BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
ADDIS ABABA – Western press allegation of the federal government as if it started the war in northern Ethiopia is one of many early indicators the U.S., NATO and their presses were backing TPLF, Ann Garrison said.
Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor, Ann Garrison, stated that though the Chinese are building roads and electricity infrastructure aiming at fostering development in Ethiopia, the U.S policymakers sponsor the TPLF, who chased the Chinese off and incapacitated the electricity and thus the plumbing for nine poor towns.
“Sometimes I think that Samantha Power, Antony Blinken, Susan Rice, and other US policymakers must have secret investments in China since they keep doing their best to push Ethiopia and other African nations into its arms,” she added.
The TPLF started the war by attacking the national Northern Command based in Tigray. However, the West’s dominant state and corporate press narrative quickly became against Prime Minister Abiy as if he started the war by sending troops into Tigray. This was one of many early indicators that the US, the NATO nations, and their press were backing the TPLF.
Hotels abound in Lalibela were looted and damaged by TPLF leaving solely those owned by TPLF members intact, and the group had blown up the electricity substation in Alamata, a town further north, just across the border of Amhara and Tigray States.
Jemal Countess said, “I wondered whether they hadn’t simply disabled the 285-mile high voltage transmission line that the Chinese had constructed to transport electricity from Alamata to Legetafo.”
Because there was no electricity in Lalibela, there was no plumbing again, unless you had a generator. Our hotel managed to keep the water flowing during the day, but hot water was available only for a few hours at night while the generator was also keeping the lights on.
The people lined up at water tanks with jerry cans or carried them to streams even though it’s the dry season so the water was very low.
“In three IDP camps populated by Amhara IDPs who had fled their homes told us that the TPLF had taken everything they had until they finally fled for their lives. The second IDP camp was even worse, with hundreds of people all gathered in one tent, sleeping on the floor without mattresses. Food and water was again in short supply, some people looked desperately thin, and those with food to cook were doing so on open fires where they lived,” she added.
The third camp, on the edge of Sekota, was even worse, with hundreds of people living under the most rudimentary shelters, tarps stretched overhead but without sides. Food and water was scarce, and people were cooking on open fires in the same space they lived in.
She said, “As much as I hate the pattern of U.S proxy wars with all the big NGO businesses following in their wake, I couldn’t leave such misery without hoping that the UN and NGOs would arrive soon and/or do more for these people.”
The April 17/2022
