“State” Terrorism in Ethiopia
By Yeheyis Ewnetu
The last three plus decades in general and the last five years in particular have been a reign of terror in Ethiopia. All kinds of heinous crimes have been committed against Ethiopians, in particular against the Amhara people, based on their ethnic and religious identities by the very regime which is supposed to protect their safety and security. In fact, there has been no state proper in the functional sense of the term and as far as the raison d’être for its existence goes. Some Ethiopian scholars refer the current regime as ethno-fascist, for it exhibits all the characteristics of fascism in its ugly and worst form. We shall list some of the manifestations in the course of this piece. Tribalism coupled with fascism and Nazism is utter insanity and stupidity. This is exactly the state of the ethno-fascist regime currently in power in Ethiopia.
In this piece, the acronyms OPDO-OLF (Oromo People Democratic Organization- Oromo Liberation Front) are used as equivalent to so-called Prosperity Party and EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front). It is part of the confusion tactics employed by the regime to create a semblance of change or the existence of a new system.
The foundations for such ethno-fascist regime had been laid down thirty years ago by the ever- liberation front so-called TPLF (Tigray People Liberation Front), a.k.a, WOYANE TIGRE, a terrorist group which ruled over Ethiopia for the past twenty-seven years with the policy of divide and rule on ethnic and linguistic lines; hatred and mistrust; dissemination of outright lies using the absolute monopoly it has of the main stream state and affiliated medias and deploying good-for-nothings as ‘digital armies’ to spread hate speech and genocidal statements in social medias; fabricated narration of oppression of one ethnic group by another; egregious violations of human, civil and political rights; unprecedented corruption; complete impunity for all wrong doings and absence of rule of law to mention the salient ones.
The façade ‘constitution’ prepared by the TPLF and its cohort OLF, another terrorist group, not only laid the foundation for ethnic based politics and the apartheid like Bantustan style fenced regions (prohibiting the freedom of movement and citizens right to live in the place of their choice), it is also the only of its kind in the world which does not recognize the people of Ethiopia as citizens and denies Ethiopia’s thousands years of common history, shared value systems, common cultures and traditions, etc. That is why renowned Ethiopian public intellectuals described the ‘document’ as the law of the jungle or it does not worth the the paper it is written on. Instead of becoming the legal and political basis for law and order, it has become a source of political strife and division.
With the foregoing as a background, let us see some of the ethno-fascistic traits of the current OPDO-OLF regime led by the most wicked, ignorant and inexperienced person in the entire history of Ethiopian rulers. Outright lies, arrogance, lust for power, absence of empathy and sympathy, narcissism, toxic tribalism and infantilism, unique of all extreme hatred for Ethiopianism, Ethiopians, especially the Amharas, and Ethiopian values are some of the conspicuous identifying feature of the person in whose venomous hands our great country falls. In short, Abiy Ahmed is a devil incarnate monster. Few of us had learned the true color of this monster shortly after his coming in to power despite his Ethiopian rhetoric. Unfortunately, the majority of Ethiopians woke up from their deep slumber very late after irreversible damages are done to the people and the Country. Of course we Ethiopians are to be blamed for expecting a bird to be hatched from the serpent’s egg. We ignored the fact that Abiy is the offspring of the venomous snake, TPLF. The ethno-fascist regime of which he is the boss is rotten to the core. We, Ethiopians, must stop this monster by any means before he destroyed our ancient, historical, proud and independent country.
Given the evil nature of the criminal enterprise OPDO/OLF and their gang leader, they are not cut out for normal and civilized politics. They do not deserve to lead their own village let alone a great country like Ethiopia. Hence, dialogue, discussion, negotiation, compromise, any form of civility in general with such lunatics is out of question. A leopard can’t change its spots as the saying goes.
In today’s Ethiopia you find nothing without ethnic labels or tags. Starting from one’s ID card, motor vehicles, banks, insurances, public institutions, not to mention the regions so-called ‘Killis’ up to the lowest ‘administrative’ unit. What is more, as part of the the regime’s plan to oromize and deconstruct Ethiopia, name of places in the capital and regions have been changed as it had been done during the migration/invasion of the Oromos in the 16th century. Historians told us that over 21 ethnic groups have disappeared as part of the then invasion. Now the monster has declared an open war on Amhara, the largest people, as the culmination of his ethnic cleansing and displacement project in the last five years.
