Ethiopia: Statement from Tigray National Political Parties Forum [Salsay Weyane Tigray (SaWeT), National Congress of Great Tigray (Baytona) and Tigray Independence Party (TIP)] – A Comprehensive Peace Proposal for the Resolution of the Ethio-Tigray War (28.10.2021)

Opinion: Debretsion Gebremichael is preparing for a transition…

The future political path of the country will be decided in deliberative stage in which all concerned will participate. After considering options, we will play our share in implementing the best alternative. We believe the transition will be orderly with a collectively reached agreement. The details will be revealed during deliberations and in process. It is a decision time. Everyone should play their share” – Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael (Video Message, 27.10.2021).

We know that the Tigray region is being besieged. The Tripartite Alliance have targeted and closed the borders into the region. The Ethiopian National Defence Force Air-Force have been delivering air-strikes for days now in both Mekelle and elsewhere too.

The state and it’s allies have created a man-made famine, open starvation and blocked humanitarian aid to get in. The state has stopped the basic necessities and it is endangering civilians. This has been done deliberate for months … and the the areas surrounding the Tigray region is getting similar treatment too now. So, the state is punishing everyone, because one party decided not to become a part of the Prosperity Party and stay as one unit.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) President Debretsion Gebremichael is delivering this statement and message close to the one year mark of the civil-war. The Tigray Defence Force has entered Afar region and the Amhara region. While parts of the Tigray region is still under control of the Tripartite Alliance. They are using their force there. Alas, the warfare is far from over. The wars are happening on the front-lines outside Tigray now.

The ENDF and it’s allies has started another big push and ‘final’ offensive against it in Mid-October. Alas, this doesn’t seem to stop the TDF or their allies. They have been able to keep the front-line and even being able to operate in the nearby areas of where they had entered in the past. Therefore, the ENDF and Tripartite Alliance haven’t won or crushed the TDF, even when they have had this offensive for about 2 weeks with little to no results.

That’s maybe why the TPLF President says these things now. To prove a point and from a point of strength. As his armies and allies are not weakening, but able to achieve results in the midsts of horrific hardships. The state and it’s allies is unforgiving and easily uses the air-force and authorities to get advantages. Nevertheless, the risks are still high.

Debretsion Gebremichael is really thinking ahead here. As the TDF and others has joined forces with him. The TDF/OLA isn’t the only one, but several of other liberation armies/militias has joined this effort. It is not like his alone and on an island. No, he has allies, just like the state does have as well. Though, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali risk of issuing this war has backfired. Instead of saving his reputation and getting a quick victory, which he promised last year. He has instead gotten a prolonged war where his only losing slow.

Prime Minister Abiy must be furious that the clip went online and become the talk of the town. Because, that stops the impression of his power and abilities in office. Since Debretsion shows his influence and his reach. That’s why his message is being dismissed and his location being mocked. The state apparatus is even trying to claim his place of footage is from a United Nations container. Just the continued vilification of the humanitarian assistance, which the state wants to block by any means. There is no stop … in doing that and this was another instance of that.

That he speaks of a transition of power is an early step. Some might say it is hubris, but the TDF and his party has survived a brutal beating. The same has the whole population of the Tigray region for months. So, that’s maybe why to sell a little bit of hope. As the stagnation, but ability to hold areas outside the region proves what they willing to do. We don’t know how much strength and manpower the TDF has in comparison to the Tripartite Alliance. Alas, it is only with time we will see what the TDF is able to do. As well, as all their allies as well. The Tripartite Alliance haven’t proven their supremacy and greatness since they fled Mekelle in June 2021. Therefore, he feels superior and that they can move forward yet again.

This war is slow process, but have huge ramifications. That is shown both in Mekelle and in Addis Ababa. As the PM and his government isn’t as sought after or respected as it used to be. The state finances and costly war is becoming a huge problem for Abiy. Not only the loss of equipments, ammunition and prisoners of war. The state itself has lost reputation and the IMF cannot even state the future of the Republic either. That is warning of how dire things has become and the state would never foreseen this when they issued the “Operation Law Enforcement” in November 2020. Now, the time is up…

Debretsion Gebremichael message can either be seen as hubris or as a warning shot. It is hard to speculate what the outcome will be. Whatever it is… the war is issued and prolonged. It doesn’t seem to stop and we can just be in sorrow of how many innocent lives that is taken in this spoils of war. Peace.

