Medhane Tadesse and the TPLF Regime's Terrorist Propaganda
Sophia Tesfamariam
April 02, 2007
I am writing today to respond to Medhane Tadesse’s unfounded accusations against Eritrea, published in the Sub Saharan Informer on 23 March 2007 under the title, “Kidnapping: quest for relevance”. Meles Zenawi’s latest childish ramblings to the rubberstamp Ethiopian Parliament were similar in content and come at a time when the regime is facing domestic and international pressures. Ethiopia’s ill advised 2006 aggressive war of aggression and invasion in Somalia has turned out to be another costly political and strategic blunder for Meles Zenawi’s minority regime and its handlers.
In order to divert attention away from its domestic and international woes, the deceptive minority regime in Ethiopia is attempting to hoodwink the international community and the Ethiopian people with yet another desperate, far fetched and futile vilification campaign against Eritrea. Allow me to provide a brief update of the current situation in the Horn of Africa and the issues related to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in order to provide the contextual basis for this rebuttal to Aite Medhane Tadesse’s piece.
It should be recalled that on Christmas Eve 2006 the Meles Zenawi thugocracy in Ethiopia, encouraged by the diplomatic, financial, military and political support guaranteed to it by US and UN officials including Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazier and then US Charge D’Affaires in Ethiopia, Vicki Huddleston, in violation of the African Union and UN Charters and Security Council Resolutions 1724, 1725 and 1744, invaded Somalia and installed the illegitimate puppet Transitional National Government (TNG) led by Ali Mohammed Ghedi and Abdulahi Yusuf in Mogadishu. It lied to the Ethiopian Parliament and exaggerated and fabricated the “threats” posed by the rise of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Somalia. Today, the regime’s forces are facing the wrath of the Somali people who are waging a determined struggle against the Ethiopian occupiers and its puppet TNG.
As if that was not enough, the apartheid regime in Ethiopia suffered another devastating diplomatic humiliation when members of an armed Ethiopian opposition group, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) kidnapped some Europeans and Ethiopians in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The ARDUF have said that they had taken the hostages to bring international attention to their cause. Surely, Meles Zenawi and his Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) cadres understand; after all, they too have used such acts in the past to bring attention to their cause. To refresh their memories and to explain the nature of the regime ruling Ethiopia today, I have listed the TPLF “terrorist” acts as recorded by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT)-http://www.tkb.org/RWExecquery.jsp?sLibraryType=Terr_Incidents&QueryString=TPLF. MIPT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing terrorism on U.S. soil or mitigating its effects. MIPT is funded by the US Department of Homeland Security:
Feb. 17, 1988: Members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front abducted six European aid workers. The victims were three Irish nuns, two Belgian doctors and a Dutch nurse. All were released a week later.
Oct. 1, 1987: a French nurse, Sophie Bedon, was kidnapped by TPLF rebels. The woman was taken hostage after an attack on an Ethiopian garrison in Rama. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, she was handed over to the French embassy after being held for over three weeks.
Mar. 8, 1986: Two employees of the American relief agency World Vision were shot to death in the dining room of their residence compound in the northern town of Alamata by TPLF rebels. The victims were both Ethiopian nationals. According to western diplomatic sources, the attack marked the beginning of a new guerrilla offensive by the TPLF in northern Ethiopia against the Addis Ababa government (Menghistu Hailemariam Derg regime).
Mar. 2, 1985: TPLF rebels seized a French disaster-relief aircraft, its five crew members and four medical staff members in the northern town of Lalibela. The plane had been flying supplies for Ethiopian villagers as part of the international effort to relieve the disastrous drought and famine. The hostages were freed a few days later.
Oct. 17, 1984: Ten foreigners, including two American tourists, were seized by secessionist TPLF guerrillas in Lalibela. The captured include two Britons, an Australian, a Finn, three West German medics and a Swiss International Red Cross representative. An American tourist couple, a British national and a Swiss citizen were freed on October 30.
June 1, 1976: Jon Swain, British correspondent for the Sunday Times of London, was captured by the TPLF near Axum in mid-June. He was released in Khartoum on September 5, 1976. It was not known what negotiations, if any, led to his release.
