Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion
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During the past week, peace talks between the Ethiopian government and a delegation from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) took place in South Africa. The talks, led by the African Union and which finally commenced after earlier being delayed due to logistical issues, were scheduled to last until Sunday. Meanwhile, on the ground, events in Ethiopia continue to rapidly develop. Ethiopian federal forces have taken control of a string of major towns and cities in Tigray Region, and they are now reported to be on the outskirts of Mekelle, the regional capital. The city’s main airport, located some kilometers from the heart of the capital, was also reportedly taken over by federal forces last week following fierce fighting, raising questions about the possibility of a return for the TPLF delegation.
In a previous article, An Inversion of Truth: the TPLF and its Commitment to Peace, I examined one of the most blatant examples of disinformation during the ongoing conflict in Northern Ethiopia: the claims that the TPLF is genuinely “committed to peace.” As the historical record clearly demonstrates, this frequently propagated notion is a total inversion of truth.
However, there is another critically important, yet often overlooked, dimension to the long story of how the TPLF has only paid lip service to the idea of peace. The group’s decades of flouting international law and acting in a manner that can only be regarded as the complete opposite of peace have been actively facilitated and enabled by its Western backers.
A long history of facilitation and enabling by Western backers
After the outbreak of war between TPLF-led Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998, Eritrea and Ethiopia would sign an agreement on a moratorium of airstrikes in July 1998. However, rather than using this opportunity as a platform to further consolidate peace, the TPLF quietly began to purchase new fighter aircrafts, as well as refurbish all of its MiG jets. Months later, it went on to launch its second offensive, under the pretense that Eritrea had bombed Adi-Grat – which was utterly false. Although the agreement was brokered by US President Clinton, and despite the fact that American officials – who were presumably mediating and facilitating peace – knew fully well that the TPLF’s claims were false, no tangible actions were taken. Instead, only a bland statement encouraging restraint on both sides was issued, thus shamefully equating victim and aggressor.
Later on, in mid-1999, the US (along with other facilitators) proposed the “Technical Arrangements for the Implementation of the Peace Plan”. This was a highly detailed proposal, in fact basically a precursor to the Algiers Agreement of 2000. For all intents and purposes, the proposal was submitted as a comprehensive “take it or leave it” package. Eritrea accepted it, and Ethiopia seemingly had as well. The term “seemingly” is critical here, as that October, reliable inside information began circulating that the TPLF’s acceptance was not actually genuine. Instead, it was simply a ploy and the group was going to use the period to ramp up preparations for another massive offensive.
When Eritrea conveyed this to the US and other facilitators, the resounding feedback was that there would be serious “punitive measures” taken against the TPLF. But in April 2000, the US special envoy, Anthony Lake, shuttled to Eritrea to plead for changes to the non-amendable agreement as Ethiopia’s leadership had presumably developed second thoughts. Ultimately, this failure would contribute to the TPLF’s huge third offensive in 2000.
Enabling the violation of international law
In accordance with the peace agreement that Eritrea and Ethiopia signed in December 2000 to end the war, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) was established in 2001. Following a lengthy investigation and litigation process, the EEBC issued its long-awaited decisions on 13 April 2002 at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Although Eritrea accepted the EEBC’s decisions in full, swiftly and continuously expressing its desire to move forward, the TPLF reneged on the peace agreement and completely failed to abide by its international legal obligations and responsibilities. Instead, it persistently sought to obstruct or reverse the EEBC’s decisions, continued to militarily occupy large swathes of Eritrean territory, and sustained a policy of unremitting aggression and hostility toward its northern neighbor.
Although the entire EEBC process was guaranteed by the UN, UNSC, and OAU/AU, and witnessed by several international parties, the international community, led by the West, effectively ignored the TPLF’s complete failure to abide by its international legal obligations and responsibilities for demarcating the border. But rather than condemning the group’s illegal military occupation and repeated aggressive actions or calling for the immediate, unconditional implementation of the EEBC ruling, Western countries turned a blind eye, abdicated their responsibility, and remained acquiescent to the TPLF’s persistent violations and aggressive behavior.