Ethiopia: Oromia Liberation Front/Army (OLF-OLA) – High Command – Self-Defense is a Natural Right! (27.10.2021)

(OLF-OLA High Command Press Release)

Through its successive operations over the past months, the OLA has begun to successfully reverse the Prosperity Party led genocidal campaign on the Oromo people and free a large swath of territory in Oromia from suppression. Other wars taking place in Ethiopia have their roots in the dictatorial mishandlings and inta-power struggle within the now defunct EPRDF camp. As different factions wage war to occupy and/or cling onto power through the barrel of the gun, our people have been caught in the crossfire and are paying the ultimate price.

Specifically, our people in Wollo have been living through this brutal civil war for three reasons. First, there are some who have fallen prey to Prosperity Party (PP) propaganda campaign that paints Tigrayans fighters as a foe. Second, extreme Amhara nationalists of the Gondar and Gojjam shade have been pushing the war in the Amhara region from Gondar to Wollo, and finally, whatever the source of the war, our people were forced to engage as they do not have a government that can protect their safety and security in the midst of a civil war being fought in their neighborhoods.

OLF-OLA would like to reiterate again that the genocidal Prosperity Party army and its allies including the Amhara Special Forces, Militia and Fano should not get any form of support from our people in Wollo. Assisting these forces will be forgetting the recent ethnic cleansing in Shewa Robit, and the ongoing PP campaigns in Wollega, Guji, Borena, Matakat, Gindeberet, Wollo and many other places across the country.

Our people in Wollo have the natural right to defend themselves against any incursion that comes on their turf. To mitigate the effects of this civil war, our people should organize, arm and defend themselves. Popular self-defense is part and parcel of the Oromo struggle for freedom and national self-determination. Therefore:

  1. We urge some members of our community who have fallen prey to PP propaganda to dissociate themselves from a ‘government’ whose days in power are numbered;
  2. We would like to remind our people, friends of our struggle and the international community that the PP-led government of the Ethiopia bears the ultimate responsibility for the crimes committed in this conflict against our people in Wollo;
  3. We call upon our people in Wollo to continue to join your own OLF-OLA and the Wollo branch of OLA to emancipate yourself from living as a second class citizen inside the Amhara region;
  4. We call upon soldiers and decent commanders within the PP army to stop fighting for a war with no cause other than keeping one man in power. At the very least, we ask you spare your own lives by leaving the army of a ‘government’ on the brink of collapse;
  5. We call up on the international community to support our struggle for freedom and self-determination, and for the stability of the country and the region;
  6. Dictators divide and rule oppressed peoples. We call upon all oppressed communities to be cognizant of Abiy’s divide and rule tactics, and to stand in unison with your brothers in arms;
  7. We would like to remind everyone that the solution to the political malaise rocking Ethiopia lies in true recognition of the peoples’ demand for self-determination, and not through keeping an individual or a group in power;
  8. The only mechanism to extricate the people of the country from civil war is by creating a platform of democratic self-governance in which respect for the rights of an individual, and peoples can be simultaneously and sustainably ensured;
  9. In the absence of any semblance of a government that can protect the safety and security of the people—a prevailing condition almost everywhere in of today’s Ethiopia—the people will have the natural right to organize and defend themselves.

Victory to Oromo People!
OLF-OLA High Command
October 27, 2021

Ethiopia: Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) – Only Honest, Genuine, and All-inclusive National Dialogue Can Solve the Country’s Political Crisis (25.10.2021)

Only Honest, Genuine, and All-Inclusive National Dialogue Can Solve the Country’s Political Crisis

A statement from the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) In response to the latest call for national dialogue by Ethiopia’s ruling party

It is to be recalled that in the last three years and beyond, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) has been repeatedly calling for a meaningful national dialogue to help resolve Ethiopia’s deep rooted and ever worsening political crisis. For instance, upon the ascendance of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to power, OFC pleaded with him to convene a national dialogue forum where the country’s outstanding political issues to be negotiated and a common road map to be charted so as to ensure a successful democratic transition.

Since then, at every opportunity during the meetings in person or media appearances, OFC’s leadership have been making an impassioned appeal for dialogue and negotiation to save the fragile transition and the country from descending into further chaos. Unfortunately, our pleading fell on deaf ears. When the 2020 election was postponed, OFC called upon the government and other stake holders to seize the opportunity to build a national consensus towards facilitating environment for a credible election. In connection with this, we prepared and submitted a detailed proposal as part of MEDREK. Sadly, instead of listening to our call, the ruling party responded by cracking down on our party, closing down our offices and imprisoning our leaders.

When the country’s worsening political crises led to the breaking out of war in Tigray, OFC once again called upon the warring parties to end hostilities and sit down for a negotiated settlement of the dispute. However, the ruling party and its supporters responded with adverse media campaign aimed at ostracizing and intimidation of our party.