Etc. etc.
Many, including Ethiopians had pointed fingers at the TPLF regime itself and accused it of staging the latest kidnappings to divert international attention, because of its past record and its propensity for lies, distortions and exaggerations. As it turned out, it was the ARDUF that kidnapped the Europeans and Ethiopians- for political reasons. It was their way of showing their discontent with the minority regime’s ethnic based policies and neglect of the Afar region’s inhabitants.
As the events unfolded, we have learned that the ARDUF refused to negotiate with the TPLF regime and its cadres who had long denied their existence. The British then turned to Eritrea for help and Eritrea, compelled by its humanitarian obligations, agreed to help. Negotiations between the ARDUF and the Afar elders on both sides (Eritrean and Ethiopian) led to the successful release of the Europeans. The Ethiopian hostages were not released. The rhetoric from the TPLF regime, its unfounded accusations against the government of Eritrea, its reckless attempts to portray Ethiopian opposition groups as “terrorists”, etc. etc. will only exacerbate its deteriorating relations with its own people; it will also endanger the lives of the Ethiopians in captivity.
Today, the erratic mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia led by Meles Zenawi, humiliated by its craven domestic and international policies, embarrassed by its servility to the US in Somalia, despised by its own people and the people in the region, in a futile attempt to restore its sagging credibility, integrity and image is once again using self appointed Horn “specialists” and “experts”, high profile Western Addis based diplomats, greedy mercenary individuals, to spread vicious, vile and erroneous accusations and allegations against the Government and people of Eritrea, its favorite scapegoats for all that ails Ethiopia today. Medhane Tadesse’ 23 March 2007 “Commentary” is part and parcel of that evil and shameless scheme.
Instead of taking responsibility for his regime’s failure to secure its own territories, failure to provide its citizens with a peaceful, legal venue for addressing their concerns, failure to defend and protect their human rights, failure to provide the basic necessities for all the people of Ethiopia, failure to promote ethnic and religious harmony in Ethiopia, failure to abide and fulfill its legal and moral obligations, failure to abide by Agreements it willingly and consciously signed, failure to respect over two dozen Security Council resolutions on the Eritrea Ethiopia border issue, numerous violations of the Algiers Agreements, its rejection of the Final and Binding decision delivered by the independent Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission on 13 April 2002, and most of all, for its embarrassing and humiliating failures in Somalia, this card carrying TPLF cadre chose to produce another dishonest “Commentary” in defense of the minority TPLF regime ruling Ethiopia today.
Aite Medhane Tadesse in his 23 March 2007 “Commentary”, denying the realities in today’s Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi’s apartheid rule, underestimating the will and determination of the Ethiopian people as they wage a just struggle against the tyrannical minority regime’s rule, decided to pen this piece in order to divert international attention away from his regime’s shameful internal and external woes. Bear with me as I attempt to provide the readers with a response to Medhane Tadesse’s incoherent mesh of unrelated issues in the 23 March 2007 Commentary. Exposing his regime’s incurable inferiority complex and using the regime’s favorite but transparent gimmick “Accusations in a mirror”, he childishly writes:
The Eritrean leadership feels ignored by the world, particularly the major powers. Isolation breeds frustration, and the need for attention. The issue of relevance has become central to the mentality of the Eritrean leadership. Having failed to become a regional hegemon, the Eritrean leadership is dying for attention by becoming a spoiler…”
Aite Medhane Tadesse must also know that it is not the attention and respect of outsiders that counts, but the recognition and respect of your own people that matters the most. Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia lacks credibility, integrity, and legitimacy and has lost the attention and respect of all Ethiopians-even those in Tigray. The Government and people of Eritrea owe allegiance to the many thousands of Eritrea’s sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives for Eritrea’s independence and their focus is in achieving their dreams and aspirations-not the attention of any party-world power or not.
Contrary to what the TPLF cadre asserts in his “Commentary”, it is the international community that has been calling on Eritrea for advice on Sudan, Somalia and even Ethiopia. By the way, judging from the number of African nations that have pledged troops for the African Union “stabilization force” in Somalia-only 4 countries- it is evident that no self respecting African envies the mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia and its “relationship” with the “major powers”. There is no pride in serfdom.