Though it has been a public secret, it is important to be clear of the objective of the ethno-fascist regime of OPDO/OLF so that to make all forms of our struggle commensurate with the scale of the danger these extremists pose to Ethiopia and Ethiopians: their objective in short is to implement the ideology of so-called “OROMUMA”, the establishment of a new country called Oromia up on the ruins of Ethiopia or alternatively to deconstruct Ethiopia and create a “new Ethiopia” in the image and likeness of Oromo where other Ethiopians are allowed to live as “naturalized” Oromos (so-called GERBAS/GEBROS, forced assimilation or imposition of Oromos’ culture and identity, in the terms of 16th century Oromo militant system of GEDA) or as subjects of the imaginary or ‘utopian’ country of Oromia. By the way, Oromuma has nothing to do with the Oromo people of Ethiopia at large. It is not equivalent with the Oromo ethnic group as the ethno-fascists want to portrait. The latter represents a small group of extreme Oromo tribalists who have been working 24/7 for the demise of Ethiopia to create an imaginary homogenous state so-called ‘Oromia’ as mercenaries of historical enemies of Ethiopia.
To achieve this objective, the ethno-fascist forces have been doing everything in their power to dismantle the social fabric of the people and have turned Ethiopia upside down in all fronts. Though all Ethiopians (including the Oromo people) are their targets in this regard, they consider Amharas and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) and Ethiopian Muslims as major impediments in the realization of their Oromuma dreams. There have been systemic and structural covert and overt operations in the last three decades by state apparatuses to weaken the Amhara people and these two major religions. It seems that they have succeeded in replacing, by force, the leadership of Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council with their own where ethnic identity prevails over religion. Recently, they had attempted to divide and overthrow the Holy Synod of EOC, by infiltrating and planting their own ‘clergies’ (cadres) in the hierarchies of the Church, with the aim of establishing ‘ethnic synods’ in each ‘Bantustan regions’ and ultimately eliminate the Church. However, they faced a formidable challenge both from the leaders and the faithful and the plot has been averted for the time being. Now they are waiting for the bi-annual gathering of the Holy Synod, a.k.a., RIKBE KAHNAT, which begins today the 1oth of May 2013. The excommunicated secessionist elements should not have been reinstated to their former consecration in the first place since their reinstatement is in clear violation of the Church’s cannons, i.e., chapter five of the spiritual section of FETHA NAGAST which provides for the election and consecration of Bishops. A Bishop is worthy of consecration only when he is blameless in everything of this world and without reproach and error and the majority of the archbishops and the faithful approves his consecration. Mr. AkaleWold and his accomplices were found guilty of heresy, violation of the Order and Cannons of the Church by the Holy Synod. Besides, they lack the knowledge and uprightness, prudence and wisdom required of a bishop. Recently, these apostates, who are mercenaries of the ethno-fascist regime and having the mission of destroying the EOC within, declared in public that they are not going to abide by the decision of the Holy Synod if the decision is contrary to their wishes. In other words, they have set their mind on dividing and overthrow the Holy Synod and ultimately destroy the Church. To this end, they have the full backing of the monster and his security apparatus. We shall see whether the Church’s fathers will have the courage and determination to maintain the unity and integrity of the Holy Synod and protect the dogma, order, cannons, and spiritual tradition of the EOC like our historical church heroes, the martyrs His Holiness Abuna Petros and His Holiness Abuna Michael. If they succumb to the will and wishes of the monster, God forbid, they will commit a grave wrong of historical proportion. As one of the major pillars of Ethiopia, it would have grave ramifications in terms of the very survival of our Country.
