Ethiopia: “TPLF’s defeat is victory to humanity: NAMA
Rise and Fall of an Illegitimate Power. Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has never been a legitimate entity in Ethiopia and the larger Horn of Africa. When it was imposed on the Ethiopian state in 1991, TPLF was a minority in every sense of the term. It played junior role in toppling the military Derg regime, espoused a radical ethno-Marxist ideology, had marginal place among Ethiopian political forces, and represented only a small fraction (4%) of the Ethiopian people. TPLF, therefore, owed its ascendance to power to the confusion in international politics attending the end of the Cold War. In an arrogance reminiscent of the Berlin Conference (1885), which divided up Africa among European colonial powers, TPLF’s western patrons seated the rebel front with little consultation or care to the interest of the Ethiopian people or the impact of that fateful decision on the region.
Under a façade of democracy, TPLF ran the quasicoalition, Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Front (EPRDF), and refashioned the state in its own image, as a minority ethnocracy. TPLF instituted radical ethnic federalism, ethno-dominant party rule, and divisive style of governance. It stifled political dissent by heavy-handed authoritarianism and monopoly over all spheres of national life. For 27 years (1991 – 2018), TPLF ruled Ethiopia as spoils of war, hoarding all real political, economic, military and security power under a phenomenally corrupt Tigrean elite.
TPLF attempted to make up for its serious aberrations by skillfully and self-servingly manipulating the global power game. Even though its international patrons and staunch supporters implicitly recognized the threat TPLF posed to both Ethiopia and the Horn, they overlooked and tolerated its misbehaviors and transgressions as long as the group faithfully catered to their national interests.
A. Defying and Sabotaging the State;
Now suddenly reduced to a regional power, TPLF found it hard to accept its peripheral position or acknowledge the legitimacy of the new federal government. After a brief reorganization, the discontent TPLF became increasingly defiant against the state and pursued two parallel strategies to tip the power balance in its favour.
On the one hand, TPLF devoted itself to destabilize, weaken and force the federal government to its knees. It rejected the reformed coalition Prosperity Party (PP) and did everything to create dissension within the latter’s ranks. In addition, TPLF assembled and put itself at the head of a rival front which it dubbed as “federalist forces”. It also attempted to gain popular Tigrean support by systematic isolation and propaganda of fear against ‘others’.
On the other hand, TPLF engaged in aggressive military build up. It upgraded and highly expanded the regional Special Force into a core fighting army. It expanded the regular police and the people’s militia forces, and created special youth brigades known as Samri. In addition, TPLF put Tigray region on war footing by widely arming the civilian population.
TPLF jealously guarded its safe haven Tigray from any “external” intervention as semi-seceeded “defacto state”. It considered itself as separate sovereign power in par with the federal government. It even attempted to establish independent foreign relations network. In early September 2020, TPLF capped its defiance by a phony election in Tigray against the reprimands of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), and then declared the federal government “unconstitutional” after early October.
B. Fomenting Conflict and Chaos in Ethiopia;
In addition to challenging the authority of the state at every turn, TPLF strived to erode public confidence on central government by fomenting and spreading conflict throughout the country. It openly allied itself with all radical anti-government elements and has been behind every major interethnic and intercommunal conflict by financing, training, arming and deploying terrorist forces.
TPLF-sponsored terror escalated to unprecedented levels, more than one-hundred incidents on PM Abiy’s admission to parliament, over the past couple of years. In almost all regions, Somali, Oromia, Amhara, Southern Nations, Gambella, Benishangul–Gumuz, and Afar, communal conflicts claimed thousands of innocent Ethiopian lives, destabilized millions, and destroyed multibillion dollars of properties.
All attempts by the federal government and third parties to find peaceful solution to the confrontation failed largely due to TPLF’s intransigence. As TPLF became aware of its inability to dismantle the government and rather sensed the latter’s apparent consolidation, it became increasingly restive. Its leadership, therefore, made a desperate bid to resolve the matter by force and treacherously attacked the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF).
