Borkena Desk
TORONTO, Canada — “The security situation in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa—a region that has long been characterized by a lack of peace—has become increasingly complex and is become concerning more than ever before,” Ethiopia’s Defense Chief of Staff said on Saturday.
He said this during a speech at the graduation ceremony of senior military officers at the Ethiopian National Defense College.
He made allegations against “enemy” forces without specifying their identity but appeared to attribute the situation to the Tsimdo. Tsimdo is a post-Pretoria Agreement military and political alliance between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Eritrean government against the government of Abiy Ahmed. There have been reports that Fano rebels, who have been operating in the Amhara region for over three years, have joined the Tsimdo coalition. However, Fano forces deny that they are part of it.
The Defense Chief said, “Our enemies, in order to prevent Ethiopia from stabilizing the region and playing its leadership role, are conspiring to keep Ethiopia preoccupied solely with its internal affairs.”
He also accused them of plotting to create instability in Ethiopia’s neighbors in order to put pressure on Ethiopia’s internal security. He characterized Tsimdo as a new name for what he described as a long-standing entity used to push Ethiopia from the Red Sea littoral.
He also accused “banda” (meaning collaborators) of being instruments of enemy forces and of weakening the country. “This move brings nothing except destruction to the people of Tigray, Amhara, and Oromo, and will benefit only our historical enemies,” he added.
This is the second time in less than a week that top military officials have spoken openly about internal challenges.
General Alemshet Degife, Advisor to the Ethiopian Armed Forces and Chief of Staff & Board Chairman of the Defence Engineering Industrial Corporation (DEIC), this week stated that Ethiopia is facing internal and external challenges. He further stated that internal challenges outweigh external ones. Unlike FM Berhanu Jula, General Alemeshet linked the country’s internal problems to ethnic nationalist actors, referring to elites from Amhara, Oromo, and Tigray ethnic groups.
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Whenever I see or hear a military officer is in the limelight making comments on national affairs, it gives me the heebie-jeebies and leaves the hair on the back of head standing up. Usually when such officers in Africa opine on the national and the regional affairs, it is usually a photo-op and a veiled self promotion for ‘just in case’. It really gives me the jitters. There are two deadly instances that could render that country to go belly up beyond repair: Religious war and the military usurping political power. That will be the last straw. Some here among us and back in the old country are already making wishes for a military rule by deifying the Tookie incarnate in Burkina Faso. Some of them are said to have composed songs and penned poetry for the Crips man in Ouagadougou who told his citizens to ‘forget about democracy’ this past April. Let’s not play with fire with the fortunes of that gem of the colored and humanity.
In Abiy Ahmed`s rule, loyality pays off more than merit. The so called field marshall of Abiy Ahmed should have been fired after his poor military leadership and fiasco in the Tigray war. Abiy Ahmed`s forces of invasion were toatally decimated in Tigray and the TDF advanced deep into Ethiopia. The war has proven that Tigray military officers more superior to the high ranking officers of Abiy Ahmed who are war captives in Tigray and Eritrea. The field marshall could have run away or captured once more by the TDF.