By Pilatos
In the past few days, we have been hearing that the TPLF clique which split into two are seeking a sanctuary from their archenemies. One click is begging president Isaias and the other is succumbing to Prime Minister Abiy. In my view, it is utterly poignant relying on these two dictators to resolve Tigray’s issue.
Expecting any good for Tigray out of these two dictators, is like expecting a dove out of a snake’s egg. When the two men signed a peace agreement, there were many things that passed unnoticed. Otherwise, that peace accord presaged the imminent Tigray war.
From the outset when president Essaias signed the peace agreement, his attention had never been how to push it forward to ease the strain he had with the Tigrayan leadership. Rather he was rapt thinking how he might end TPLF’s existence. Once he signed it, it didn’t take him long to belittle the TPLF, in a way telling the TPLF overtly that the peace agreement excludes it. For anyone who noted his action following the peace deal, it was clear to infer what he was up to. What emboldened president Essias when he struck the peace deal with Prime Minister Abiy, needs to be cautiously scrutinized. Was it really, because he needed the peace in earnest? For any analytical person from the way President Essias was doing underneath the peace there was something that outweighs, namely the vendetta he bore for years against the TPLF. There were many attempts by the TPLF for peace with President Isaias before Prime Minister Abiy jumped on to the Ethiopian political scene out of the blue., yet he was adamant. Now the question is what made president Isaias decide to accept the peace deal with prime minister Abiy? Like I said, from the way he responded to the peace deal, it is not that hard answering this question. Before president Essia made up his mind, he had made sure Prime Minister Abiy had a rift with the TPLF leadership. Tom Gardener who wrote a book entitled The Abiy Project wrote that President Essias had dispatched his Minister of Information Yemane G. Meskel to London to meet Andargachew Thsege. The opposition figure who was discharged from prison following the so-called change or reform whatever you may call it, and who flew to London to see his family. Upon meeting Andargachew, Tom explained in his book, Yemane asked the freed opposition figure about the Prime minister’s relationship with the TPLF. According to Tom Gardner, Andergachew seemed to have given the Eritrean official a green light, that in return seems to have persuaded President Essias to seek Prime Minister Abiy’s friendship. Therefore, we can call that treaty a springboard for the imminent Tigray war rather than calling it a peace agreement.
For Prime Minister Abiy, too, it was a tool to cement his power, which was wobbling to stand on its own feet. Again, nobody was noticing what Prime Minister Abiy was doing in the early days of his coming to power. Like President Isaias, his interest wasn’t to resolve the Ethio-Eritrea conflict, it was all about bolstering his power. It was obvious that the Prime Minister was worlds apart from the TPLF leadership. His means to overcome those differences was coalescing TPLF’s foes around himself so as to consolidate his own power. In the great novel of Mary Shelley, the monster is the brain child of the protagonist Victor Frankenstein, so is Abiy the brain child of the TPLF. In that novel first victor created his own creature out of curiosity, yet later that creature turned out to be his enemy, haunting him, chasing him to take revenge against him. In my view, Abiy has become that monster for TPLF. Growing up in TPLF’s house Abiy knew nothing but ethnic politics. Partly, we can say the TPLF reaped what it sowed. There is one argument in Ethiopian politics i.e. knowing the Ethiopian ethnic constitution is disadvantageous for the people the TPLF claims to represent, why it advocated for it when it was in power. In my view, it was not because the TPLF misunderstood it, but it was because it saw it as a tool as long as it was in power and probably, the TPLF leadership was thinking it would be in power forever and this was really what was its biggest weakness. On the one hand the constitution is designed in such a way that it favors the majority automatically forfeiting Tigrayans from assuming the highest post of the government. On the other hand, it legalized the highest post of the government to be chosen by the winning party, not by the people’s vote. Like Vector’s creature in Shelley’s novel, TPLF saw only its creation of regional parties that suited its interest. It couldn’t foresee the impact it may have in the long run. Especially, OPDO that was told it was a majority seemed to have found it unfair for not taking the premiership and it was waiting for the time to ripen. Abiy when he dissolved the now defunct EPRDF party he claimed that regions that were affiliates of EPRDF have now become members of his new PP party blaming the TPLF for closing the door for these affiliated parties. Yet, was that really to make these parties a real partner? Certainly not, Abiy and his OPDO colleagues’ means of administration is cheating, therefore, the aforementioned claim was an extension of their cheating and lying habit. It was in short, a hoax to their end., because in the new party OPDO seems to have made it clear that as the constitution is a majority rule and as Oromos are majority the premiership should always be reserved for OPDO.