@NaMA
https://bit.ly/3v0NNAk #Ethiopia #Somalia #africa
@HarunMaruf
@eliasamare
@HermelaTV
Rise and Fall of an Illegitimate Power. Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has never been a legitimate entity in Ethiopia and the larger Horn of Africa. When it was imposed on the Ethiopian state in 1991, TPLF was a minority in every sense of the term. It played junior role in toppling the military Derg regime, espoused a radical ethno-Marxist ideology, had marginal place among Ethiopian political forces, and represented only a small fraction (4%) of the Ethiopian people. TPLF, therefore, owed its ascendance to power to the confusion in international politics attending the end of the Cold War. In an arrogance reminiscent of the Berlin Conference (1885), which divided up Africa among European colonial powers, TPLF’s western patrons seated the rebel front with little consultation or care to the interest of the Ethiopian people or the impact of that fateful decision on the region.
Under a façade of democracy, TPLF ran the quasicoalition, Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Front (EPRDF), and refashioned the state in its own image, as a minority ethnocracy. TPLF instituted radical ethnic federalism, ethno-dominant party rule, and divisive style of governance. It stifled political dissent by heavy-handed authoritarianism and monopoly over all spheres of national life. For 27 years (1991 – 2018), TPLF ruled Ethiopia as spoils of war, hoarding all real political, economic, military and security power under a phenomenally corrupt Tigrean elite.
TPLF attempted to make up for its serious aberrations by skillfully and self-servingly manipulating the global power game. Even though its international patrons and staunch supporters implicitly recognized the threat TPLF posed to both Ethiopia and the Horn, they overlooked and tolerated its misbehaviors and transgressions as long as the group faithfully catered to their national interests.
From a Rebel in State to a Rebel against State
TPLF from the very outset understood the precariousness of its legitimacy and dominance in Ethiopia. It, therefore, crafted a constitutional outlet, the controversial right to secession (FDRE Constitution, Art.39/1), and kept fortifying its homebase in Tigray. It remained a “front” in control of a state. When welling opposition to TPLF ethnocracy finally ignited waves of popular revolt across Ethiopia, the leadership fled to Tigray in April 2018. It then officially set off the long deferred exit plan.A. Defying and Sabotaging the State;
Now suddenly reduced to a regional power, TPLF found it hard to accept its peripheral position or acknowledge the legitimacy of the new federal government. After a brief reorganization, the discontent TPLF became increasingly defiant against the state and pursued two parallel strategies to tip the power balance in its favour.
On the one hand, TPLF devoted itself to destabilize, weaken and force the federal government to its knees. It rejected the reformed coalition Prosperity Party (PP) and did everything to create dissension within the latter’s ranks. In addition, TPLF assembled and put itself at the head of a rival front which it dubbed as “federalist forces”. It also attempted to gain popular Tigrean support by systematic isolation and propaganda of fear against ‘others’.
On the other hand, TPLF engaged in aggressive military build up. It upgraded and highly expanded the regional Special Force into a core fighting army. It expanded the regular police and the people’s militia forces, and created special youth brigades known as Samri. In addition, TPLF put Tigray region on war footing by widely arming the civilian population.
TPLF jealously guarded its safe haven Tigray from any “external” intervention as semi-seceeded “defacto state”. It considered itself as separate sovereign power in par with the federal government. It even attempted to establish independent foreign relations network. In early September 2020, TPLF capped its defiance by a phony election in Tigray against the reprimands of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), and then declared the federal government “unconstitutional” after early October.
B. Fomenting Conflict and Chaos in Ethiopia;
In addition to challenging the authority of the state at every turn, TPLF strived to erode public confidence on central government by fomenting and spreading conflict throughout the country. It openly allied itself with all radical anti-government elements and has been behind every major interethnic and intercommunal conflict by financing, training, arming and deploying terrorist forces.
TPLF-sponsored terror escalated to unprecedented levels, more than one-hundred incidents on PM Abiy’s admission to parliament, over the past couple of years. In almost all regions, Somali, Oromia, Amhara, Southern Nations, Gambella, Benishangul–Gumuz, and Afar, communal conflicts claimed thousands of innocent Ethiopian lives, destabilized millions, and destroyed multibillion dollars of properties.
All attempts by the federal government and third parties to find peaceful solution to the confrontation failed largely due to TPLF’s intransigence. As TPLF became aware of its inability to dismantle the government and rather sensed the latter’s apparent consolidation, it became increasingly restive. Its leadership, therefore, made a desperate bid to resolve the matter by force and treacherously attacked the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF).
................................@NaMA
https://bit.ly/3v0NNAk #Ethiopia #Somalia #africa
@HarunMaruf
@eliasamare
@HermelaTV