In fact, the West actually supported and rewarded the TPLF. Substantial amounts of foreign aid flowed, making it one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign aid. The considerable international debts that were accrued by the TPLF were also regularly forgiven, while various other forms of assistance and support continued to be directed toward the regime. Furthermore, the TPLF was frequently held up as a “darling” of the West and it was placed at the heart of the “Africa rising” narrative. Meles Zenawi attended prestigious international gatherings, such as the G7/8 and G20 meetings, and he even became a favored member of the British government’s “Commission for Africa,” alongside Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Even as the TPLF repeatedly flagrantly rigged elections and regularly won by massive, unbelievable margins (frequently winning between 97 and 100 percent of seats in parliament), Western leaders invariably referred to the Ethiopian government as “democratically elected” and pointedly refused to raise serious concerns.
Without a doubt, the TPLF’s biggest supporter as it remained the major obstacle to peace in the region was the US. Utilizing its dominant position within the UNSC and its own considerable diplomatic clout within the unipolar global system, the US, which had helped broker the Algiers Agreement and been one of its witnesses, shielded the TPLF from any pressure or censorious action and also sought to reverse or reopen the “final and binding” EEBC ruling.
For instance, in late January 2004, through strong prodding by the US, the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, appointed a special envoy, Lloyd Axworthy, former Foreign Minister of Canada, ostensibly to facilitate implementation of the EEBC ruling. Unsurprisingly, this initiative won a chorus of approval from the TPLF, since it closely aligned with the group’s persistent calls for an “alternative mechanism” and its demands for dialogue prior to implementation. That month, Axworthy even described the EEBC ruling as “something that has to be worked at,” and that “needs to be developed”, thus essentially approving of the TPLF’s illegal position and obstruction of peace. In the end, for a variety of reasons, the initiative fizzled.
Following the failure of that initiative, in January 2006, Jendayi Frazer, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, planned to travel to Eritrea and Ethiopia supposedly to assess the border situation. Asmara provided visas for Frazer’s delegation, although it flatly refused her request to visit the disputed boundary area, sensing the initiative was again an attempt to modify the “final and binding” EEBC ruling. Canceling the Eritrean leg of the trip altogether, Frazer traveled to Addis Ababa, where she held talks with PM Meles and then visited the disputed border area – thus legitimizing the occupation. Her public comments during the visit also sounded almost as if she was reading a document prepared by the TPLF. Effectively, her trip served as tacit approval of the TPLF’s intransigence and basically endorsed its illegal position.
Over the subsequent years, there were numerous other instances of unconditional US and Western support for the TPLF as it obdurately blocked peace and sought to reverse or reopen the final and binding EEBC decision.
A misguided approach during the conflict in northern Ethiopia
In the two years since the TPLF sparked the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia through its unprovoked attack on all outposts of the country’s northern command, the approach by Western countries has been invariably characterized by an unequal application of punishments and sanctions, bothsidesism, and a lack of genuine denunciation of the TPLF.
From the beginning of the conflict, the TPLF’s relentless, well-funded disinformation, which muddied understanding and offered cover for its own subversive actions and widespread atrocities, was uncritically accepted and disseminated by a range of Western parties, including officials, experts, and journalists. These parties have also continued to repeat the TPLF’s main talking points, in the process only strengthening the group’s illegitimate demands and extending them a semblance of credibility.
At the same time, a dangerous false equivalency has also been created, drawing a parallel between a legitimate government and a rebel force that has carried out illegal actions that no government anywhere in the world would tolerate. Lest it be forgotten, it is legitimate, in fact a core responsibility and fundamental mandate, of all governments worldwide to maintain security, ensure order, protect infrastructure, and defend civilians. By contrast, it is not legitimate for a group to take up arms illegally against the state and seek to carry out a forcible change of regime or violent insurrection. (Or, for that matter, conduct armed attacks across international borders.)
One consistent theme throughout the conflict has been how the TPLF’s repeated destructive advances across the region’s borders, in outright rejection of peaceful overtures and gestures of goodwill, have been met with a seeming “nod and wink” by Western officials, while the resistance and defensive measures against the group’s attacks have sparked Western alarm, led to harshly punitive actions, and the rise of the declaration that, “there is no military solution.”
