The US Department of State has released another unlearned but sugar-coated statement on the Situations in Tigray, Ethiopia.
It is unfortunate for the International Community to witness such a downgraded stance in international diplomacy and this time by a profoundly critical actor.
NaMA knows and honors the universal concern for human rights and humanitarian issues. The general concern by the US Department of State on the conditions of civilians in Tigray and the request for adequate protections is a really commendable effort.
However, we hold that a less than full knowledge about the details in the chain of events that happened in Tigray only eclipses revelation of critical factors which are indespensable for determining who to blame at all. A rush to pass political judgments without objective verification of facts would only lead to biased conclusions which in turn tarnishes reputations.
NaMA usually expects the United States to act according to universally established norms and meet reasonable expectations. Accordingly, we consider the Statement by the Department of State as negatively impacting the regard for the generally known, predictable and respected stature of US foreign policy.
The world knows that TPLF and surrogates have been practically behind the national crisis which made the Ethiopian People pay dearly and continue to hamper progress.
The myriad human sufferings, the destruction of property and colossal loss of lives deliberately caused by TPLF on the Ethiopian People during its brutal rule should demand a call for the institution of a Transitional Justice.
The fact that TPLF has provoked the Ethiopian Government and drawn to the war by attacking the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force (ENDF) is already settled. TPLF launched an attack on the ENDF, ostensibly tried to back up using an uncommon «anticipatory self-defense» argument. Then, the resolve of the Ethiopian People and Government to banish TPLF must be regarded as completely warrantable.
The savagery of TPLF was clearly shown in the enormous brutality of attacks it inflicted on soldiers caught unsuspecting and unprepared; executed several thousands of helpless military people; wounded and captives. Judging from the stand point of principles and moral values, those attrocious acts of TPLF are purely reprehensible.
The Northern Command of the ENDF has long stationed in Tigray to primarily protect the People; the Command has been in Tigray since the start of the TPLF-led war Ethiopia had with Eritrea. Beyond giving protection to the people, the Northern Command useused to assist the Tigray People in many their development works.
That infamous day TPLF launched the coordinated attacks on the Northern Command of ENDF will always be a reckoning for the Ethiopian people as an attack by a Government splinter on own Military.
The day before the TPLF opened the attack, the military was dispersed throughout the various localities in Tigray to help the people during crop harvesting and while fighting the spread of locust swarms that plagued the region. It it beyond the imagination of the Ethiopian People as to why the military was attacked at all and particularly during that specific time.
It should also be recalled that TPLF had unleashed another nefarious attack on the Amhara People that very day it opened fire on the military. At a place called Kira Kir, TPLF launched a huge surprise attack with the intent to dominate and destablize the Amhara region. Had those attacks not been repelled back by the intervention of the Amhara Special Forces and Militia, it could have culminated in genocidal-massacres on the Amhara People and the dismemberment or fall of Ethiopia. Therefore, the Amhara regional forces have rightfully intervened in order to avert a looming catastrophe of huge proportions.
The glimpse of what TPLF would do to the Amhara People if it managed to enter into the mainland Amhara may be captured by the nature of attrocities committed on the Amhara People in the town of Maikadra. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations have reported that more than one thousand innocent people of Amhara decent were slaughtered in cold blood in a span of few days in Maikadra.
Of course, TPLF was born with and grown with a deep racial hatred for the Amhara. It attacked the Amhara People consistently throughout practicing all sorts of mayhem. Just this time, the dying clique has the obsessive desire to attack the Amhara when and where it gets the opportunity.
The areas often glossed over as «Western Tigray» are historic Amharan territories forcefully annexed by TPLF to Tigray. The Amhara People living in these territories have been subjected to the worest forms of ethnic cleansing and genocide by the TPLF rule. The popular resistence movements that brought TPLF government out of power were intitially brewed by the ethnically profiled, subjugated and massacred people in these territories. As time went by and the agression of TPLF continued unabated for many decades, the cause in the territories was blown up by the total support of the Amhara People. The move was humanitarian as well as self-preservation!
In fact, NaMA has its own political opinion about the actors named in the Statement by the Department of State. However, we would like to limit ourselves to remarking on the specific references the Department of State made concerning the Amhara security forces.
It must never be doubted that the Amhara forces stationed in territories so called «Western Tigray» are rightfully there as part of the restored Amharan local adminstrations now under the Amhara Regional Government. In their normal functioning, the Amhara security forces engage in maintaining law and order. During extraordinary situations particularly when TPLF forces pose security threats, the Amhara Special Force and Militia are there to protect the People. They are tasked with what any organized people would normally be expected to do in the world over.
Now that the rights and claims of the Amhara People on these long contested territories are perfectly supported by historical facts, the continued attrocious acts of TPLF against the Amhara People in those territories warrant interventions, treasonous acts are being repeatedly committed by TPLF, the use by TPLF of these territories as military fortifications and launching pads of attacks on the rest of the Amhara region, the Amhara forces inseparably linked to the works of the local Amhara Administrations are established, otherwise suggestions for the withdrawal of Amharan forces become detrimental to peace and stability. Such an approach will definitely result in a perpetual strife in the country and the horn at large. It may also connote a desire to disturb and distroy the integrity of Ethiopia and violate its sovereignty.
What's more? Working against what the facts indicated here-in-above truely amounts to sheer neglect of the true causes of the Amharan People and subscribing to the TPLF account despite truth and justice.
NaMA is not that interested in naming and discussing the defunct TPLF per se, but likes to inform the world community about the true causes of the problems and happenings in Ethiopia. We don't hide our disappointment about the selective focus on the situations in Tigray leaving aside similar plights of the Amhara People suffering in many areas across Ethiopia. We believe that such double standard is the result in the influence of narrative rooted propaganda dissiminated for a long time by TPLF. Understanding this reality, NaMA wants to counter the wide misinformation and disinformation campaign TPLF has launched for several decades against Ethiopia and Amhara. Now, TPLF cohorts and sympethsizers are working in tandem with some forces in a last ditch attempt to resuscitate from the dead.
However, this effort to give life to the still born must always be taken as a disruption to normalcy. NaMA will always be committed for genuine peace making, the equality, freedom and justice for all people, the respect and protection of human rights, safeguarding the integrity and sovereignty of Ethiopia.
Finally, we call up on the US Department of State to withdraw the unhelpful statement it issued on Ethiopia. Particularly, we demand that part of the Statement about the withdrawal of the Amhara forces be severed.
We call up on the Ethiopian Government to reject in the strongest of terms blatant accusations made against itself, the ENDF and the Amhara People.
The Ethiopian people should also disavow the unbridled interference in the sovereignty of their beloved Ethiopia. They should join efforts in the face of agressions at this trying time.
Call on Country loving Ethiopians here and the diaspora to stand shoulder to shoulder and desist from divisive activities that make us fall prey.
NATIONAL MOVMENT OF AMHARA(NAMA)!
May 16, 2021
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
