BY SOLOMON DIBABA
Any liberation front worthy of the name is expected to fight for the solid cause of benefiting the oppressed people in any country. It is now the time to look into the real nature of terrorist TPLF and the claims it trumpets to fight for. To begin with, is terrorist TPLF a liberation movement or a terrorist organization that is out to destroy Ethiopia and the wellbeing of its people? Let us closely look into the definition of both concepts.
National Liberation Front is a revolutionary movement that seeks the national independence of a country, usually by guerrilla warfare. In this simple but workable definition, a liberation front is a national movement that seeks to free a country from any foreign rule or foreign colonial administration.
If terrorist TPLF is considered as a liberation front the first question that comes to the mind is from who is this organization seeking its independence and why? The people of Ethiopia including the people of Tigray had suffered under the repressive regimes of the monarch and the military regime. There was no exception to the citizens in Tigray. All had suffered in their own country. The next question is if terrorist TPLF is a liberation movement and claims to stand for the people of Tigray for the last half a century why was it necessary to conduct an internal war on Amhara, Afar and therefore on the entire people of Ethiopia?
Terrorist TPLF employs a fascist ideology that is enclosed in what it calls a revolutionary democracy which is already obsolete in the international political theory. The real content of the political strategy of terrorist TPLF is fascism, irredentism and ideological demagogy which vows in the name of the people of Tigray.
The basic intention of this front is based on two programs as stated in the Tigray Manifesto of 1975. The first is the annexation of all neighbouring territories by changing the demographic and linguistic profile of the areas and the second is creating the Empire of Greater Tigray by changing the power balance in favour of Tigray by balkanizing the rest of Ethiopia.
Terrorist TPLF has been planning to destroy entire Ethiopia seeking liberation and sessions at the expense of the blood and flesh of the rest of the people of Ethiopia. The citizens in Tigray believe that they are Ethiopians par excellence but terrorist TPLF is out not only to destroy the entire history of Ethiopia but also the proud history of citizens in Tigray who defended their country Ethiopia from foreign invaders.
With more than 30 endowment companies it possessed in the past, except for the relief, rehabilitation and development programs and efforts made by individual companies in the region, terrorist TPLF has not conducted any sustainable development programs tailored to the needs of the citizens in Tigray. Before the war, more than 90 per cent of the population were benefiting from safety-net programs organized by the federal government. For whom was the terrorist TPLF fighting?
The answer is loud and clear. Terrorist TPLF was and is a fake liberation front that was fighting for the enrichment of some 30 of its elite group who were pocketing funds received from the endowment companies. Living evidence is the number of ultramodern villas and apartments built in Addis Ababa and Mekele for the elite leaders. While the people of Tigray are suffering under abject poverty, terrorist TPLF has managed to smuggle 30 billion USD outside of Ethiopia to fund its propaganda and military war on the people of Ethiopia The terrorist group has already put the population in Tigray on unprecedented identity crisis by waging propaganda on its media outlets that Tigray is not Ethiopians but Tigrayan.
This is a region that is the centre of the ancient civilization of Axum and an important cultural and religious hub for Ethiopia. Foreign and local historians have documented the valour that the people of Tigray have exhibited in defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this land. Suffice it to mention Neguse Negast Yohannis IV who was martyred at The Battle of Galabat on March 9, 1889, fighting with the Mahdists. But today, terrorist TPLF is conspiring with Sudan in a futile bid to find an outlet to Sudan to siphon in armaments from its supporters to destroy the statehood of Ethiopia.
For over 13 months now, terrorist TPLF has been mobilizing a human wave of ill-trained child soldiers, women and the elderly whose conscription is per Ethiopian and international law. Some rough estimates indicate that terrorist TPLF has lost half a million of its fighters in the war using a civilian population as cannon fodder. Was terrorist TPLF fighting for the people of Tigray? Quite the reverse indeed. Terrorist TPLF has turned the region into a hell on earth in which the population in the region is subjected to a forced war ordered by the terrorist organization.
Terrorist TPLF turned schools in Tigray into barracks for training its terrorists destroying the future of the young generation in Tigray. Besides, this terrorist organization looted hospitals, clinics, health centres and health posts in Amhara and Afar regions with no regard to humanity and human values. Is this a liberation front or a terrorist organization? Certainly the latter.
security Council Resolution 1566 of 2004 defined terrorism as a “…criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing
any act, which constitutes offences within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism…” Call any crime against the civilian population in Amhara and Afar, terrorist TPLF has committed but the international community and particularly some western countries failed to condemn the inhuman and terroristic acts of this terrorist organization that has continued to happen even today. Except for occasional reports from some international media outlets, no international organization including the UNSC has passed resolutions condemning the action of the terrorist organization as if Amhara and Afar lives do not matter. Terrorist TPLF was therefore emboldened by the indifference on the part of the international organizations.
Even if one would assume that Tigray would secede from Ethiopia, the population would be forced to live with citizens in Amhara and Afar regions, what would the picture look like when a neighbourhood considered as the enemy is close to the neighbourhood?
Terrorist TPLF’s ideology of lies and deception has now backfired on the people of Tigray. Most of what the public in Tigray is informed is shrouded with falsehood and deception. How can an organization that claims to liberate Tigray deceive its people by giving false promises for triumphant entry into Addis Ababa?
Dr Tedros who is swinging between his global responsibilities and his commitment to the objectives of terrorist TPLF recently lamented that the situation in Tigray is a “shame to humanity” but the terrorist organization has a huge stock of food that it has accumulated to feed its terrorists while the population in the region is suffering from a shortage of food. Besides, tones of medicaments and health accessories looted from Amhara and Afar regions could certainly last the region for several years but terrorist TPLF is talking about the containment which it has created by itself. If terrorist TPLF is blocking food supply lines for citizens in Tigray by waging war on the Afar region, for whom is this organization fighting? The answer is crystal clear.
In 1984, terrorist TPLF was selling relief food meant for the people of Tigray to buy armaments for its ragtag army clearly showing that the goal of the organization was to assume power in Ethiopia by all means including starving its people. This is the real terrorist TPLF profile.
The faithful in Tigray are very sensitive to their religious beliefs and values which are being trampled by this organization. Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Muslim religion have a stronghold in Tigray but the terrorist organization has vividly demonstrated that it has no respect for human religious values and norms. Killing priests, raping women and girl children by the troops of the terrorist organization shows that it has no moral or religious values of any kind. Is this a liberation front that could fight for Tigray? Not at all.
Terrorist TPLF has no credibility both at the national and international levels. The false propaganda and doctored media outputs have now been exposed and major global media outlets are already realizing the fake news and fake videos it is preparing to claim genocide has occurred in Tigray. The bitter truth is this organization is conducting a systematic genocide on its people by starving the population it claims to fight for.
The entire history of this organization shows that it is founded on deception, hatred and self-glories for a group of its leaders. Indeed these terrorist organizations along with their associate Shene, as many individuals with knowledge on the history of this organization shows can never exist without war and does not represent the people of Tigray by no means.
Now it is high time that the people of Tigray need to seek answers to their questions and get all the necessary information about their children who perished at the battles created by terrorist TPLF. Apart from not being able to live without war, this terrorist organization has no desire or capacity to learn from its shortfalls and would certainly remain a threat not only for peace in Ethiopia but for regional peace and tranquillity as well.
The January 23/2022