In fact, high-level TPLF officials have proudly boasted how, on several occasions, Western officials encouraged their “return to Addis” and their establishment of a transitional government. Recently, the TPLF seemingly felt so confident in the continued, unconditional backing of the West that it even unabashedly revealed to Western officials of its active preparations and plans just prior to the launch of its latest offensive in late August. Yet rather than condemnation, Mike Hammer and other Western officials responded to the TPLF’s preparations by conducting friendly “selfie” photos with the group’s leaders (a group that, it should not be overlooked, has carried out major war crimes). It was not long after this much-publicized diplomatic episode, on August 24, that the UN World Food Program announced that the TPLF had stolen 12 fuel tankers from a UN compound that were intended for humanitarian aid. That same day, the TPLF also launched its third major offensive of the war, in the process breaching the ceasefire that had been in effect since March 25, 2022.
As a result of its highly flawed, misguided approach, the West has not only raised major doubts about its claims to being a credible mediator, it has also greatly emboldened the TPLF and provided the group with a sense of impunity. Ultimately, this has worked against the possibility for peace as it has strengthened the group’s belief that it can continue to wreak havoc and destruction until it gets what it wants. Troublingly, for the future, this faulty approach also establishes an extraordinarily perilous precedent for when other groups may want to challenge the state’s authority down the line.
With the region and international community now looking forward to the possibility of much-needed peace, it is important that the long history and continued actions of those who have obdurately blocked it are not obscured. There can be no doubt that the TPLF has been the central cause of so much of the tension, violence, and instability that have plagued Ethiopia and the wider region. For too long, however, the group has also been facilitated and enabled by its Western backers.
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The question I have for the writer of this article is: Do you have the ocular proof that the West is enabling Debre and his group in whatever they have been doing? Besides calling for unconditional ceasefire does the author have any evidence that West has been giving material support openly or covertly to Debre and his group? Has the US or EU given military aid to the TPLF? It shows he still has an old beef with USA going back the early 1950’s. Just get over it. The world has changed a lot since them. The base for all commies of the world has come and gone for good just to be replaced by a reckless bully. The entire Africa has been decolonized(what its leaders have done with it is a different story); former colonies like Eritrea have gone what they wished for. Free enterprise is still around and blooming/booming! Thanks to the innovations since 1952 like the social media of these days hundreds of millions of citizens have found ways to get out of abject poverty. The world is moving at the blinding speed. There is no time to keep milking old time grudges. I was wondering where the writer received his PhD.
This writer is not the only one criticizing the US policy. Professor Al Mariam has presented a number of commentaries on the rallying of the Biden administration behind the TPLF based on his irrefutable evidence. H has pointed out pro-TPLF figures like Mrs. Susan Rice are working behind the scene to prop up the TPLF. As the latest developments show the concern of the Biden administration is not peace or simply cease fire but the motive seems salvaging the TPLF. The US has not immersed itself so deep in any other crisis elsewhere in Africa. This is the kind of unwarranted interference in Ethiopia`s internal affairs the PM referred to as mounting pressure. The US appears to be one of the negotiating or talking sides in the peace talks. .
Dushanbe,
First of all I come to you in peace betting you nothing peace!
It is an inalienable right for individuals to express their opinion. But that same right naturally comes with accountability. I have read some of the comments made by officials like Mrs. Susan Rice when the former EPRDF outfit was in full hegemonic control of running the old country. I was not pleased with some of those comments and had profusely criticized them. That was when Obama was the president. But the glowing compliments she gushed out for the outfit then were not good enough or sufficient for those leaders to save them from being unceremoniously kicked out of office in 2018. Since then she might have said something not to the taste of our readers. That still is her right to freedom of expression. In all the articles posted here or on other websites I have not found any evidence or the ocular proof that she has worked behind the scene to send that gem of the colored asunder. We are loaded with patriotic but not as much in the arts of diplomacy. We prefer being confrontational to being civil in our discourse.
But no matter what happened or anyone said or wrote there is now Allah sent gift for the beleaguered, the suffering. There is a talk about peace now like no other time in the past. There is a peace agreement inked by both warring factions while the entire world was watching. I leave you with the enduring parable that those wailing mothers and loved ones may be uttering now as we speak. ‘In their beginning they carried our hope and at the end they buried our fears!’ Insha’Allah!!!
Blessings to you and your family!!!
Make that: former colonies like Eritrea have gotten what they wished for.