Attempting to cover up his regime’s belligerence and lawlessness, Aite Medhane Tadesse wrote:
The only way to become relevant in the sub-region is by destabilizing its neighbours and consistently seeking the role of a mediator. This has disastrously failed as can be seen through the recent developments in Somalia. Asmara’s attempt to play a similar role in Sudan, has also been frustrated by its failure to secure the trust of the major Darfurian movements…Angered by the positions taken by the major powers, mainly the US, hurtled by Ethiopia’s military victory in Somalia and distasteful of the repeated criticisms of its policy and modus operandi by intellectuals, the Eritrean leadership seems ready to take up any disastrous course to show to the world it is still relevant and can cause damage of some sort…”
Aite Medhane Tadesse must know that it is the regime in Ethiopia that is militarily occupying sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme. He also knows that it is Ethiopia that is militarily occupying Somalia and destroying the peace, stability and security of the nation. He also knows that his regime has on several occasions violated Kenyan and Sudanese territories using various pretexts as it “hunts down” opposition members. The facts and the record are clear, Eritrea has never violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring states-ever.
In addition to its military provocations, the minority regime has also employed mercenaries to commit terrorist acts in Eritrea. Let us see the minority regime’s record and its futile attempts to destabilize Eritrea for the last 8 years:
Ethiopia has hosted meetings of various factions of the Eritrean Liberation Front, trying to bring the ELF-Revolutionary Council and the ELF of Abdullah Idris together. It has offered support to three small Eritrean Marxist opposition parties, and to an opposition Kunama party, and has recently set up an Afar Red Sea Democratic Organisation to try and build up Afar resistance to the Eritrean government…”-(Patrick Gilkes, BBC News 2 March 1999)
Ethiopia has given support to the opposition Alliance of Eritrean National Forces (AENF), now based in Ethiopia. It anticipates that this will be able to mobilise former Eritrean Liberation Front supporters, and Muslim critics of the present government…”- (Patrick Gilkes, BBC News 19 May 2000)
In May 2003, Herui Tedla and the Eritrean National Alliance were brought to Ethiopia and provided with “material support” to set up a military wing to attack strategic targets such as television and radio centres. (BBC 2 May 2003)
Eritrean Democratic Alliance launched a six-day congress here on Thursday…EDA is Eritrea's opposition umbrella embracing 13 sisterly political organizations…”- (15 February 2007 Ethiopian News Agency)
Meles Zenawi was personally in charge of the failed Congress of February 2007, which brought together disgruntled defectors, criminal and treasonous individuals and groups that make up the EDA. Unless Aite Medhane Tadesse is suffering from selective amnesia, considering Meles Zenawi’s repeated attempts to destabilize Eritrea, crying wolf is not going to erase its sordid record, or buy it international sympathy.
Aite Medhane Tadesse cannot talk about “Ethiopia’s military victory in Somalia” after what the world has witnessed in the last week. The disgrace and humiliation was a strong display of the deep hatred and anger held by the Somali people against Meles Zenawi’s regime and unfortunately, it is Ethiopia’s sons that are bearing the brunt of it all. This is not the time for the minority regime to speak about “victory”, “breaking the enemy’s spine” or any of the other pompous pronouncements made during Meles Zenawi monologue with the rubberstamp Ethiopian parliament. It’s time to bring its forces back home to their families and stop using them as cannon fodder and minesweepers in its ill-advised adventures and wars of aggression and invasion against neighboring states.
Aite Medhane Tadesse must know that the United States has legal and moral obligations as a member of the UN Security Council and as one of the guarantors and witnesses of the Algiers Agreements signed between the Governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia in 2000. Eritrea has been consistently calling on the US Administration to shoulder its responsibilities-nothing more, nothing less. It is the US State Department that prevented the US Congress from taking punitive actions against the minority regime in Addis by preventing it from adopting HR-2760, a Bill which called for the expeditious demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border and sanctions on the party that refuses to abide by the tenets of the Algiers Agreements. The US and UK also prevented the Security Council from taking punitive actions against Meles Zenawi’s regime for its violations of international law as called for in the Algiers Agreements.