When Prime Minister Abiy came to power, he came with forgiveness and love, but that was not what he was implementing. He was really spreading hate propaganda. In my view, there is one wrong outlook regarding the TPLF in Ethiopia. Abiy knew that fact and he used it unrelentingly. The hatred, I wouldn’t say Ethiopians have but some politicians have against the TPLF, sometimes spills over ordinary Tigrayans. In my belief, this had helped the TPLF when it was in power, but deeply inflicted a huge pain for ordinary Tigrayans when the TPLF lost power. The wrong outlook is seeing all Tigrayans as pro-TPLF. This is not true, let alone all Tigrayans, even all members of the TPLF do not think alike. There are many innocent TPLF members who oppose the wrong actions of the TPLF. The problem is that leadership is assumed by few greedy individuals who prioritize their own satisfaction. Besides, the Ethiopian opposition doesn’t seem to have any guts to work with the Tigrayan opposition. This further makes the relationship between the Tigrayan elites and the opposition coarse. When the war erupted, dehumanizing Tigrayans in public places was regarded as a blueprint to get close to Prime Minister Abiy’s administration. Awfully, even some publicly known figures who used to bow down to the TPLF when it was in power, couldn’t cringe when they opened their mouths to discredit it. A case in point is one artist named Tedros Teshom. This guy by the time TPLF was in power, was saying and doing anything that he thought would please the TPLF. When the TPLF was pushed out of power, in an overt effort to submit in his blueprint to Abiy’s government he claimed to have testified to one Californian senator named Karen Bass. In his testimony, he harshly criticized not only the TPLF, but all the Tigrayan people making them responsible for all Ethiopia’s woes. Hearing this kind of rhetoric, especially from people who used to work closely with the TPLF like artist Tedros Teshom pains. It may make a little sense if it comes from people who spent their entire political life dissenting the TPLF. Even then they need to be wary of their words not to include all the people in their judgment.
The TPLF missed a golden opportunity.
This being said, the purpose of this piece is not to sanctify the TPLF portraying it as blameless. It does have its own share in the mess happening in the country today. First not only the TPLF, OLF included, they claim to stand for the people they come from. This is about TPLF so let ‘s focus on TPLF and it claims it stands for the rights of the Tigrayan people. What does standing for the rights of the Tigrayan people mean? Does it mean marginalizing them from the rest of the society? Does it really mean making enemies for them? In my belief this is a misunderstanding. For me standing for one community means trying to create a conducive atmosphere for the community you claim to represent and the TPLF had that opportunity. When you create a conducive atmosphere for everybody, that community you claim to represent will be benefited much more. Like I said, the opposition in Ethiopia though it accused the TPLF of being partial, equally, it was exclusive, always marginalizing Tigrayans. Here is one problem the TPLF had. Every time, the opposition spoke against the TPLF, irresponsibly, it attempted to attribute it to Tigrayans. The TPLLF appeared to have considered Tigranes’ marginalization by the opposition as a blessing for strengthening its power. Unrepentant to accept the risk of extreme ethnic politics, the TPLF couldn’t take any steps to assuage the ethnic tension that was looming in the waning years of its power. There is also one miscalculation the TPLF committed following the 2005 national election. The result of that election was utterly shocking to the TPLF. To counter that the TPLF’s solution was again a mistake. In stead of trying to find their weakness and rectify that, in an attempt to obliterate the opposition altogether, they registered EPRDF young members abundantly. But for the recruitment the door was wide opened exceptionally to OPDO not the remaining parties. This was because the TPLF always feared Amhara and Ethiopian nationalists would speed up its fall, therefore, OPDO was left unbridled to recruit as many young Oromo as it possibly can. Here we can see a little veiled fear of TPLF, not only Amhara and Ethiopian nationalists it seems to have feared even Tigrayans. Like I said ethnic politicians use their community for their own authority. When OPDO recruited members, TPLF didn’t, maybe because doing so is a threat in Tigray for their power as they never seek any not only opposition party, even a new member that may threaten their power in Tigray.
Tigrayan elites too, need to take their share for all the problems not only Tigray but the whole of the country is facing. One critical problem the ethnic politics caused in Ethiopia is, it makes conversation between Tigrayan elites and other ethnic groups nearly impossible. Like I said, the opposition politicians are gutless, the Tigrayan elites are no different in this regard. Even worse, when the TPLF regime was languishing citizens in a trump-up charges, most Tigrayan elites used to try to justify it. It is a pity to see these few individuals daring today to accuse OPDO of committing the same crime against innocent Tigrayans. Let me be clear, I am not saying what today’s rulers are committing against innocent Tigrayans is justifiable whatsoever, it is not only wrong, it is utterly illicit, yet these rulers draw these lessons from the TPLF.
