BY ABDIWAHAB SHEIKH ABDISAMAD
Abdiwahab is a Kenyan professor, and the Executive Director of the Institute of Horn of Africa Strategic Studies, and an analyst at Southlink Consultants. He previously published several articles on the reform in Ethiopia. ‘Abiy is Ethiopia’s underappreciated hero’; and ‘TPLF’s dwindling fortunes as it remains isolated and irrelevant’ are among his prominent articles. In this piece, he argues that the TPLF is not solely responsible for the present strife. He argued the western nations are principally responsible for the outbreak of the conflict. Particularly the US, has misled the TPLF into believing that they can win the war. As the campaign is to make another African country to fall like Libya, he urges the continent to say “Enough is enough”.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, has a promising future. The nation was ruled by a despotic regime known as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for 30 years before being ejected from power in 2018 due to popular outcry.
Following their removal, Abiy Ahmed was named Prime Minister. The youthful and energetic prime minister reversed the TPLF’s policies, releasing tens of thousands of political prisoners, lifting internet restrictions, and restoring diplomatic ties with Eritrea, putting an end to a long-running border war, winning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. Rather than being praised, he is being attacked from all sides by the TPLF, which is backed by European and American powers.
For more than a year, these agents have been attempting to destabilize a democratically elected African leader and replace Abiy Ahmed with a loyalist, the country has now been reduced to poster child for Western deception on the African continent; these countries are never our allies, and their daily acts show that they are still seeking neocolonialism as a means of keeping control over the continent. They deployed known intelligence officers to Ethiopia disguised as journalists and published hundreds of articles in news sources such as the New York Times to tarnish Abiy’s image.
They also sought to portray the TPLF as a better alternative, while Ethiopia’s democratically elected government as a regime that should be deposed. The key question is where this voice was when the TPLF was muzzling any critical voices and perpetrating “crimes against humanity on an unthinkable scale,” according to Human Rights Watch, from these western nations that now claim to speak for Ethiopians.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) Intelligence Section was adept. They pillage $30 billion from the government before leaving power, providing enough funds to hire notable lobbyists such as Declan Walsh, a New York Times writer notorious for being a gun for hire, and others. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent only on controlling and shaping the narratives. When the TPLF loses ground, they declare genocide; when they gain ground, they declare Adiss Ababa is about to fall.
TPLF on one hand claim there is a famine in Tigray, but on the other, they have transferred billions to think tanks and other individuals they believe can sway the narrative, and as a result, any stories written by a white man named Declan Walsh must be double-checked.
The TPLF is a criminal organization with a knack for propaganda. The immediate prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, once a TPLF supporter, notes in one of his op-eds that one of the TPLF’s tricks will be to “manipulate the international community.”
In 2008 and 2009, they launched a smear campaign against Eritrea, with US support, which resulted in Eritrea being sanctioned; in 2006, they were involved in the disastrous invasion of Somalia, through America’s unwavering support. All of this was done to persuade the world that they were doing the world a favor by eliminating rogue states and entities.
In 2020, they conducted missile assaults on Asmara days after a major, calculated, unprovoked, and irresponsible attack on Ethiopia’s Northern Command, which was hosting the whole arsenal of the Ethiopia defense. They committed several crimes and even six assassination attempts on Abiy Ahmed, the current prime minister, they did all this with the support of the western powers with the sole purpose of gaining power again.
The TPLF is not solely responsible for the present strife. The western powers that are sponsoring, advising, and providing crucial equipment such as trucks and weaponry to the TPLF and instructing them to march to Addis Ababa under the guise of delivering aid should be held responsible for any fatalities that have occurred in Ethiopia and any future unrest. The white mercenaries who have blundered the region and work as lobbyist should also be kicked out of the continent or prosecuted for their crimes.
Ethiopia has been in the midst of an unparalleled crisis for the past year, which was orchestrated by hired western media personnel and outlets that want another African country to fall in the same way that Libya did. They have succeeded in maintaining a state of permanent tension and violence in the country for a year, and they will continue to do so until Ethiopia falls, at which point they will move on to their next target, which is likely to be my home nation Kenya. Enough is enough, the continent must voice up.
With the western world turning against Ethiopia and intending to break it off, there several scenarios that are possible with the unlikely event that TPLF reclaim power, all other ethnic group won’t accept it, they have too many enemies in the region, Oromo that is more than half of the Ethiopian population won’t accept it as they have suffered under them, the Amhara and Afar have already proven that they are against it already by being on the front line in the war against TPLF, Somalis on the other hand were one main victims of the TPLF during their.
The consequence of these scenarios is that there will be a prolonged civil war in Ethiopia if the west kept pushing their dipterous campaign in the region, it will cost hundreds of thousands of death in the region and there will be a refugee influx in the region, Oromos from Ethiopia has their kin in Kenya and they extend from Moyale to Tana River, and in the event that the country collapses, there will be 10 million Oromos […] crossing over to Kenya. This will overwhelm our security structure, this will not only limited to Kenya but to other countries, in region, especially Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Uganda. The misguided policy of west that is pushing Ethiopia into the brink of war threatens the whole region.
The African continent needs to be on guard, the last time the west was colonizing the entire continent and intern stealing our natural resources, they didn’t make their intention clear, they didn’t say we will colonize the continent, they come under the pretext of civilizing us as they said we are backward people in the continent, the same is happening now, the mission is the same but the tactics have changed, they have finally come to Ethiopia which hosts the African union.
The continent needs to speak and demand their rights. Despite possessing a fifth of the world’s population, Africa lacks even a single permanent voice and seat on the UN Security Council, giving these powers carte blanche to do anything they choose, even attempting to topple a legitimate government in the region as it currently happening in Ethiopia.
The western nations are principally responsible for the outbreak of the conflict; all the misery that the Tigray populace is currently experiencing is attributable to the American, who misled the TPLF into believing that they can win the war and promised them their support.
Getachew Reda has confirmed that American assured that they will put sanctions to Ethiopia to give them leverage, in a statement, they once claimed that the USA will use all appropriate tools at “our disposal to impose tangible costs on those prolonging the conflict, as confirmed by TPLF, those threats were issued c of the TPLF.”
“The Americans say we will put sanctions and put pressure on both of you and bring you peace [negotiations]. Sanctions has been the tool of American to advance their interest and it is about time the continent embark on a way to counter these unjust and illegal sanctions.” He confirmed. This confirms that American employed all at its disposal to wreak devastation in Ethiopia; they were behind propaganda that solely accused Abiy of crimes while ignoring TPLF misdeeds.
I just came across a meme on social media depicting two birds speaking at a poultry farm, one of whom says, “I’m sure they’re eating us.” The other dismisses it as a conspiracy theory, and this attitude extends to us on the continent. When Abiy informs them that they are going to destroy us, his peers in the region laugh it off. They come for Libya, Ethiopia today, and Uganda tomorrow. They are on a mission to finish us.
Africa, it’s time for us to wake up!
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The
The January 12/2022