It is also the US State Department that prevented the passage of HR-5680, the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2006 which was passed on 6 April 2006 by the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. The US’ diplomatic, financial, political and military support for the belligerent minority regime in Ethiopia has emboldened it to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors and violate the human rights of its citizens. Eritrea is not “angered” by the US’ position, it is disappointed, as it had higher expectations of the world’s most powerful nation and it did not think that the US would indulge in senseless exploits with petty tyrannical regimes such as the minority regime in Ethiopia, and risk undermining its own credibility and integrity in the process.
As for Eritrea’s role in Sudan and Somalia, the Sudanese and Somali people can judge Eritrea themselves. There is no evidence of any anti Eritrean sentiment in either country; I doubt that we can say the same about the minority regime in Ethiopia. Eritrea’s principled stand on Somalia and Sudan is based on the historical, mutually respectful and supportive relationship between the people’s of the three countries and remains as firm today.
At the end of his piece, the TPLF cadre Aite Medhane Tadesse sheepishly writes:
the international community has the obligation to put pressure on Eritrea and ensure the safe release of the remaining hostages. After all hostage-taking constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is also a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949…”
The lawless minority regime in Ethiopia does not have the moral authority to talk about international law or international conventions considering its own dismal record on both.
A regime that is pulverizing and terrorizing the people of Somalia with indiscriminate bombings of non-military targets, raping their daughters, sisters and mothers, massacring innocent men, women and children, causing untold destructions on Somali infrastructures, private and state properties, schools and hospitals, should not be the one to accuse others of war crimes. Ethiopian forces are committing genocide, a high international crime for which Meles Zenawi, Mohammed Ghedi and Abdulahi Yusuf and their handlers must be held accountable. As for the kidnappings in the Afar region of Ethiopia, Eritrea did not commit any crime here. Its role was purely humanitarian- it served as mediator between the British and the Afar rebels to secure the release of the Europeans.
It is high time the minority regime in Ethiopia take full responsibility for its domestic and international affairs and stop accusing Eritrea at every turn. It must also know that it does not have a monopoly on rights such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace, security and stability. Its rights are respected, if and only, it respects the rights of others and fulfills its international obligations.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
In order to divert attention away from its domestic and international woes, the deceptive minority regime in Ethiopia is attempting to hoodwink the international community and the Ethiopian people with yet another desperate, far fetched and futile vilification campaign against Eritrea. Allow me to provide a brief update of the current situation in the Horn of Africa and the issues related to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in order to provide the contextual basis for this rebuttal to Aite Medhane Tadesse’s piece.
It should be recalled that on Christmas Eve 2006 the Meles Zenawi thugocracy in Ethiopia, encouraged by the diplomatic, financial, military and political support guaranteed to it by US and UN officials including Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazier and then US Charge D’Affaires in Ethiopia, Vicki Huddleston, in violation of the African Union and UN Charters and Security Council Resolutions 1724, 1725 and 1744, invaded Somalia and installed the illegitimate puppet Transitional National Government (TNG) led by Ali Mohammed Ghedi and Abdulahi Yusuf in Mogadishu. It lied to the Ethiopian Parliament and exaggerated and fabricated the “threats” posed by the rise of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Somalia. Today, the regime’s forces are facing the wrath of the Somali people who are waging a determined struggle against the Ethiopian occupiers and its puppet TNG.
As if that was not enough, the apartheid regime in Ethiopia suffered another devastating diplomatic humiliation when members of an armed Ethiopian opposition group, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) kidnapped some Europeans and Ethiopians in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The ARDUF have said that they had taken the hostages to bring international attention to their cause. Surely, Meles Zenawi and his Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) cadres understand; after all, they too have used such acts in the past to bring attention to their cause. To refresh their memories and to explain the nature of the regime ruling Ethiopia today, I have listed the TPLF “terrorist” acts as recorded by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT)-http://www.tkb.org/RWExecquery.jsp?sLibraryType=Terr_Incidents&QueryString=TPLF. MIPT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing terrorism on U.S. soil or mitigating its effects. MIPT is funded by the US Department of Homeland Security:
Feb. 17, 1988: Members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front abducted six European aid workers. The victims were three Irish nuns, two Belgian doctors and a Dutch nurse. All were released a week later.