Furthermore, when the government announced to hold election, OFC warned that the country’s situation is not conducive to conduct a free, fair, and credible election. Strongly advised holding a meaningful national dialogue should come first. Once again, the government ignored our plea and went ahead with its sham election that excluded major political parties including OFC and disenfranchised large portion of the electorate. Consequently, the election brought neither legitimacy nor stability as the ruling party hoped to achieve.

Just recently, at the conclusion of the 2021 election that failed to deliver both durable peace and democratic governance for the country, OFC made its position to the ruling party in a form of a press release titled “An election that is not fair and not inclusive cannot deliver democracy”, and once again called for an all-inclusive national dialogue that can lead to an all-inclusive transitional arrangement that can have a mandate to chart a common roadmap that can in turn lead to a stable an all-inclusive government.

Lately, the ruling party has begun talking about the importance of a national dialogue, which many have dismissed as ‘too little too late’. But we say better late than never and strongly advice that it should be honestly and genuinely conducted. At this stage for national dialogue to bring Ethiopia back from the brinks, it needs to fulfill the following conditions.

1. At this time in point wars commenced to settle law and order in the country came to threaten the overall existence of the country, should be stopped and warring parties sit and convey an all-inclusive national dialogue.

2. The national dialogue needs to be convened by an impartial and credible external body acceptable to all parties, recognized and supported by the international community. Here, it also must be noted that given the present political situation of the country, perceived, it is difficult to find a credible domestic entity that is impartial and acceptable to all parties.

3. The national dialogue should be truly inclusive of all political blocks including the opposition armed groups, if it is meant to meaningfully address the issue of peace – the country’s most urgent need. To enable representation of all groups, legal and security hurdles must be removed.

4. All imprisoned political prisoners must also be released and allowed to take part in the process.

In summary, it is OFC’s assessment that trust deficit among elites is one of the major contributors to the current crisis and a non-inclusive gathering in the name of national dialogue convened by partisan entities could only serve to further erode trust making the ability to solve conflict through dialogue impossible even in the future.

Therefore, although OFC had been at the forefront of calling for a genuine national dialogue, unless the process meets these minimal standards, ones again, we strongly feel this half-hearted process would make our participation meaningless and the whole exercise futile. OFC cordially calls for all Ethiopians and the international communities support our effort.

Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC)
Addis Ababa: 25 October 2021

Ethiopia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Putting the record straight on UN aid planes and airstrike in Mekelle (23.10.2021)

Ethiopia: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffths statement on Ethiopia (22.10.2021)

Ethiopia: Tigray External Affairs Office – Press Statement on the Air Strikes on the people of Tigray & UNHAS Flight (23.10.2021)

Ethiopia: Security and Justice for Tigrayans (SJT) – Urgent Call to Condemn and Stop the Indiscriminate Aerial Bombardment of Mekelle City (21.10.2021)

 

Ethiopia: NaMA calls the Amhara people to arms

The National Movement of Amhara (NaMA) dropped at statement on the 17th October 2021 proving their allegiance to the Tripartite Alliance and the warfare in Amhara. In that statement they are blaming the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) who has invaded parts of the Amhara region.

The NaMA claims all the war-crimes in Amhara region. That is done without evidence, but just like the state and it’s allies has done the whole war. Instead of taking accountability or proving it. They are blaming and projecting it on the TDF or the TPLF.

While doing this the NaMA ask for everyone who calls themselves a Amhara to join in the war effort. The party also asks the military and the regional government to action against the invaders. The NaMA asks for the Federal Government and the Regional Government to eliminate the TPLF. The NaMA asks for all members and supporters to go to the front.

We knew when NaMA got one member in the cabinet. That was a proof of the alliance between the Prosperity Party and NaMA. This is why Prime Minister Abiy appointed him and gave the chairman a ministry. Therefore, the statement of NaMA on social media says everything.

The NaMA claims that the ENDF and Amhara Regional Special Forces/Amhara Para-Military Group “Fano” will be able to beat the TDF. The NaMA believes these forces are able to get a victory in the invaded areas of Amhara region. However, there is little to no proof of that.

We are clearly seeing who is the parties who is supporting the government. The EZEMA did the same the other day and now NaMA proves it too. This shouldn’t be forgotten and proves how the Amhara nationalists is part of this government. Peace.

Ethiopia: Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) – ONLF Congratulates President Elect, H.E. Mustafa Muhumed Omer (18.10.2021)