‘The Algier’s Agreement’: Who represented Ethiopia? TPLF and EPLF are Egypt’s anti-Ethiopia Dogs! They co-invaded and co-occupied Ethiopia in 1991. They co-terrorized and co-looted Ethiopia till TPLF kicked out EPLF over the lion’s share of the loot – 1998.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: If TPLF is such a monster, its mentor EPLF must be worse. No sooner had Eritrea held its sham referendum and declared its independence than invaded ALL its neighbors: Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Yemen – Hanish Islands.
The TPLF-EPLF ‘Ethio-Eritrean’ Bilateral Defense Treaty: The EPLF tricked TPLF in to signing the treaty to move Ethiopia’s latest weapons to Eritrea. Soon, Ethiopia’s latest combat aircraft, tanks, artillery, etc. were used against Ethiopia – and all other neighbors.
Flash Point – Badme’s Gold: ‘The 1998 Ethio-Eritrean War’ hullabaloo between Egypt’s two mercenaries, TPLF and EPLF, was ALL about the gold reserve at Badme. Neither Eritreans nor Tigrayans benefited. Worse, the TPLF used Ethiopians as cannon fodder!
The refusal of the TPLF to abide by the binding border ruling following the Algiers agreement and its subsequent lobby and diplomatic campaign to isolate Eritrea has been a blessing in disguise for Ethiopia now. The TPLF triggered war has presented the Eritrean government a golden opportunity to avenge and punish the TPLF. The greedy and short sighted TPLF leaders have won a determined and strong enemy in Eritrea. The punishment of the TPLF by Eritrea is divine and wrath of God/Allah according to many Ethiopians.
At one of his interviews Ephrem Madebo explained it well. TPLF didn’t let anybody else know, let alone participate in, important matters like discussions on war. Everyone at the table was TPLF and the none Tigrayan EPRDF ministers were only ministers by name. The same went in diplomatic missions, ‘ambassadors only in name’ and the TAKO was always a TPLF ordering around the fake ambassador. In 1998 when the Badme-war broke out the TPLF propaganda machine went to work and convinced the great majority of Ethiopians that Issayas was about to bomb the depot at Bole airport. To make it look like real some stuff of EAL was temporarily moved to Nairobi too, but nobody checked if EPLF had a missile that can go 600 miles. Some activists who were otherwise totally opposed to ethnic-apartheid rule of TPLF were fooled. Many officers of the previous Ethiopian army were called back for duty after they were treated so bad by TPLF, with backpay of eight years, of course. Even a few of the country’s decorated generals answered the call and lined up to serve. The TPLF removed the ugly pentagram from the sacred flag temporarily and thousands joined in. Tsadqan had read some old book on war and got them killed in his infamous Human Wave Tactic in tens of thousands. When the disputed town of Badme was captured by ENDF the plain GYR flag was hoisted.
Hindsight is 20/20. The years before that too now seem suspicious. There were some thugs running around in Addis and other towns swearing ‘nAlDINEK ERTRAWI EKO NEGN’ in accent of the north abusing people and demanding special treatments. Some Ethiopian Eritreans that believed Eritrea was part of Ethiopia and vocal about it were shot and killed in Addis Ababa in broad day light. I mean, even the referendum wasn’t 100% pro-separation and people are allowed to think or feel which ever way. And if EPLF wanted to kill those people it could’ve done it anywhere else but taxi stands at rush hour. It was probably TPLF doing all that to get Eritreans hated in Addis on purpose.
All that was probably preparing Ethiopians psychologically. or as they say ‘working on them’. And work it did like a charm. The plain flag w/o the hated star in the middle was the icing on the cake. Mahmoud Ahmed’s patriotic song from 1977 was played on the radio and SINIMELES WEYEWILET MELES was chanted and there they went to die in Tsadikan’s human wave war. As much as 70 000 of them at least. And before that Eritreans were deported en masse and the enforcers were always ‘pure’ Tigrayans from TPLF mainly because the local police at that time didn’t have the ‘guts’ to remove innocent neighbors who never committed a crime in their entire lives. Some human rights activists like the late Prof Mesfin W/Mariam among others openly opposed the deportation of Ethiopian Eritreans. The Addis Ababans started to have a lot of sympathy towards their neighbors and hid them from the infamous Agazi. Parents left their children in the care of friends and neighbors while they fled. They left everything behind in a hurry. The ones that were rounded up and removed had to walk at the border, the elderly and pregnant women or infants alike. Just to humiliate them. There was never a public demand or outcry to deport any Eritrean, specially in the opposition camp.