Oct. 1, 1987: a French nurse, Sophie Bedon, was kidnapped by TPLF rebels. The woman was taken hostage after an attack on an Ethiopian garrison in Rama. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, she was handed over to the French embassy after being held for over three weeks.
Mar. 8, 1986: Two employees of the American relief agency World Vision were shot to death in the dining room of their residence compound in the northern town of Alamata by TPLF rebels. The victims were both Ethiopian nationals. According to western diplomatic sources, the attack marked the beginning of a new guerrilla offensive by the TPLF in northern Ethiopia against the Addis Ababa government (Menghistu Hailemariam Derg regime).
Mar. 2, 1985: TPLF rebels seized a French disaster-relief aircraft, its five crew members and four medical staff members in the northern town of Lalibela. The plane had been flying supplies for Ethiopian villagers as part of the international effort to relieve the disastrous drought and famine. The hostages were freed a few days later.
Oct. 17, 1984: Ten foreigners, including two American tourists, were seized by secessionist TPLF guerrillas in Lalibela. The captured include two Britons, an Australian, a Finn, three West German medics and a Swiss International Red Cross representative. An American tourist couple, a British national and a Swiss citizen were freed on October 30.
June 1, 1976: Jon Swain, British correspondent for the Sunday Times of London, was captured by the TPLF near Axum in mid-June. He was released in Khartoum on September 5, 1976. It was not known what negotiations, if any, led to his release.
Etc. etc.
Many, including Ethiopians had pointed fingers at the TPLF regime itself and accused it of staging the latest kidnappings to divert international attention, because of its past record and its propensity for lies, distortions and exaggerations. As it turned out, it was the ARDUF that kidnapped the Europeans and Ethiopians- for political reasons. It was their way of showing their discontent with the minority regime’s ethnic based policies and neglect of the Afar region’s inhabitants.
As the events unfolded, we have learned that the ARDUF refused to negotiate with the TPLF regime and its cadres who had long denied their existence. The British then turned to Eritrea for help and Eritrea, compelled by its humanitarian obligations, agreed to help. Negotiations between the ARDUF and the Afar elders on both sides (Eritrean and Ethiopian) led to the successful release of the Europeans. The Ethiopian hostages were not released. The rhetoric from the TPLF regime, its unfounded accusations against the government of Eritrea, its reckless attempts to portray Ethiopian opposition groups as “terrorists”, etc. etc. will only exacerbate its deteriorating relations with its own people; it will also endanger the lives of the Ethiopians in captivity.
Today, the erratic mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia led by Meles Zenawi, humiliated by its craven domestic and international policies, embarrassed by its servility to the US in Somalia, despised by its own people and the people in the region, in a futile attempt to restore its sagging credibility, integrity and image is once again using self appointed Horn “specialists” and “experts”, high profile Western Addis based diplomats, greedy mercenary individuals, to spread vicious, vile and erroneous accusations and allegations against the Government and people of Eritrea, its favorite scapegoats for all that ails Ethiopia today. Medhane Tadesse’ 23 March 2007 “Commentary” is part and parcel of that evil and shameless scheme.
Instead of taking responsibility for his regime’s failure to secure its own territories, failure to provide its citizens with a peaceful, legal venue for addressing their concerns, failure to defend and protect their human rights, failure to provide the basic necessities for all the people of Ethiopia, failure to promote ethnic and religious harmony in Ethiopia, failure to abide and fulfill its legal and moral obligations, failure to abide by Agreements it willingly and consciously signed, failure to respect over two dozen Security Council resolutions on the Eritrea Ethiopia border issue, numerous violations of the Algiers Agreements, its rejection of the Final and Binding decision delivered by the independent Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission on 13 April 2002, and most of all, for its embarrassing and humiliating failures in Somalia, this card carrying TPLF cadre chose to produce another dishonest “Commentary” in defense of the minority TPLF regime ruling Ethiopia today.