Back to our topic: Abiy’s regime has officially declared war against the Amhara people, whom they considered as a ‘national threat’, on the pretext of re-organizing the special military forces of regions under the ‘federal national defense force’. The truth, however, is far from re-organization. It is simply aimed at disarming the Amhara forces and the civilian people and making them defenseless thereby bringing the people to their knees as they did to our Tigrean people. The reality in the ground is that the regime has already dismantled and replaced the national defense forces with the armies of special military forces of Oromia and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) trained for more than 41 and 34 rounds respectively under the guise of reform. By the way OLA, a.k.a, OLF SHENE, the rebel/terrorist arm of the regime, together with the special military forces of Oromia and TPLF is responsible for the atrocities (wholesale killings, ethnic cleansing, genocides, crimes against humanity, war crimes, displacements, annihilation of cities and towns and large scale looting of properties) committed in the last five years against the Amhara people throughout Ethiopia in particular Wollega, western Ethiopia; BeninShangul-Gumuz region (Metkel of former Gojjam province), north western; DERA, northern Shoa; Oromia and Somalia regions; not to mention the recent displacement of the Amhara and other non-Oromo ethnic groups from the capital.
The net effect of the aforementioned ‘reform’ was replacing the dominance of the TPLF staffed army of the national defense force/NDF (all high ranking officers from ‘Major’ upward) with the OPDO/OLF staffed NDF and of late including all the Amhara rank and file members of the NDF. Now Ethiopia has no more NDF but Abiy’s ethno-fascist regime’s force ‘licensed’ to kill civilians in broad day light. Surprisingly, the war has been declared under the rubrics of ‘enforcement of law’, ‘protecting the constitutional order’ and fighting ‘terrorism’. What a bluff!!! What a mockery!!! What an absurdity!!!
The Amhara people who always consider identifying itself as Ethiopian rather than as an ethnic group throughout Ethiopian history have been patient to a fault to the extent of risking its very survival. Why the wise, heroic, compassionate, generous, law-abiding, well mannered, civilized and God-fearing Amharas endure such untold sufferings for more than thirty years? Why they let themselves to be trampled upon like fools? It is beyond comprehension. Partly it is explained by the fact that the regime (including its predecessor TPLF) has exploited, as an Achilles hill, the unparalleled love this people have of their country by constantly threatening both in words and deeds of the very existence of Ethiopia and turn the same upside down like Syria, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. Partly due to the long standing tradition of the Amhara people of the respect it has for state; the belief that persons assuming the highest post of government would not make outright lies on a regular basis and the great respect they have of the institution of mediation or reconciliation through elders and religious leaders. Partly because of the ‘recycled’ and eternal servants so-called ANDEM (Amhara National Democratic Movement – formerly loyal to TPLF and now to OPDO-OLF) which apparently has been in charge of the region called Amhara and working in tandem with the ethno-fascist regime. ANDEM is a group of gluttons and good-for-nothings created by TPLF from the outset as a Trojan horse for the same and now for the ethno-fascist regime of OPDO-OLF. In short, these stillborn creatures are there to cause at least the weakening and at most the annihilation of of the Amhara people. ANDEM together with some dangerous opportunistic elites of ‘Amharas’ both within and outside of the country collaborate with the regime not only to cause the demise of the Amharas but they made these people the most wretched, degraded and poorest people in Ethiopia.
What is more, no one in his right mind would believe that the monster and his criminal enterprise would stoop so low to commit such horrendous crimes on its own people and works 24/7 against the demise of the Country it is supposed to rule over. No one expected that these people controlling the palace are a bunch of hoodlums. However, these are the bitter reality we Ethiopians are faced with.
