At the time of this writing, which is the first one of this blog, Ethiopia has been indulged in political violence for over two weeks. This article is also being written in the wake of a gun violence and stampede instigated by the TPLF/EPRDF, the ruling party in the country, that claimed the lives of hundreds of the Irecha religious celebration attendees, with many more hospitalized for minor to grave injuries. The violence is perpetrated by the government in charge, as a tool for quashing peaceful protests of the general public, instead of employing peaceful means to respond to the people's concerns. Their concerns pertain to policy issues that they said were unfair to their economic, social, and political interests, respectively. It is, therefore, this bloggers concern that the continuous use of deadly violence by the regime in charge, which is led and dominated by individuals of a minority ethnic group of Tigray, will lead to more and counter violence on all sides that could eventually lead the country through the paths of other countries that saw ethnic violence and total destruction, such as Rwanda, Somalia, and Syria.
The current violence is taking place throughout the various provinces throughout Ethiopia, with the main one being in the largest province of Oromia. The Oromo people first voiced their opposition to the Addis Ababa expansion initiative that they said would uproot local farmers from their farm lands and ancestral land. The people's protest against the city expansion was deemed legitimate by political observers based in the country and abroad. Now, any legitimate regime would respond to the people's peaceful opposition through dialogue and policy change, which the regime did, only after gunning down dozens of people. The regime's killing of those peaceful protesters at the start of the current uprising emboldened the Oromo people to continue protesting, instead of retreating to their daily lives as the regime intended, by calling for comprehensive reforms pertaining to more serious issues like chronic political, economic, and social disparities that they claimed the regime implemented throughout the country for the past 25 years. The people also cited the regime's favoritism of ethnic Tigrayans in terms of making economic and political resources readily available.
Like the Oromos, the Amharas staged a peaceful protest and popular uprising against the illegal annexation of fertile land by the Tigrayan provincial government since the invasion of the mainland by the Tigrayan People Libration Front militia, as well as by the Eritrean rebels. Consequently, the Tigrayan regime forcefully annexed the Wokait territory that, historically, belonged to the people of Wolkait and the territory they inhabited for hundreds of years. This fact was publicly pronounced by a renown former provincial governor of Tigray, Prince Mengesha Seyoum, who announced that the Wolkait territory and its inhabitants has never been part of the Tigrayan province, but of the Gonder province of the Amhara region.
The protest in Gonder, that later spread to the neighboring province of Gojjam, began when the regime launched a campaign of rounding up members of the Wolkait people's committee that was formed to work towards liberating Wolkait from its forceful annexation by the Tigrayan regime. After arresting few members of the committee who resided in the city of Gondar, the security forces attempted to apprehend Col. Demeke Zewde, a former officer of the regime's army who had resigned from his military post and went on to be a member of the Wokait Committee, from his residence in the city of Gondar. He responded by opening fire at the armed security forces and killing a few of them. The siege that proceeded his action was then broken up by Militia groups from the Wokait and Armachiho territories of Gondar, although Wokait remains to be part of the Tigray province under the circumstance explained above. The aftermath of the incident involving Col. Demeke claimed the lives of tens of individuals who peacefully protested on the streets to show their solidarity to the Welkait and Oromo causes.
The Protest that began in Gondar then quickly spread to the neighboring province of Gojjam that, in a single day of peaceful protests in the city of Baher Dar, claimed the lives of twenty three people who were murdered in cold blood by security forces that the TPLF unleashed upon them. This massacre was met by armed revolts by farmers in near by small towns and cities. Armed resistances also took place in various areas of Gondar province that saw the burning of property belonging to TPLF agents and their associates.
The public protest and uprising is also taking place in the southern region of Ethiopia, namely around the Konso district. The people there peacefully protested against the governments refusal of fulfilling their wishes of being incorporated as a ZONE (region) of their own. Still not understanding the severity and spread of these protests, the regime once again responded with deadly force killed and rounded up a number of people, not considering other means of settling the people's demand what so ever.
The regime is also using this opportunity to fan ethnic tensions among the different ethnic groups of the country. Just in this week, reports surfaced of government perpetuated ethnic cleansing campaign in Dilla and its surrounding areas. The area is located in the south of the country. Victims of the attack reported, and the regime admitted, that at least 29 people were killed in cold blood, while many others were hospitalized. VOA amharic also was able to interview surviving victims who escaped with their lives and were sheltered in churches. They can be heard decrying that their properties have been lost while the police were standing aside and watching.
In conclusion, this author would like to suggest some solutions to the ongoing crisis. The first is that the source of all the chaos, which is the TPLF/EPRDF regime, has to go. The people in power can either negotiate out of power or face the brutal consequences this revolution will bring upon them. Second, the people of Tigray, from which the main ruling party, the TPLF, originated and imposed total domination of the socio-economic landscape of the country only by individuals of Tigrayan origin, have no choice but to rise up against the regime in solidarity of their countrymen and face the consequences that others are facing. That means they will have to rise up in the face of guaranteed bullets to the head and torture the regime will unleash on them, as it did against others. If not, they, too, will have to suffer the consequences of being at the end of the majorities' frustration and long held grudge for many years to come. The people of Tigray will have to, like other suggested, sacrifice their elite few or the whole of their ethnicity. The choice is theirs and theirs only. Third, this regime will fall, if not in the near future, at some point in the not so far future. After all, even the regime of Hailesilassie had fallen after forty plus years. Forth, the people should unite in the face of a divisive campaign that has been launched by the TPLF since before it ascended to power 25 years ago. Fifth, the people should not relent in their fight against the TPLF, knowing change will not come about over night. Finally, the diaspora should wage a practical campaign in support of the people standing up against the TPLF/EPRDF on the ground. That means lobbying foreign governments and international agencies to take strong actions against the regime, and not just provide lip service to the people suffering under the hands of the dictatorial regime. Also, the diaspora should provide the people back home with supplies and other resources they need to continue waging their struggle against the ethane-centric fascist regime.