Aite Medhane Tadesse in his 23 March 2007 “Commentary”, denying the realities in today’s Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi’s apartheid rule, underestimating the will and determination of the Ethiopian people as they wage a just struggle against the tyrannical minority regime’s rule, decided to pen this piece in order to divert international attention away from his regime’s shameful internal and external woes. Bear with me as I attempt to provide the readers with a response to Medhane Tadesse’s incoherent mesh of unrelated issues in the 23 March 2007 Commentary. Exposing his regime’s incurable inferiority complex and using the regime’s favorite but transparent gimmick “Accusations in a mirror”, he childishly writes:
The Eritrean leadership feels ignored by the world, particularly the major powers. Isolation breeds frustration, and the need for attention. The issue of relevance has become central to the mentality of the Eritrean leadership. Having failed to become a regional hegemon, the Eritrean leadership is dying for attention by becoming a spoiler…”
Aite Medhane Tadesse must also know that it is not the attention and respect of outsiders that counts, but the recognition and respect of your own people that matters the most. Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia lacks credibility, integrity, and legitimacy and has lost the attention and respect of all Ethiopians-even those in Tigray. The Government and people of Eritrea owe allegiance to the many thousands of Eritrea’s sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives for Eritrea’s independence and their focus is in achieving their dreams and aspirations-not the attention of any party-world power or not.
Contrary to what the TPLF cadre asserts in his “Commentary”, it is the international community that has been calling on Eritrea for advice on Sudan, Somalia and even Ethiopia. By the way, judging from the number of African nations that have pledged troops for the African Union “stabilization force” in Somalia-only 4 countries- it is evident that no self respecting African envies the mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia and its “relationship” with the “major powers”. There is no pride in serfdom.
Attempting to cover up his regime’s belligerence and lawlessness, Aite Medhane Tadesse wrote:
The only way to become relevant in the sub-region is by destabilizing its neighbours and consistently seeking the role of a mediator. This has disastrously failed as can be seen through the recent developments in Somalia. Asmara’s attempt to play a similar role in Sudan, has also been frustrated by its failure to secure the trust of the major Darfurian movements…Angered by the positions taken by the major powers, mainly the US, hurtled by Ethiopia’s military victory in Somalia and distasteful of the repeated criticisms of its policy and modus operandi by intellectuals, the Eritrean leadership seems ready to take up any disastrous course to show to the world it is still relevant and can cause damage of some sort…”
Aite Medhane Tadesse must know that it is the regime in Ethiopia that is militarily occupying sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme. He also knows that it is Ethiopia that is militarily occupying Somalia and destroying the peace, stability and security of the nation. He also knows that his regime has on several occasions violated Kenyan and Sudanese territories using various pretexts as it “hunts down” opposition members. The facts and the record are clear, Eritrea has never violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring states-ever.
In addition to its military provocations, the minority regime has also employed mercenaries to commit terrorist acts in Eritrea. Let us see the minority regime’s record and its futile attempts to destabilize Eritrea for the last 8 years:
Ethiopia has hosted meetings of various factions of the Eritrean Liberation Front, trying to bring the ELF-Revolutionary Council and the ELF of Abdullah Idris together. It has offered support to three small Eritrean Marxist opposition parties, and to an opposition Kunama party, and has recently set up an Afar Red Sea Democratic Organisation to try and build up Afar resistance to the Eritrean government…”-(Patrick Gilkes, BBC News 2 March 1999)
Ethiopia has given support to the opposition Alliance of Eritrean National Forces (AENF), now based in Ethiopia. It anticipates that this will be able to mobilise former Eritrean Liberation Front supporters, and Muslim critics of the present government…”- (Patrick Gilkes, BBC News 19 May 2000)
In May 2003, Herui Tedla and the Eritrean National Alliance were brought to Ethiopia and provided with “material support” to set up a military wing to attack strategic targets such as television and radio centres. (BBC 2 May 2003)
Eritrean Democratic Alliance launched a six-day congress here on Thursday…EDA is Eritrea's opposition umbrella embracing 13 sisterly political organizations…”- (15 February 2007 Ethiopian News Agency)
Meles Zenawi was personally in charge of the failed Congress of February 2007, which brought together disgruntled defectors, criminal and treasonous individuals and groups that make up the EDA. Unless Aite Medhane Tadesse is suffering from selective amnesia, considering Meles Zenawi’s repeated attempts to destabilize Eritrea, crying wolf is not going to erase its sordid record, or buy it international sympathy.