The mindset of the Amhara people for law and order is still challenging the people to defend itself unreservedly even the monster has sent his army to wipe them out from the face of the earth. The people and its forces use every opportunity making an entreaty for the enemy’s army to withdraw, cease from firing against its own people and making unnecessary sacrifices. These are the psychological makeup of the majority of Amharas which work against their own interest. Abiy’s evil forces are now in the front door of Amharas. The greatest regret of a war is to lose a war without fight. The Amhara people therefore has every right legally, morally and naturally to defend itself. In the fight against this ethno-fascist and terrorist regime, the people and its forces need more than provisions and supplies the resolve to: 1/ to accept the regime and its forces as enemy; 2/ ignore any propagandas from the regime and affiliated main stream and social medias; 3/ reject any kind of mediation with the regime through elders or priests and keep in mind the advice of the late General Asamenew Tsegie; nor any negotiation in the aftermath with this ethno-fascist regime. Is there any law stipulating that the end of every war should be negotiation? Not at all! Some may argue such practices have customary backing. Let’s accept this is true. Still we can make an exception to this general practice. 4/ remove any obstacles within the region – individuals or groups, especially the ANDEM – who pose potential or real threat or danger or pour cold water on the on-going people’s struggle and disobedience; and 5/ have a clear objective of the struggle, i.e., to remove the monster and his regime from the face of Ethiopia beyond and above making sure the safety and security of the Amhara people. If the Heaven is with us Ethiopians, if we contribute our share to this life-and-death struggle and strictly observe these five points, I do not see any reason for negotiation with the monster and his gangs. This regime must be removed by hook or by crook.
As outlined above, one of the characteristic features of ethno-fascist regimes is brewing, managing and benefiting from a conflict; if necessary from war. It is remembered that the Country has not yet recovered from the recent bloody and devastating civil war in the Tigray region claiming the lives of more than 1.2 million Ethiopians. Though TPLF is a mortal enemy of Ethiopians (including the Tigray people), the regime has no basic difference with this terrorist group in terms of national agenda and its stance for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia. Their only difference is who should control power and the looting of national resources derived thereby. Hence, the war was meaningless and had no just cause. What is more, the war had been highly sabotaged and improperly managed by the regime for its own political benefits – weakening TPLF (destroying unwanted elements) and bringing the same under control; creating permanent enmity between Amharas and Tigreans the majority of whom are Orthodox Tewahido Christians; destroying Christian values and heritages thereby weakening the Church; turning the whole region in to ruins, making the people even poorer thereby greatly minimizing or eliminating potential threat. The brunt of the war was ultimately borne by the people.
We know well that the so-called ‘international community’ which for all practical purposes is none other than the ‘global empire/coroporatocracy’ designed and led by the Western powers, especially that of the US Government, the international financial institutions (IBRD, IMF, WTO, etc) and international corporations. I do not want to appeal to them since they know well what is going on in Ethiopia though they preferred to feign ignorance. I mentioned them only to let them know that they won’t escape the true judgment of history and the Heaven. The recent statement released by the US government is fresh evidence that they are standing and backing, tacitly and expressly, the ethno-fascist regime as they used to back TPLF and confirmed the same once again. This is not something new for Ethiopia. When Emperor Haile Selassie made an appeal and asked for help about the invasion of fascist Italy at Geneva in 1936, the then League of Nations refused to act and most member countries gave recognition to the fascist Italy’s conquest. Our wise king made a historical and prophetic speech: “It is us today, it will be you tomorrow.” Those who backed fascist Italy then did not learn their lesson from WWII. The philosophy that ‘might makes right’ prevailed and became the unwritten guiding foreign principle of western powers since then. Democracy, human right, etc are always pretexts to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. We shall see on whose side history and the Heaven would ultimately be.
Hence, it is our duty and responsibility to get rid of the ethno-fascist regime of OPDO-OLF together with its poisonous ‘constitution’ and lay the foundation for a united sovereign Ethiopia with territorial integrity where rule of law triumphs so that all citizens will be treated equally and in dignity before the law irrespective of their religion, ethnicity, background, sex and outlook.
Had there been rule of law and properly functioning state, the regime (to be exact the OPDO party) should not have dared to deploy OPDO/OLA army in the various provinces of Amhara under the guise of NDF. Let alone the party the regime has no constitutional right to deploy military forces to regions unless the latter have faced security problems beyond their capacity and formally invites the federal government forces according to their façade constitution. However, can we speak of protection and violation of constitutional order if there is none in the first place? By the same token, can we speak of enforcement of law and order? Wouldn’t it be a contradiction in terms to speak of constitutional order or law and order vis-à-vis ethno-fascist regime?