If Ethiopians knew about the whole truth about ‘badme war’ as much as they do now, EPLF would’ve beaten the hell out of the lone TPLF. Ethiopia could’ve gotten rid of this evil ethnic-federalism system back in 1998.
Ethiopia just won this war against TPLF and Eritrea has done the right thing. Socially there never was animosity between these two communities. Even when the war was raging, Ethiopians joining their army and Eritreans EPLF to fight it out. DERG was not liked at all and it had to desperately force the youth with conscription. National or military service is not unique to Ethiopia. But DERG’s brutality towards civilians was already experienced and also blamed for pushing Eritreans to EPLF’s side for years. BeAlu Girma’s book that cost him his life was widely read b/c it got banned. The change of heart was huge. BeAlu didn’t support Eritrea’s separation at all but he was very angry the way civilians were treated. He wasn’t EPRP sympathizer either but the comparison was right there ‘For Asmarinos Red Terror is still going on’ b/c of some idiots who were put in charge from MEHAL-HAGER and military men with no experience in administration of the public at that. Fiyameta was just a character in that book but she became alive in millions of minds and then ‘do you blame them?’ became the nagging question. The message was that Eritreans had made their choice already and the war had to stop. And Ethiopia had nobody but her own BALEGAE ‘rulers’ to blame that committed crimes on innocent civilians that in turn joined the rebels.
Eritrea was fighting both Haile Selassie I and Mengistu for a total of 30 years. A lot of atrocities were done, obviously, but EPLF never said there was any genocide going on. And when the war ended and they won their independence, all they wanted was to be left alone. They didn’t go to Gondar or Afar and rape or killed civilians like TPLF did. EPLF never demolished any college or hospital in Gondar, Wollo or Afar either. They only wanted a referendum to seal the deal and the whole world to know.
OAU recognizing Eritrea as the newest member was problematic. You never know how many countries will’ve to be membered if there are copy cats. So Eritrea wanted it to be known that it was not a tribal war that she just won. Besides the 1960 charter of Africa predates 1991.
When President Issayas Afeworki needed medical help he went to Israel to get it. For many years a lot of Arabic countries had believed Eritrea was being oppressed by black African Ethiopia b/c she was Arab. Arabs being oppressed by Black Africans is almost unheard of, but this was Ethiopia and anything is possible. Ethiopia has done some serious stuff to get the whole black population of this world to be considered equal to any other race. Her flag was recognized from Africa to the Carribean and beyond. When Ethiopian troops landed in Korea in the 1950s the great majority of blacks were still being colonized or living as second class citizens throughout the world. Ethiopia did five rounds in Korea and none of her soldiers were captured, and the only one to do so. And one of the five colonels that led one round each was Aman Mikael Andom who would become a national war hero at another war and later leader of Ethiopia. He was one of the most trusted generals of Haile Selassie I and also very popular amongst the army which elected him. Even in his death Aman became famous, fighting it out instead of surrendering and shooting himself with the pistol the emperor had gifted him when he became one of the youngest generals of Ethiopia. When they stormed his house with armored vehicle he was lying there in his decorative uniform with a single shot to his head. As if he wanted history to remember him as Ethiopian soldier.
Years later one of the much respected old school generals and his aide would testify that general Aman refused to take his offer of a helicopter ride and an escape route which involved himself. He told him his phone was hacked and he was taking the risk with him and an exile for life out of respect. General Aman said the famous YEMANIM DUQET SEFARIE over the phone referring to Mengistu instead. He had made his decision but didn’t call general Gizaw Belayneh by name, sparing his loyal aide’s life in the process when he knew he was going to die Atse-Tedros style a few hours later. That very same night DERG would execute sixty of Haile Selassie’s generals and minsters that had handed themselves over voluntarily, including two prime ministers. The bloody years and the downward spiral of Ethiopia had just begun.
1). Your disinformation-misinformation pack never changes the fact that the EPLF is/was Egypt’s Secessionist Mercenary Dog that bled Ethiopia for ages – still does so.