Aite Medhane Tadesse cannot talk about “Ethiopia’s military victory in Somalia” after what the world has witnessed in the last week. The disgrace and humiliation was a strong display of the deep hatred and anger held by the Somali people against Meles Zenawi’s regime and unfortunately, it is Ethiopia’s sons that are bearing the brunt of it all. This is not the time for the minority regime to speak about “victory”, “breaking the enemy’s spine” or any of the other pompous pronouncements made during Meles Zenawi monologue with the rubberstamp Ethiopian parliament. It’s time to bring its forces back home to their families and stop using them as cannon fodder and minesweepers in its ill-advised adventures and wars of aggression and invasion against neighboring states.
Aite Medhane Tadesse must know that the United States has legal and moral obligations as a member of the UN Security Council and as one of the guarantors and witnesses of the Algiers Agreements signed between the Governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia in 2000. Eritrea has been consistently calling on the US Administration to shoulder its responsibilities-nothing more, nothing less. It is the US State Department that prevented the US Congress from taking punitive actions against the minority regime in Addis by preventing it from adopting HR-2760, a Bill which called for the expeditious demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border and sanctions on the party that refuses to abide by the tenets of the Algiers Agreements. The US and UK also prevented the Security Council from taking punitive actions against Meles Zenawi’s regime for its violations of international law as called for in the Algiers Agreements.
It is also the US State Department that prevented the passage of HR-5680, the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2006 which was passed on 6 April 2006 by the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. The US’ diplomatic, financial, political and military support for the belligerent minority regime in Ethiopia has emboldened it to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbors and violate the human rights of its citizens. Eritrea is not “angered” by the US’ position, it is disappointed, as it had higher expectations of the world’s most powerful nation and it did not think that the US would indulge in senseless exploits with petty tyrannical regimes such as the minority regime in Ethiopia, and risk undermining its own credibility and integrity in the process.
As for Eritrea’s role in Sudan and Somalia, the Sudanese and Somali people can judge Eritrea themselves. There is no evidence of any anti Eritrean sentiment in either country; I doubt that we can say the same about the minority regime in Ethiopia. Eritrea’s principled stand on Somalia and Sudan is based on the historical, mutually respectful and supportive relationship between the people’s of the three countries and remains as firm today.
At the end of his piece, the TPLF cadre Aite Medhane Tadesse sheepishly writes:
the international community has the obligation to put pressure on Eritrea and ensure the safe release of the remaining hostages. After all hostage-taking constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is also a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949…”
The lawless minority regime in Ethiopia does not have the moral authority to talk about international law or international conventions considering its own dismal record on both.
A regime that is pulverizing and terrorizing the people of Somalia with indiscriminate bombings of non-military targets, raping their daughters, sisters and mothers, massacring innocent men, women and children, causing untold destructions on Somali infrastructures, private and state properties, schools and hospitals, should not be the one to accuse others of war crimes. Ethiopian forces are committing genocide, a high international crime for which Meles Zenawi, Mohammed Ghedi and Abdulahi Yusuf and their handlers must be held accountable. As for the kidnappings in the Afar region of Ethiopia, Eritrea did not commit any crime here. Its role was purely humanitarian- it served as mediator between the British and the Afar rebels to secure the release of the Europeans.
It is high time the minority regime in Ethiopia take full responsibility for its domestic and international affairs and stop accusing Eritrea at every turn. It must also know that it does not have a monopoly on rights such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace, security and stability. Its rights are respected, if and only, it respects the rights of others and fulfills its international obligations.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
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