Here are some of the manifestations of the ethno-fascist regime and its acts of terrorism:
- Nepotism/Favoritism: it is a public secret that all civil governmental and administrative and political offices (from Kebele to the rubber stamp parliament) including majority of rank and files are staffed with members of one ethnic group; the same is true of the police, the security and military forces of the regime;
- Religious Discrimination: Orthodox Tewahido Christians are deliberately excluded from all governmental higher ranking posts; using religion for the regime’s own benefit by blackmailing religious leaders, the case of EOC;
- Corruption and Outright Looting: rampant corruption in all its manifestations and without exception to all governmental, non-governmental offices has been the order of the day; directly participating or aiding and abetting, via the deep state, the looting of public resources; the more than 18 bank (CBE) robberies by the regime backed OLA is a case in point;
- Dissemination of Disinformation and Misinformation and Genocidal Statements ; every day scene by the monster and the regime controlled ETV, FANA and WALTA medias; these medias have become instruments of lies and deceptions since the last thirty plus years; the recent statement made by the monster before his rubber stamp parliament that they are capable of destroying Ethiopia if they wish; and in relation to the imposition of Oromo language and the hoisting of the Oromia emblem against the will of schools in Addis Abeba, he said that there are many Addis Abebans who have hatred for Oromos.
- Use of indecent, disgusting, degrading and offensive terms against targeted innocent individuals and groups and Fabricating Narratives by TPLF and OPDO-OLF digital armies paid from public coffers;
- Kidnapping, Persecution, Forced Disappearance, Fabrication of False Accusations, Illegal Imprisonment, Constant use of Threat, Torture and Political Assassination as a ‘normal’ modus operandi to suppress and deter any kind of opposition and as a way of achieving political objectives; setting aside the reign of TPLF; the recent kidnapping, detention and trampled-up charges against journalists, political activists and investors of Amhara decent of subverting the constitutional order by force and terrorism can be sited
- Attaching Blames to Victims;
- Using State of Emergency as a tactic to persecute and mass execute targeted ethnic groups and dissidents; etc.
You may compare some of the foregoing features of the regime’s fascism and acts of terrorism as has been witnessed in Ethiopia for the last five years with internationally recognized characteristics of fascism in the following link:
Bearing in mind the main objectives of the struggle of the Amhara people in the preceding paragraphs, I would like to raise some of simple needs of the ordinary people. The people want to protect an ordinary day and normal life where they can move from and to their home, to their work places and whatever places they wish to go; carry out their routine tasks without any fear or threat to their life and safety. But they have been deprived of this God-given natural everyday life for the past three decades as if it is a luxury. The people have been asking don’t kill us, don’t displace us and don’t persecute us for the sole reason that we are Amharas and Orthodox Christians or Muslims. Let our children go to school as other kids do, let our farmers till their land, let the herds’ men and women keep their herds in the meadows, let our homemaker mothers rear their children and do their house chores; let them celebrate their birth days, weddings, religious festivals, national day and holidays peacefully; let them mourn to and give their beloved ones decent burials; let them make memorials for the departed. Instead the answer by the ethno-fascist regime to these simple and basic questions become declaration of war in Shoa, Wello, Gojjam and Gondar administrative regions where the majority of the Amharas live. The latter have no choice but to fight back, remove the regime and reclaim their rights and thereby redeem Ethiopia with their compatriots.
Though our focus in this piece seems on the immediate target of the regime, the Amhara people; it is important to underline that the ethno-fascist regime spares no Ethiopians in its diabolical plan to achieve the objective of the so-called ‘Oromuma’ project. Our Gurage people have already been the regime’s target. Afar, Somalia, Gambella and the Southern regions are waiting for their turn and operations in these places have been delayed only for tactical or strategy reasons mainly for the lack of resources to support another military operation.
Hence, I hereby call up on all Ethiopians to join the struggle of the Amhara people and begin civil disobedience in our respective regions with the aim of removing this ethno-fascist regime and establish a transitional order to lay down the basis for the future of Ethiopia as equal citizens regardless of our ethnic background.MAY THE GOD OF ETHIOPIA HELP ETHIOPIANS REMOVE the ethno-fascist regime and the monsterAND REDEEM ETHIOPIA!