2). Till the first Italian invasion, Eritrea was Ethiopian. After Italy’s second invasion, the UN held a ‘referendum’. ‘Eritreans’ overwhelmingly voted to REJOIN Ethiopia.
3). Derg was equally cruel to ALL. Derg’s usurping power was a blessing-in-disguise for the EPLF – EPLF got the West’s support! Then, the EPLF launched its subservient TPLF.
4). In 1991, the TPLF-EPLF Egypt’s Dogs Duo co-invaded, co-occupied, co-terrorized and co-looted Ethiopia. In 1993, the EPLF held another ‘referendum’ in Eritrea: Red Card for Slavery and Green Card for Freedom. In 1998, they fought over Badme’s gold.
1), I read some of what happened in Cairo in 1958. Egypt fought two wars and lost to Ethiopia back in 1870s and was kicked out of Harar after ten years. If you want separation from Ethiopia that Country’s gov’t is the natural choice to go to. And you don’t care what happens to the country you’re separating from. Exactly
2). Eritrea was taken away by 1890 while Yohannes IV was at Metema losing his head to Mahdists and the 1896 battle was not a complete victory. There are many reasons for that but imagine being left at a stranger’s house as a kid by poor parents that couldn’t feed you. Or something like that. You would have the right to denounce them even if you look just like them. For the next 45 years and specially since Mussolini took power, one can only imagine what they went through. While Ethiopia kept celebrating her half-victory for forty years. Amb. Zewde Reta’s book published around year 2000 is a great source and full of documents for that.
3). TPLF did get the West’s support but EPLF, not as much. Besides when DERG is cruel towards ppl of Gondar or Gamo Gofa they think it is politics but Eritrea would think it was b/c they were ‘different’ and politicians of separation would be too stupid not to exploit that. Again the neglected child example.
4). TPLF looted Ethiopia and the ‘referendum’ might’ve been imperfect but that would not have changed the result much if the colors of the cards and what they represented was different. It is somehow naive to expect a war to be any less different. The first thing you think of when you are at war is those who are fighting your enemy. Anything less would be very suspicious.
Years 2020, 21 and 22 are not 1820, 21, 22. and it is not the famous ‘short memory span’ and I don’t buy it at all. How can one forget what happened just a few weeks ago in Kobo? What knid of acrobatics is in the pipes? Who wants to talk about what EPLF did or didn’t do back in the days when children and nuns are raped in China by arc enemy of EPLF? The whole province of Wollo devastated and Shewa and Afar too?
I don’t understand the mind-set. If anybody has a beef about the way the Eritrean referendum was conducted 30 years ago, this is not the time to make it a top point of discussion. Besides we owe Eritrea for standing with us in our worst moment; that is if we were against ethnic-apartheid to begin with. Lidetu Ayalew and 360 can twist and turn all they want but that doesn’t change anything. In Lalibela town at Lidetu’s hotel TPLF was treated like royalty throughout the TPLF occupation and not even a napkin was stolen. The rest of Wollo on the other hand was pillaged.
Unfinished ‘Historian’, your version of Eritrean History is very entertaining. As to Ethio-360 & Co., take your fight to them! I am here on my own, by myself, speaking my mind!
So, had ‘Orphan Eritrea’ been better off in its Italian Masters’ home, why did these Italy’s Ashkaris – Slave Soldiers aka ‘Eritreans’ – vote overwhelmingly to rejoin Ethiopia?
Under Italy’s rule, Ashkaris weren’t allowed in the streets from dawn-to-dusk. Their education was also limited to Grade 4 citing mental incapacity! Was that a rosy prospect?
During the second Italian invasion, a footage I saw when Italians marched in to Addis was that of joyous Ashkaris in the fore-front! Aren’t Ashkaris insults to the Black Race?
About this claim in the article ‘Some Ethiopian Eritreans that believed Eritrea was part of Ethiopia and vocal about it were shot and killed in Addis Ababa in broad day light.’ Do you any factual evidence with a list of those shot dead?
Other than that please stay focused with your borders. You have your hands full already.
Peace!!!!
That lady at Ministry of Information who had given up fighting for ELF and was living a civilian life as a journalist in Addis for over ten years, married with children when she was shot dead at a taxi stand in rush hour as she left from work shortly after TPLF took power. Sara(?) was on ETV in B/W saying Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. She was the most memorable but not the only one.