By Elias Kifle
Ethiopian Review
In a recent interview with Dimtsi Woyanne Radio, Sebehat Nega, Woyanne moneyman and senior member of the politburo, said that if all Eritrean organizations combine, their effort would not add up to what the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (Woyanne/TPLF) did for the independence of Eritrea. According to Sebehat, the position taken by the Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF/Shabia) had been weak in regards to the question of independence. What he was saying in effect is that EPLF has a soft heart for Ethiopia, as it demanded only limited autonomy from the central government–not full secession as demanded by Woyanne. What an astonishing statement coming from some one who is a top leader of the party that is ruling Ethiopia, albeit illegitimately.
This is not a hyperbole on the part of Sebehat. His statement is, in fact, not new to those who have been closely watching the Woyannes for a while. It would also not be a surprise to participants and observers of the negotiations between EPLF, Woyanne, and Derg before the downfall of the Derg regime in May 1991.
One of these observers is distinguished Ethiopian scholar Professor Ephraim Isaac, who had been mediating between EPLF and the Derg. According to Prof. Ephraim, the TPLF leadership had been a major obstacle to a negotiated settlement between the Derg and the Eritreans. Limited autonomy for Eritrea was NOT acceptable to the top TPLF leaders.
Professor Ephraim revealed this fact to me and other representatives of the media at a conference held in Bonn, Germany, just before the Woyanne-Eritrea war of 2000 broke out. The media conference was organized by the German-based Bol Foundation that had invited media representatives from Ethiopia and Eritrea for a discussion on the role journalists can play to minimize the risk of war. I was invited by Professor Ephraim to attended the conference representing Ethiopian Review.
During one of the informal discussions we had during break times, Professor Isaac told us that before and during the 1991 London Conference, he pleaded with the EPLF leadership to keep Eritrea within Ethiopia if the central government allows self-rule for Eritrea. He gave Quebec, Canada, as a model. Later on, as the Derg regime started to fall apart, the professor proposed that Issayas become the president of Ethiopia and Meles, the prime minister, until an election is held. According to Prof. Isaac, the Quebec model was acceptable to the EPLF leadership.
The U.S. and British governments also pushed for a coalition government that would include EPLF, TPLF/EPRDF, OLF and the other opposition groups, so that Ethiopia will remain intact.
The proposal was outrightly rejected by Meles, Sebehat, & Co. They took an uncompromising stand in demanding a full secession for Eritrea, as Sebehat Nega explained to Dimtsi Woyanne in his recent interview. (He went on to say in this interview that Woyanne will fight any group that intends to reunite Eritrea with Ethiopia in any form or shape!)
Worried that the idea of TPLF-EPLF power sharing might spread among the rank-and-file members of the TPLF, the Adwa mafia (Meles, Sebehat and close family members who make up the top echelon of TPLF), started to hurriedly push the process of Eritrea’s secession. They expedited the process of giving recognition to Eritrea as an independent country–amazingly even before the EPLF leadership asked for it. They had also fervently lobbied the United Nations to recognize Eritrea as an independent country.
Professor Isaac recounted this story in front of several journalists. Some of them said that they had heard about it from other sources. I myself have been able to verify the story from more than one source. But that did not lessen the shock of hearing it from the mouth of a top TPLF leader.
But why?
Apparently, the Woyannes felt inferior to Eritreans and that if they share power with the EPLF in Addis Ababa, they feared that they can easily be upstaged. On top of that, Woyanne by its nature doesn’t like to share any thing with those it considers outsiders–non-Tigreans. Woyanne is the embodiment of greed. It is a tribal cult organization with a sinister urge to control and dominate every thing at any cost.
To ensure their unchallenged rule over Ethiopia, Woyanne leaders, as they prepared to take over power from the Derg, gathered a group of individuals from different ethnic groups whom they call “adghis” (donkeys)–the likes of Addisu Legesse, Kuma Demeksa and other opportunists–and created a fake “multi-ethnic” alliance called “Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front” (EPRDF). The Woyanne leaders did not want EPLF any where near the seat of power in Addis Ababa.
Ten years later, in 2000, Woyanne and Shabia fought a devastating war over small barren lands on the border of Tigray and Eritrea. The Badme/Shiraro war was fought not to defend Ethiopia’s territorial integrity, contrary to what the Woyannes would like to have us believe. It was to assert Woyanne’s dominance over Shabia, and establish itself as a dominant power in the Horn of Africa.
Looking forward, defeating or destroying this menace called Woyanne is imperative for peace and development in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. After a long streak of successes, Woyannes are now on a downward spiral. It started with the 2005 elections. Woyannes were defeated in the ballot box, and in reaction to that, they slaughtered hundreds of civilians, women and children. Tens of thousands of innocent Ethiopian were thrown in concentration camp-like detention centers.
To divert attention from the crisis they are facing internally, Woyannes persuaded naive U.S. State Department officials into supporting their illegal invasion of Somalia the false pretext of fighting against Islamic extremists.
Woyannes are currently committing war crimes in Somalia, as pointed out by a senior European Union official and human rights organizations.
Meles and gang have made a disastrous miscalculation about the determination of Somalis to keep invaders out of their country. Somalis are fighting back and making Mogadishu Woyanne’s grave yard.
Ethiopian freedom fighters, such as EPPF, OLF, OLF, and TPDM are also intensifying their military offensives against Woyanne forces.
The downfall of Woyanne is near. If it were not for some corrupt individuals in the Kinijit leadership abroad who have temporarily derailed Kinijit’s, and by extension AFD’s, movement, presently we could be witnessing Woyanne’s last grasp.
Recommendation
In order to expedite Woyanne’s inevitable demise, Ethiopian Review would like to recommend to the AFD leadership the establishment of a Horn of Africa alliance against Woyanne.
The alliance would include every major political and civic group in the region, including EPLF (the government of Eritrea).
Woyanne is currently being supported by supper power nations–the U.S. and China. Woyanne is also in control of Ethiopia’s abundant resources, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and donations from the World Bank and other. This makes an all-inclusive Horn of Africa alliance all the more necessary.
The main functions of the alliance could be:
1) Coordinate the military, diplomatic, and political actions of all anti-Woyanne forces in the region.
2) Through intense diplomatic effort try to persuade the foreign policy makers of the United States, and Europe–the main financial and military backers of the Woyanne tribal junta–to withdraw their support for the sake of their own long term interest.
3) Help facilitate the formation of an all-inclusive conference to set up a transitional government in Ethiopia.