed in ethnic division.”

Moreover, they are also trying to portray the current Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as a puppet and a continuation of Meles Zenawi. And to that end, they are preaching how democratic, transparent, respectful of human rights, press freedoms and guardians of Ethiopia they will and can be when they assume power.

Eritrea, the Carrot

This subject reveals the true nature of the group and the conspiracies that they are weaving against the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea one more time. According to Mahebere Andinet, in the seminar in Atlanta Ghebru Asrat said that he,

“Denounced secessionism and strongly adhere to the territorial integrity of Ethiopia. He further expressed that all parties have agreed to revoke the Algiers accord that reached final and binding decision regarding delimitation of borders with Eritrea.”

Denounce ethnic division…? That must be a joke. After the TPLF assumed absolute power of Ethiopia in 1991, Ghebru Asrat was the President of Tigray for over a decade and a member of the politburo of TPLF/EPRDF when article 39 was drafted. The base of the minority apartheid TPLF regime of Ethiopia is Tigray. TPLF is the organization that drafted article 39, an article that states, “Every nation, nationality or people in Ethiopia shall have the unrestricted right to self determination up to secession.” This took place while Ghebru Asrat and Seye Abraha were key actors of the criminal entity.

Their campaigns have many goals. For those Ethiopians that believe in Andnet (Unity) and Ethiopia’s issues of access to sea, it is to dangle Eritrea as a carrot. In the process, they can distance from Meles’s previous comments about access to sea. This is also designed to create confusion and fissure within the Ethiopia’s Diaspora opposition parties. This effort is lead by Seye Abraham and Ghebru Asrat in North America.

Simultaneous Campaign Directed at Eritreans

While Seye and Ghebru campaign in North America, another core is focused on the Eritrean public in the Diaspora with a unique strategy of deception. This is led by Berekt Simon, Abay Tsehaye, Sebhat Nega etc…

In Awasa Ethiopia, Bereket Simon created, funded and organized a group called Smerr, another term for Unity.  The main objective of this group is to dissolve the independence of Eritrea. To that end, Bereket Simon recently has been making rounds in Smerr paltak group claiming that Eritrea is “Not viable as a nation.” He stated how Eritrean minorities and religious groups are dying to be free while ignoring his own regional and religious issues.

Sebhat Nega and Abay Tsehaye are also making similar propaganda campaigns. On a recent interview, when asked about access to the sea, Sebhat Nega stated that they are focused not only on access to sea but the complete re-annexation of Eritrea because the people of Eritrea are demanding it.

The reality however, TPLF is an organization that never dreamed to rule Ethiopia since the organizations main aim was Greater Tigray (Abbay Tigray) or the independence of Tigray until the power fell on their hands accidentally. Greater Tigray is a dream that they never relinquished.

Since they came to power in 1991, Tigray has had a disparate advantage of the rest of Ethiopia. Worse yet, the core of the TPLF manipulated the international community to exploit resources sent in the name of Ethiopia and diverted it to Tigray and, their private coffers. These diversions include defense, transportation and manufacturing and, according to various published reports,

“Tigray region was the single highest beneficiary of the massive aid and loan guarantees that was given to Ethiopia by international donors and partners. Schools, colleges, roads, airports, factories, and other infrastructure projects were carried out in the Tigray state while other regions were ignored and marginalized.”

Furthermore, the backbone of Ethiopia is being stripped. For example they have transferred The Air force of Ethiopia from Debre Zeit near Addis Ababa, to Asimba Tigray. One has to realize the economic impact of an air force base relocating from one region to another disadvantaging one region while giving advantage to another based on the spinoff economic advantage the base accords.

In addition, a new research conducted by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has indicated that the amount Ethiopia’s illicit capital flight amounted to nearly 25 billion USD. The Reporter also just released a detailed account of their corrupt practices.

The Core

The campaign for Greater Tigray by exploiting all political resources is underway. The aim of the defunct ethnic apartheid regime is to pin one community against another so they can perpetuate their hold to power. They promise Ethiopians access to sea while promising the fringe aspects of the Eritrean extremist groups opportunities to power. This is unspoken conspiracy by the Tigrayan minority that supports the idea of greater Tigray.

The reality however, in the name of development and growth, roads from Djibouti to Tigray is already established. And parallel to the roads railroad tracks are planned. On October 22, 2012, The Capital, a pro government website reported,

“The Ethiopian Government has requested an additional 300 million USD loan from India. On top of a previous loan of 300 million USD, promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The loan will finance the last leg of the Awash-Woldiya-Mekele railway project. The project will connect the Northern part of Ethiopia with the soon to be constructed Tadjourah port in Djibouti. Genet Zewdie, Ethiopian Ambassador to India, said that discussions are ongoing between the two governments on the possible modalities of the loan request. Thus far, contracts for the construction of two out of three sections of the large scale railway construction project have been awarded to Chinese and Turkish companies, with the former clinching the construction of the 268.2 Km Mekele-Woldiya/Hara Gebeya Railway project in June 2012. The China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) will build the line to Tadjourah at an estimated cost of about 1.6 billion USD.”

Here you have it. The establishment of the New Republic of Tigray at the expense of Ethiopia is underway. The railroad is a security blanket just in case if the sea outlet they are working to outmuscle Eritrea from fails to materialize as it did in 2000. It is also designed to facilitate the exploitation of the Potash of the Danakil region.

Pipe Dream

If one looks at the track record of this criminal entity, what becomes glaringly obvious is, in over 20 years, they have only sold Ethiopia and the region hegemony, political manipulations, violence and false economic development numbers. They have failed to bring peace, a key ingredient to any development program. A break down of their 20 years tenure chronicles war 1997-2000, false election in 2000, and perpetual conflict in Somalia, Ogaden and, The Hague decision process that consumed the then political climate. The Election massacre of 2005, in 2006, conflict in Somalia and since, there has been no hope or inclination for peace. That is because the minority clique cannot survive in a peaceful environment.

Therefore they have to sell conflicts, Ethiopia and Africa to the highest bidder and in the process, turned Ethiopia into a platform whereby Africa is bargained-out to Western and Asian interest unabated while, selling Ethiopian land and resources to the highest bidders.

This time however, fully aware that their hold to power after Meles Zenawi is slipping, and fully cognizant that this may be their only opportunity to realize the dream of Greater Tigray, have started a full fledged campaign to instigate yet another conflict cycle.

Conclusion

The people of Ethiopia and Eritrea will certainly share their borders, brotherly history, exchange their riches and, coexist in peace forever. They have no choice. To have any chance in sustainable development, the people of the region must come to realize that peace is the only way. To achieve peace, the TPLF must be scrapped by the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea. They are criminals that deserve justice for crimes that they have committed at every level throughout their history.

Their hands are soaked in blood during the war with Derg, war with Eritrea, in Somalia, Ogaden, Omo and everywhere. Nothing better can be expected. If they get their access to sea, will they do better for Ethiopia? History attests, NO. Hence, the people of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the region must stop regurgitating their propaganda and focus on cleaning the vermin once and for all.