Still today Tigrayan elites do not seem to think of finding a solution by talking to other Ethiopians. Their main problem is they think we are always right and others are always wrong. They believe that Tigrayan hatred is rife in Ethiopia, I argue their argument is baseless. There are people who may hate Tigrayans, at the same time there are people who love Tigrayans and this is the same across all ethnic groups in Ethiopia, there is nothing that makes Tigrayans peculiar. What plunges Tigray in this deep abyss? What compels TPLF to split and seek sanctuary from its enemies? The answer is the bad tradition the whole nation experienced. Not only TPLF but the Tigray opposition parties are looking for a solution from aliens.
Prime Minister Abiy doesn’t seem to care an iota, should Tigray be seceded from Ethiopia. Disgruntled Tigrayan opposition parties think only secession is the panacea for Tigray. What makes solving the Tigray issue hard is the attitude Tigrayan elites have in their relationship with other ethnic groups particularly with Amharas. But should we seek to ease Tigrayans’ misery, talking to Amhara shouldn’t be a question. For instance, we hear some Amhara activists saying Prime Minister Abiy intentionally inflames the rift between Amhara and Tigray ‘and this argument sometimes extends to the Oromo politicians. Sure, this may be true, but the question is not that. The question is why do elites of both ethnic groups allow this? That is why conversations between the two groups are a must. Why they should shed blood for a piece of land, for instance, wolkiat whether it belongs to Amhara or Tigray, as long as it is in Ethiopia it shouldn’t matter. By making it for both, possible to make that area suitable for the dwellers. Tigrayan elites should come to terms to resolve the issue by trying to negotiate with Amhara how the area could be beneficial for its residents. Otherwise by narrating only your story and refusing to hear your opponents story you won’t at all mitigate the misery of the people you claim to represent. For instance, the Tigrayan elites complain that Tigrayans living in Western Tigray have been forcefully, displaced, they are harassed, this and that. Yet, they never admit Amharas were also tortured, displaced. For them this is not true, but leave aside the words of these people, Tom Gardner in his book The Abiy project wrote that TPLF did relocate hundreds and thousands of former TPLF fighters and Tigrayans who used to live in Sudan. There is something those people who argue that Wolkiat belongs to Amhara always echo. This is not to side with one group or the other. In my view, those people who were settled there in the early 90s and their kids have grown up now. They may not know any other place except that land, equally, the generation prior to them who describe themselves as an Amhara Wolkiat belongs to them. Now if both sides really want to alleviate the hardship of the people in that area, they should seek a common ground that may make the place belong to both, that is how we may relieve the people’s misery. In short stop greediness, if that is so not only for Amharas and Tigrayans, but the area is enough for that guy who lives in Moyale.
The other thing that needs to be considered before operating to solve the Tigray issue with Eritrea, I would say, first it is very necessary to hone our thinking. Trying to resolve it on the assumption that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, its consequence has already been seen. When President Essias and Prime Minister Abiy signed a peace agreement, obviously it was in this assumption, yet citizens’ sentiment was different, it was a very high optimism. In backward countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea the commoners’ fate is in the hands of their rulers. The ecstasy in Addis Ababa and Asmara, indeed, was beyond words to express when President Essaias and Prime Minister Abiy claimed they tore down the wall of hate. When I saw president Essais making a speech on live TV in Addis Ababa in the Millenium Hall, words of an elderly man in Addis Ababa resonated in my mind that he uttered two decades ago. It was a day the Ethio-Eritrea war came to an end with Ethiopia’s victory. I was riding a taxi and this elderly man was sitting next to me. While in the taxi we saw a large crowd of youths celebrating the victory chanting Ethiopian troops’ bravery. That elderly man was astounded, “Look these people, if tomorrow Essias orders them to chant for him, they will do the same”. Uttered the elderly man. That elderly man was right, that was what we saw when president Essias made a speech in the Millenium Hall following the so-called peace agreement. The commoners living in the border areas of the two countries were the happiest, but it was unfortunate that happiness was short-lived as Isaias ordered the border to be closed again for an unknown reason. Now one TPLF click is sanctifying President Essias. It even seemed to be inflicted with nostalgia.
Collaborating either with Prime Minister Abiy or President Essia may make Tigray again a battle ground, bringing another unbearable hardship. If that happens it will be poor citizens who will carry the brunt of the agony. In my view President Essias’ real interest is not to help TPLF, I think that he is calculating his own survival in this mess, so is Abiy. To resolve the chronic problem of the region is, changing the mentality of the youth to cooperate. If peace thrives in the region and political actors operate to that end, I think there are enough resources to coexist. No need to kill one another for the sake of ruthless rulers who garner wealth at the expense of poor youth.
The writer can be reached at: yilmagebru2000@yahoo.com
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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